Inrecent months, there has been quite a bit of controversy surrounding an Islamic community center being built a few blocks away from ground zero.
Sharif El-Gamal, developer of the proposed Islamic community center and mosque near ground zero, is an American-born, practicing Muslim. Along with boasting a pool, a gym and a mosque the community center will also feature courses on subjects such as religious tolerance. The center and all its resources would also be open to non-Muslims.
Considering that the Muslim community center would be occupying an abandoned building and members of the immediate community do not oppose the establishment being located in their neighborhood, what is the issue?
According to some Americans, the community center being within the vicinity of ground zero is a sort of blasphemy destined to result in a cataclysmic backlash. This “mosque,” as they call it, supposedly poses as some sort of threat to the American people.
Since the horrendous Sept. 11 attacks in 2001 by Islamic extremists, the number of hate crimes committed against individuals of Middle Eastern descent or those who look like the attackers rose dramatically. Simply put, there has been a feeling of general hostility towards those individuals who practice Islam. Although Sept. 11 forever changed America, it also left a group of innocent individuals scrutinized and stereotyped against.
Ironic as it may be, America at one point in time was considered a land of religious freedom, where any individual could worship freely.
With the recent controversy over the Islamic community center, I have begun to wonder if the right to religious freedom only applies to Christians. What if the attackers on Sept. 11, were Christians?
Would there be the same amount of intolerance toward them if that were the case?
The outcry of opposition over the community center serves as proof that the intolerance arising from Sept. 11 is long from gone, but is rather perpetuated through what we watch on the news and read in newspapers, magazines and online blogs. Fear and ignorance have helped facilitate the outright generalization that all Muslims are bad.
But aren’t there bad people of every religion? As a matter of fact, prior to Sept. 11, the greatest single loss of American civilian life in a non-natural disaster was committed by a man who claimed to be the reincarnation of Jesus Christ. Does Jim Jones ring a bell?
It is unfair to generalize and stereotype that all Christians are good and those who choose to worship differently are inherently bad. As Americans, we should be tolerant and not allow extreme disasters such as the Sept. 11 attacks and the mass suicide of the followers of Jim Jones’ influence how we perceive an entire population of people.
“Fear makes people irrational, and our identity has been hijacked by the extremists,” El-Gamal said in an interview with the Today Show.
The only way to overcome the terror of what occurred nine years ago is through education and the Islamic community center plans to do just that.
So the question is not whether or not they should be allowed to do such a thing that could possibly improve the community and take steps to end religious intolerance, but whether we, as Americans, are ready for real religious freedom.
Melody Andrews is a senior majoring in communication. She can be contacted at [email protected].