Atonement and Absolution

posted at 12:29 am on August 16, 2010 by Doctor Zero

The following facts about Islam are objectively true:

1.  Islam is the most violent religion in the world.  Almost every point of contact between Islam and other religions, or secular government, is damp with blood.

2. Most Muslims do not commit violent acts.  There are over a billion Muslims in the world, and several million living in the United States.  If the majority of them were killers, the situation would be far worse than it is.

3. Few Muslim leaders of any stature will unequivocally condemn violence in the name of Islam.  Those who do deserve great respect, but there aren’t nearly enough of them.  The imam behind the Cordoba House project, Faisal Abdul Rauf, is a Hamas sympathizer who refuses to describe them as “terrorists.”  Isn’t it striking that the man heading up the highest-profile Islamic project in the Western world has such nuanced views about a murderous terror organization which fires rockets at Israeli civilians, from behind Palestinian human shields?  Was there really nobody else who could have headed up this expensive exercise in outreach and understanding?

4. Islam is profoundly intolerant of other religions, within areas it dominates.  Its holy sites and holy cities are scoured clean of Christian and Jewish houses of worship.  When other religions are permitted in Islamic countries, they must operate under severe restrictions.  Clearly Muslims have no difficulty with the concept of hallowed ground.

5. The Islamic religion was deeply involved in the 9/11 terror attacks, and other bloody atrocities around the world.  Muslims around the globe celebrated the attacks, as you could readily see for yourself, if Western media did not suppress the video so effectively.  Many Muslims did not celebrate, and doubtless many of them loathe the horrors perpetrated in the name of their faith… but their objections are muted.

It is a denial of simple reality to insist these attacks represented a “tiny minority of extremists” hijacking the religion, as politicians from George Bush onward have done.  Excusing and enabling the worst instincts of a frequently dangerous faith is not doing anyone any favors… least of all peaceful Muslims, who have the same relationship with the violent elements as decent people trapped in a gang-infested neighborhood.

What percentage of any given belief system must turn violent before we consider the problem might lie with the system itself?  Acknowledging such a problem is not the same thing as saying it cannot be solved.  Indeed, recognizing a problem is generally seen as the first step toward resolving it.

6. Islam endorses religious dominance over the secular world, through a strict code of laws.  It’s not just a religion.  It’s also a political system, with many points of divergence from pluralistic democracy.  We’re currently at war with one Islamic theocracy in the mountains of Afghanistan, while another conspires to commit war crimes against U.S. troops in Iraq.  What other religion sponsors theocracies in the modern world?

The United States is under no obligation to allow the construction of a mosque next to Ground Zero, on the site where wreckage from an exploding airliner crashed to earth.  Given the above points, it has a clear interest in denying permission for this project to continue.

This is not a First Amendment issue.  Our gigantic government is happy to treat every other portion of the Constitution and Bill of Rights as malleable.  In fact, the First Amendment isn’t sacrosanct either, as the Cordoba House organization will discover, if it violates any of our elaborate campaign finance laws.  At any rate, denying permission to build a single structure is not equivalent to suppressing the free exercise of religion.

The organizers of the Cordoba House plan to continue with the project despite 70% opposition from the American public.  This opposition is not difficult to understand.  Those who insist on making it complicated have axes to grind which have nothing to do with religious tolerance.  Clumsy accusations of bigotry, as from New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, spring from the curious arrogance of blindness.  They are the tantrums of people angry because the reality of Islam does not conform to their high-minded theories.  They grow angrier as the American people refuse to accept their moral leadership, and cover editorial-page blackboards with elaborate equations proving America is filled with hateful morons.  Meanwhile, the Cordoba House project pretends to be confused about a reaction it would understand, and respect, if it was truly interested in outreach and understanding.

The problem is not a lack of Western understanding about Islam.  We tolerated it just fine, back when we didn’t think about it very often.  We are cheerfully tolerant of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Shinto, despite most Westerners currently knowing less about them than Islam.  The Muslim world, on the other hand, would greatly benefit from learning more about Western ideals of tolerance and democracy.  Muslims will not learn these lessons in a mosque or madrassa.  The $100 million budget for Cordoba House could inspire much more goodwill toward Islam if spread to various worthy charities, giving Muslim leaders more opportunities to interact with people of good will from other religious backgrounds.  How about a mission to provide medical care to Israeli civilians injured by Hamas and Hezbollah, and American troops wounded while defending the people of Iraq and Afghanistan?

America has no interest in suppressing the practice of Islam, or any other religious faith.  We are concerned with the actions of those who espouse that faith.  They must, to use a familiar word, submit to the Constitutional law that makes all of us free to pursue our beliefs, and live in harmony.  There is significant evidence this is a difficult concept for the Muslim world to process.  Overcoming this difficulty is up to them.  Their efforts will not be assisted by a co-dependent, enabling liberalism that insists we’re the ones with the problem, for refusing to forget the nasty business of September 11, 2001.

The first step to dealing with a problem is admitting you have one.  The absence of a mosque at Ground Zero would be a useful reminder.

The Cordoba House project is about receiving absolution without atonement.  Absolution has not been earned yet.  Too many innocent people are dying around the world in the name of Islam, and not enough Muslims are denouncing it with full and unreserved passion.  There are some brave and honorable voices rising from the Muslim world, but the people behind the Cordoba House are not among them.  May those voices swell into a mighty chorus, which one day earns the right to sing at Ground Zero.  That day will not come until feverish dreams of domination and tepid multicultural fantasies have been swept away, so that we may all confront the truth.

Cross-posted at www.doczero.org.

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