The president of the United States is not a secret Muslim
I was heartened that a fellow reader wrote in to point out the stupidity of David Gardener’s insistence that President Obama is a Muslim. This is a lie that has been thoroughly discredited. Since when do we as Christians greet someone’s repeatedly stated faith in Jesus Christ as a lie? Especially when it’s the president of the United States?
However, I do think it is important to also note the stupidity of the assertion that there would necessarily be something wrong with the president being a Muslim.
Was Mr. Gardener as concerned about the prospect of Joe Lieberman being our first Jewish vice president? Or Mitt Romney becoming our first Mormon president?
Since when does our country give a religious litmus test to elected officials? Colin Powell was most eloquent during his endorsement of Obama’s candidacy for president: “Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he’s a Christian. He’s always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer’s no, that’s not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president?”
Mr. Gardener should be made aware that there is no proposed “mosque at Ground Zero”, but rather a Muslim cultural center two blocks from the site of the World Trade Center attacks. This is a center that is explicitly intended to encourage understanding between Muslims and those of other faiths, something that I find most appropriate to be in easy walking distance of the 9/11 site.
This is one of the most densely populated neighborhoods in the world, complete with adult book stores and liquor shops – as well as a mosque already in operation four blocks from the site of the attack. Why are these businesses not under attack if this entire neighborhood is now considered hallowed ground? Not to mention the fact that Muslims regularly hold prayer services within the Pentagon itself.
Private property rights and freedom of worship in one of the most densely populated and diverse neighborhoods on earth should trump the fear-mongering and demagoguery that has been stirred up by opponents of this project, suspiciously close to the midterm elections, I might add. Since when should the federal government be involved in the business of telling folks what they can and cannot build?
Mr. Gardener’s ruminations on the “vast majority” of Muslims being violent is so frustrating to anyone who has actually met a Muslim, something I recommend he consider trying sometime, judging from his letter.
There are over a billion of them on the planet – the second largest faith in the world.
Does he honestly believe that the “vast majority” are terrorists?
It is interesting to me that most opponents of the Park 51 project are also strong supporters of our “war on terror.”
Do they realize that our objectives in Afghanistan and Iraq over the past decade have been about fostering cooperation with Muslim leaders? This goal is of course made exceedingly more difficult with news emerging like the nutty Florida pastor endorsing public burnings of the Koran.
Are we really incapable of distinguishing between an ordinary person and an extremist? Would he also discredit the vast number of Christians because of the many acts of murder and terror that have been carried out over the centuries because of a twisted view of Christianity? Remember those who justified slavery or killing abortion doctors on their reading of the Bible.
This level of ignorance is dangerous. The lesson that we should draw from 9/11 is not “Islam is bad.” It should be to recognize that we must never become so fanatical about our beliefs that we will demonize and hate those who are different from us. Nine years later, we obviously still have a lot of work to do.
I’d invite those who think they have a thorough understanding of Islam (from often dubious sources) to consider the wide array of Muslim countries beyond the Middle East, in Africa, Asia, and Europe such as Senegal, a Muslim nation in West Africa that I traveled through as a Peace Corps volunteer, where people were exceedingly kind and generally spend their time working, worrying about their families, and making it through the day just like anyone else in the world.
In Senegal’s capital, Dakar, the hustling and bustling looks exactly like any day in downtown Pittsburgh – except for the fact that a few times a day, all traffic and business stops while everyone in the street stops to pray.
I saw a country and culture that worked to make time for God and spirituality, the same goal of so many who vilify Islam, a religion worth learning more about before judging it.
Daron Christopher is a resident of McClellandtown.