We are somewhat astonished that so many outsiders are trying to outshout our welcome, with language that is hateful and un-American.
I’m a neighbor of Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, and I strongly believe we should support his Islamic community center near Ground Zero.
Imam Rauf, who wants to build the center, has led a mosque in TriBeca since the 1980s. His congregation is not far from my own at Judson Memorial Church.
We are more than neighbors: We share a similar purpose, one that many religious institutions have shared throughout our history.
Judson was founded in 1895 as a cultural and religious center to welcome Irish and Italian immigrants. Our patron, John D. Rockefeller, understood the interaction between culture and religion. He also built us a gym. For decades we held classes for immigrants, where people learned to cook and, more importantly, where they learned about each other.
For 27 years, our Muslim neighbors have worshipped in the neighborhood and have been an integral part of it. Those of us who know Imam Rauf welcome his plans for the new center, and everyone from the Community Board to the Landmarks Commission to the mayor has embraced it.
We are somewhat astonished that so many outsiders are trying to outshout our welcome, with language that is hateful and un-American.
Such animosity will not dampen terrorism. It will only lead to more bombings of more buildings around the world.
The community center should be welcomed at Ground Zero for deeply spiritual reasons. It is a sign of hope, forgiveness and peace. These are big words: hope, forgiveness and peace. They rarely have the megaphone that the ugly words of hate and resentment enjoy. Nevertheless, they are words that religious people need to protect with all our hearts and souls.
Let’s start with hope. When a tragedy occurs, it often steals our hope. The Sept. 11 attacks were a terrible tragedy, rooted in a larger human tragedy: the failure to get along, across cultural and religious lines. This failure extinguishes hope. To rekindle hope, we need to respect each other. But telling Muslim Americans that they can’t even build something, with their own money, on a property they own is profoundly disrespectful.
What about forgiveness? There is really no end to the suffering if we can’t forgive. There is no end game. We become hateful, the way the wrongdoers were hateful, and the victory goes to the terrorists. Sometimes forgiveness needs a symbol. A community center could be a symbol that some members of the Muslim community wanted to say they were sorry for what others did. Forgiveness could begin with welcoming a building permit issued near Ground Zero.
Finally, that word love, which so many wrongly imagine as a soft verb. There is nothing soft about love. It is the most powerful action in the world. Because we can’t love, we imagine our security is in bombs and borders when actually it is in risks taken on behalf and towards each other.
A community center at Ground Zero is an act of love, hope and forgiveness. We don’t just welcome that center. We are actually desperate for it.
The Rev. Donna Schaper is senior minister of Judson Memorial Church in downtown New York City and a co-organizer of New York Neighbors for American Values. She can be reached at pmproj@progressive.org.
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