The Politics of the Downtown Mosque

I find it disturbing that the debate over the Islamic mosque and cultural center near the Ground Zero site has become highly political. On Friday during a dinner in honor of Ramadan, the President defended the building of the mosque on grounds of our Constitutional rights. Then he qualified and diluted his remarks on Saturday saying he was backing the "right" to build the mosque, not necessarily the "wisdom" of building it close to such a sensitive site. His refusal to take no view on the latter - clearly a political decision - has caused this issue to elevate into an unnecessary national debate.

Republicans see some political advantage by forcing Democrats to support the rights of Muslims. Newt Gingrich accused the president of “pandering to radical Islam” and said the mosque would be a symbol of Muslim “triumphalism.” Particularly in post-9/11 society, most Americans are very myopic when it comes to open-mindedness towards different religions and cultures. This excellent Op-Ed in the NY Times highlights this dichotomy. Democrats are reluctant to defend Muslims and other minority groups despite these hypocrisies. After this debate, we'll be left with a major setback for religious tolerance in this country. More disturbing is that opposition in other American cities is growing against the construction of any new mosques - undoubtedly a violation of Constitutional principles.

The tricky issue here isn't the Constitutional one. The government has no ability to prevent Feisal Abdul Rauf from developing the abandoned Burlington Coat Factory at 51 Park Place into a 13-story complex of classrooms, auditoriums, and a mosque - the Cordoba Initiative. Prudence is the primary issue. The planners for the cultural center have a unique opportunity to strengthen Muslim ties to Western culture within the context of the WTC. They were clearly naive of the reaction this mosque would receive. Instead, they should look to men like Maajid Nawaz who co-founded the Quilliam Foundation, a think tank that is mostly funded by the British government. This foundation seeks to influence the two million British citizens who are Muslim, and especially the roughly 2,000 of them who the government says are Islamic radicals who pose a threat to national security. Nawaz was featured in this great 60 Minutes segment from April 2010.

I support the mosque because I recognize our Constitution and the need to galvanize this post-9/11 nation. The leadership of its development, however, has to own up to the politics and embrace the opportunity to strengthen Muslim relations with Western cultures. Otherwise, this project could be disastrous and polarizing.