As an amateur philosopher, I like to answer basic questions first. The basic question regarding the disposition of the Cordoba House is this: Does America owe Muslims anything special? My answer is no.
America owes its citizens equal protection before the law, and that is what I believe they have. After all, the mosque is there now. It is not threatened. The religionists are free to practice without interference and the purposes and practices of free speech are defended today.
But here is what has happened in the introduction of the plan to make that mosque into Cordoba House. The entire longboat has been tied by a rhetorical harpoon into that great white whale that is 9/11. It's going to drag some people under.
Several years ago, while the pit was still smoking, some activists decided for all the best reasons that there should be a statue built in honor of the firefighters and first responders who gave their lives to save others at the site. It became a horrific political battle over what sort of faces should be on those statues. Black? White? Female? The actual people?
But given that America has something to prove to Muslims, what exactly is that? If we were to suggest that we don't think that they are all terrorists, why should our gratitude to them be expressed through proximity to a terrorist act? Giving hearty permission to build a 10 story mosque near Ground Zero is like giving Jews permission to own land at Buchenwald, or giving a gift to black Americans of the KKK headquarters building. What's ironic about the whole mess is that this has become the object of desire. But what purpose does it really serve outside of the symbolism?
A second and more important and specific question is, what is the expanded purpose of Cordoba House? Is it to prove that Americans tolerate Islam? Is it to be a beachhead of a new type of Islam? What real difference does the existence or non-existence of this particular building make?
I expect anyone party to this discussion to make the important distinction between Muslims and Islamists. Further, the distinction between generic Islamists and Islamists of a certain pedigree. I think that it is reasonable for the American public to assess the values of those people who have associated themselves with this project from the standpoint of what is cosigned. For example. One wouldn't expect those who are expressly pro-gay marriage to support the religious symbolism of Islamist supporters of Cordoba House. I am not in any position to qualify what sort of people are behind Cordoba. My introduction to the subject was a heavily biased opinion. But tying the significance of its location to the importance of its approval necessitates that no Islamist elements be associated. No Muslim Brotherhood, no Hamas, no Hezbollah, no anti-Americans.
I don't think that it's difficult to be a Muslim and an American. I do think it's difficult to be an Islamist and an American. Is Cordoba House Islamist?
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