Sermon 9/26/2010 - Page 1 of 8 Sacred Spaces Rev. Bruce Taylor September 26, 2010 When I first planned to give this sermon, I planned to discuss how we define our sacred spaces, and what it means to designate a place as holy ground. I d heard about the growing controversy over a proposed Islamic center in lower Manhattan near the site of the 9/11 attack, also known as Ground Zero. I intended to reflect on the meaning of two sacred spaces: one, a house of worship, and the other, the site of a national tragedy. But as the anniversary of September 11 approached, the situation heated up. In our Worship and Music committee, one member asked what we might do to support our Muslim neighbors. I said that for starters, I d devote this sermon to the issue. So today, I d like us to reflect on the challenges and opportunities that have been raised by the conflict around Ground Zero, and how we can respond to them. First, a bit of background: Faisal Abdul Rauf, a Sufi religious leader, has served as the Imam for a mosque in lower Manhattan for 25 years. An American citizen, Rauf has spent his whole career building bridges of understanding between Muslims and people of other faiths. A member of Rauf s congregation found and purchased a building site to develop into an Islamic religious center. This center would include prayer space, not only for Muslims, but for other faiths as well. Rauf described it as the outcome of a dream he had for many years: To establish a space which embodies the fundamental beliefs that we have as Jews, Christians, and Muslims, which is to love our god and to love our neighbor, to build a space where we'll have a culture of worship. And at the same time, to get to know each other and to forge personal bonds because that's how society, how community, is built. 1 1 CNN interview on Larry King Live, aired 9/8/2010
Sermon 9/26/2010 - Page 2 of 8 This center was originally named the Cordoba House. The name Cordoba refers to a city in medieval Spain which was a great center of Muslim rule. It refers to a time and place where Jews, Muslims and Christians lived side by side in peace. Some people consider this Golden Age of religious tolerance to be a myth. But the fact is that Jewish society did flourish in Spain, at a time when Jews were persecuted throughout Christian Europe. A great interchange of culture and ideas did take place, which later provided the seeds of the Renaissance. So the name Cordoba House can be taken in good faith, as a symbol of coexistence and bridge-building. When Imam Rauf announced his plan last year, he received the endorsement of Jewish and Christian religious leaders, as well as New York s mayor, Michael Bloomberg. This past May, the project was unanimously approved by the New York City community board. But the story only begins here. An author named Pamela Geller, who leads a group called Stop The Islamization of America, wrote in her blog: this is not about religious liberty this is an issue of national dignity and respect for those who were murdered at that site in the name of Islam. Then a New York Post article claimed, falsely, that the center was scheduled to open on Sept. 11, 2011. Political pundits and commentators soon began to protest against the so-called Ground Zero mosque. Sarah Palin added a new word to the English language as she called on New Yorkers to refudiate the planned Islamic center. Newt Gingrich wrote that to put a mosque in the planned location "would be like putting a Nazi sign next to the Holocaust Museum." He chose to interpret the project s name, Cordoba House, as a symbol of Muslim triumphalism.
Sermon 9/26/2010 - Page 3 of 8 Under public pressure, many politicians condemned the project or tried to distance themselves from it. Some called for an investigation, to determine if the center s funding was coming from Islamic terrorists. By innuendo, they linked Imam Rauf to international terrorism. (This link is not very plausible, since Rauf has been hired by the FBI to do sensitivity training and by the State Department to give speeches on U.S. Muslim relations). As the anniversary of 9/11 came closer, the tone of public discourse degenerated even further. A Florida pastor named Terry Jones announced plans for an international burn-a-qur an day. People in Muslim countries around the world responded with protests, including a demonstration in Afghanistan in which two people were killed. It s worth pointing out that Muslims take holy books very seriously not only the Qur an, but the Scriptures of other faiths as well. Here is a copy of the Qur an translated into English. [Hold up book]. To promote religious tolerance and understanding, an organization named the Council on American-Islamic Relations will send you this book just for the cost of shipping. The cover letter that comes with the book includes the following advice: Muslims are taught from an early age to treat the Qur an with great care and respect. For example, they avoid placing it on the floor, near the feet, or in dirty or wet areas many Muslims hold the Qur an by taking it in both hands, as one would a valuable piece of art. Just as Muslims are expected to treat the religious texts of others with utmost respect and courtesy, so too do we hope that you will take the information above into consideration when handling the holy Qur an. [italics mine] During the Iraq war, torturers at the Abu Ghraib prison took this advice into consideration when they desecrated the Qur an in front of prisoners. In Florida, Pastor Terry Jones took it into consideration when he publicly announced what amounts morally to a hate crime. In Indonesia, cleric Rusli Hasbi told worshippers
Sermon 9/26/2010 - Page 4 of 8 at Friday prayers that whether or not he burned the Qur an, Jones had already hurt the heart of the Muslim world. 2 This is the level to which public dialogue had sunk, as the anniversary of September 11 arrived. In New York City and around the country, there were powerful ceremonies of remembrance and respect. But this year, there were also hate-filled speeches. At separate locations near the site of Ground Zero, opposing groups held protest rallies. In my opinion, the most compelling reason not to move forward with plans for the Islamic center is that it may hurt the feelings of the families of 9/11 victims. Indeed, a number of family members have spoken out against the project. But other family members have spoken out against the public dispute itself, saying that if people really want to respect the 9/11 dead, they should not pollute a day of remembrance with angry demonstrations. When I first heard about the Islamic center, I did not think the proposed location was the wisest choice. It s easy to say such things in retrospect. But the project as conceived is a legitimate one. It is based on worthy ideals, and it may yet be viable. The current atmosphere of suspicion creates a double burden for Rauf and his supporters. Moving forward, they must demonstrate by their actions that this house of prayer is not, in fact, a slap in the face of America but that it is, in fact, a house of peace. They must show that this house of worship serves, in fact, to counter the religious extremism that Americans have come to fear from the Muslim world. This house of worship may yet provide a focus for constructive dialogue, and play an important role in the healing of a national wound. But it is not up to me or you to render a verdict, to approve or reject plans for an Islamic center. My focus today is not on what Rauf should do, or not do. My 2 AP article, Untimely Discord, Sept 11, 2010
Sermon 9/26/2010 - Page 5 of 8 focus is on what we can do, as people of liberal faith, to support the worthy ideals that have motivated the mosque project: to create bonds of trust between Muslims and non-muslims; to counter the damaging effects of extremism on both sides. First, we can challenge the dangerous use of language and the misuse of rhetoric in the public square. The longer the lies are repeated, the more people will accept them as facts. Critics routinely identify Rauf s project as the ground zero mosque, suggesting that the Islamic center will be built on the site of the Twin Towers. In fact, the center will not even be visible from Ground Zero. Some critics have described it as a victory mosque, built on conquered territory as a monument to the supremacy of the Muslim religion. But Al Quaeda is responsible for the attacks, not the Muslim religion. To quote Dr. Jennifer Peace, an interfaith educator: To suggest that no building associated with Islam should be built near Ground Zero is to suggest is that all Muslims are irrevocably tainted by acts of terrorists claiming to be acting in the name of this religion. 3 Public dialogue about the Ground Zero Mosque is shot through with stereotypes. The word Muslim is routinely paired with words like fundamentalist, terrorist or holy war. Even the references to moderate Muslims buy into this assumption. The implication is that for Islam, moderation is the exception rather than the rule. Do we really believe this about our fellow Americans? The majority of Muslims in this country, and around the world, want the same things we all want: to practice their faith, to nurture their families, to live their lives 3 Jennifer Peace, An Interfaith Educator Responds to the Mosque Controversy, http://www.ants.edu/peacemosquestatement
Sermon 9/26/2010 - Page 6 of 8 and prosper. It is the radicals who are the exception. As author Diane Eck describes, Militant extremist Muslims are to Islam what radical Christian identity movements, Christian militias, and the Aryan nation are to Christianity: one end of a wide spectrum, one thread in a complex pattern of faith and culture. 4 As religious liberals we can point out the lies wrapped in the loaded language. We can debunk the conspiracy theories. We can separate the information from the innuendo. Second, we can confront the ignorance which allows public sentiment to be manipulated in destructive ways. Ignorance is the basis for stereotyping and prejudice. It may be natural and understandable for us to create images in our heads representing the people we don t know. It becomes dangerous when we begin to judge these people on the basis of such images, which are likely to be false. We substitute these images for living, breathing people. We erase their humanity. We make it easier to justify the violence and the hate crimes. The American public is ignorant about Muslims. We tend to equate Muslims with Arabs, and to think that American Muslims are a recent phenomenon. But Muslims have been living in this country since before it was a country. One in ten African slaves was a Muslim. Immigrants came from Syria, Lebanon, the Balkans. When enough people arrived in one place, and recognized themselves as a community, they would build a house of worship just as the settlers did in the Shawshin wilderness, when they formed the congregation that became this church. The American public is ignorant about the Muslim religion. Some think that Allah is the name of a different God, not an Arab word for the same God worshipped by Christians and Jews. Few have looked inside a Qur an or learned 4 Diana L. Eck, A New Religious America, New York: HarperCollins, 2001, page 223.
Sermon 9/26/2010 - Page 7 of 8 much about the history of Islam. Many think they know that Islam is a religion of conquest and violence as if Christianity were not also steeped in a heritage of conquest and violence. Few understand the ways in which Muslim ideals are congenial to American ideals such as a respect for pluralism, justice and human dignity. I wonder what we know, as Unitarian Universalists. We affirm the wisdom of our Many Sources. But if we are to be more than tourists, we will look at the sources in some detail. As religious liberals we will find ideas to agree with and disagree with. Islam teaches that God has sent many prophets to many nations. It also teaches that Muhammad received the final revelation. We may not accept the premise that any statement of truth can be final. But we may discover some common ground with our Muslim neighbors: the need to reclaim messages of peace from our respective Scriptures. This process requires more than the cherrypicking of congenial, quotable verses we need to promote coherent, positive theologies. In our troubled relationship with Christianity, Unitarian Universalists have often acted as if the Bible now belongs to fundamentalists. Too seldom do we lift up the Scriptural texts that repudiate domination and call for peace. Similarly, peace-loving Muslims, that is to say most Muslims, have an opportunity to hold up messages of peace and co-operation to counter the messages of intolerance which are espoused by radicals in Muslim countries and reinforced by their Christian counterparts in this country. Just as extremists on both sides need each other to perpetuate violence, so do peace-loving people need to join together to build lasting peace. Let us sit down and reflect on our holy books together.
Sermon 9/26/2010 - Page 8 of 8 Finally, as religious liberals, we are called to demonstrate an alternative to the us-vs.-them mentality that pervades public discourse. In times of change and uncertainty, diversity can make people uneasy. As Diane Eck describes, an awareness of the other in our midst can trigger the fear that we do not know who they are or perhaps that we do not know who we are. As Americans, we are literally afraid of ourselves. 5 But as Americans we have a choice in how to cope with this fear. One way to cope with it is to demonize the other, creating a scapegoat that we can unite against. For many years, the Communist served as our scapegoat. More recently we have adopted the Muslim in this role. A much better choice is to practice reaching out and building relationships not with ideas, or with stereotypes, but with actual people: to break bread together; to share our stories together; to invite each other into our houses of worship. If we can practice working together on projects that reflect the positive values we share in common, we will learn to trust one another over time. The more threads we add to this network of mutuality, the stronger it will become, and the less susceptible it will be to the efforts of those who would break it. Among Muslims, a common form of greeting is to say salam alaikum, peace be with you; and the response is alaikum salam. When one person says, salam alaikum, the other responds: alaikum salam. Salam alaikum. 5 Diana L. Eck, A New Religious America, New York: HarperCollins, 2001, page 297.