Betty Winston Bayé: Mosque Opponents Must Not Understand New York.
Mosque opponents must not understand New York
By Betty Winston Bayé
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me. That is a bulwark of the Christian faith. Yet, hardly a day passes that one can't find some Bible-thumper on television, or on radio or in print, preaching rhetoric of fear that contradicts the 23rd Psalm.
Several weeks ago, Kevin W. Cosby, my pastor, preached a series titled “The Fear Factor,” in which he said that there's a difference between a Christian being concerned and being worried. “Worry is when we take personal responsibility for that which God has already promised to provide,” he said, and further that, “Worry attempts to control the future” as opposed to concern which “attempts to improve the future.”
“To worry is a sin,” he said, “because God said be not anxious,” and to back that up, he referred to such biblical references as the 23rd Psalm, Isaiah 43:2, and Deuteronomy 1:30. Then on Sunday, the Rev. Dianne Brown, a St. Stephen associate pastor, preached a sermon titled “Recovering Stolen Property,” in which she talked about how our enemies steal our peace, our passion, our joy, our aspirations and, if we're not careful, our minds.
I'm no theologian or preacher, but I'm thinking some Christians ought to recover their stolen property. In particular, I'm referring to some who've chosen to weigh in on the controversy over plans to build an Islamic center and mosque two blocks from where the World Trade Center stood until Sept. 11, 2001 when radical Muslims attacked and reduced the WTC to piles of twisted steel and smoldering rubble.
Three thousand souls died on 9/11. My cousin Norris, a former investment broker, was burned in the WTC attack. He survived, but he's a changed man, just as America has been changed to such an extent that nine years later, 9/11 continues to test the nation's values and founding principles, including freedom of speech and freedom of religion.
Americans have freedom of speech, but I was dismayed that CNN, which usually is a reliable middle ground between the more openly ideological talking heads on the MSNBC and Fox cable networks, has given air time to Christian preachers to rant against Islam and its 1.5 billion adherents.
“I love Muslims, but I hate Islam,” one of these preachers said. Another, with eyes blazing and waving a Bible, declared that Islam comes from “the pits of hell.” He seemed to be saying, the First Amendment's provision that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” is applicable to his faith, and possibly others, but not to Islam.
At other times, supposedly rational opponents of the Islamic center and mosque insist that they are being patient with Muslims, but nevertheless that Muslims ought not be “insensitive” or “needlessly provocative” by seeking to build their house of worship near Ground Zero.
Jews and African Americans may recall when they were urged not to be insensitive or needlessly provocative by insisting on moving into certain neighborhoods, eating in certain restaurants, joining certain country clubs and so forth because some might find their presence offensive.
As I see it, the First Amendment either applies to everyone or applies to none.
I think as well that a lot of people who are holding forth on whether or not Muslims should be able build an Islamic center and mosque in Lower Manhattan have never been there. They are offering opinions based on fear or political positions, but without a true appreciation for how New York City's heart beats. For example, one can be indeed be religiously intolerant in New York City, but I doubt that he would be able to live as happily as he might in homogenous and scarcely populated parts of this country.
You can't walk 100 feet in New York, much less ride a bus or train, and not encounter people who are different from yourself. The last place that I lived in New York had four apartments on the 22nd floor. In 22E lived Ade, a Nigerian with his Liberian wife. In 22F lived Mary Ann, a Puerto Rican. I lived in 22G, and in 22H lived Joyce, a Jew, and Sully, her Puerto Rican Catholic husband. You got a problem with that? If not, you can live happily in New York.
Lest we forget, al-Qaida attacked the World Trade Center in the first place because of what it represented: people from all over the world coming together in peace to work, to meet, to trade, to cut deals and to break bread. So when I hear posturing politicians and Christian preachers generalizing about Islam and suggesting that since 9/11, the First and 14th amendments shouldn't always apply, I imagine Osama bin Laden unfurling a banner of his own saying, “Mission Accomplished.”
Betty Winston Bayé's column appears Thursdays in the Community Forum and online at www.courier-journal.com/opinion.
By Betty Winston Bayé
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me. That is a bulwark of the Christian faith. Yet, hardly a day passes that one can't find some Bible-thumper on television, or on radio or in print, preaching rhetoric of fear that contradicts the 23rd Psalm.
Several weeks ago, Kevin W. Cosby, my pastor, preached a series titled “The Fear Factor,” in which he said that there's a difference between a Christian being concerned and being worried. “Worry is when we take personal responsibility for that which God has already promised to provide,” he said, and further that, “Worry attempts to control the future” as opposed to concern which “attempts to improve the future.”
“To worry is a sin,” he said, “because God said be not anxious,” and to back that up, he referred to such biblical references as the 23rd Psalm, Isaiah 43:2, and Deuteronomy 1:30. Then on Sunday, the Rev. Dianne Brown, a St. Stephen associate pastor, preached a sermon titled “Recovering Stolen Property,” in which she talked about how our enemies steal our peace, our passion, our joy, our aspirations and, if we're not careful, our minds.
I'm no theologian or preacher, but I'm thinking some Christians ought to recover their stolen property. In particular, I'm referring to some who've chosen to weigh in on the controversy over plans to build an Islamic center and mosque two blocks from where the World Trade Center stood until Sept. 11, 2001 when radical Muslims attacked and reduced the WTC to piles of twisted steel and smoldering rubble.
Three thousand souls died on 9/11. My cousin Norris, a former investment broker, was burned in the WTC attack. He survived, but he's a changed man, just as America has been changed to such an extent that nine years later, 9/11 continues to test the nation's values and founding principles, including freedom of speech and freedom of religion.
Americans have freedom of speech, but I was dismayed that CNN, which usually is a reliable middle ground between the more openly ideological talking heads on the MSNBC and Fox cable networks, has given air time to Christian preachers to rant against Islam and its 1.5 billion adherents.
“I love Muslims, but I hate Islam,” one of these preachers said. Another, with eyes blazing and waving a Bible, declared that Islam comes from “the pits of hell.” He seemed to be saying, the First Amendment's provision that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” is applicable to his faith, and possibly others, but not to Islam.
At other times, supposedly rational opponents of the Islamic center and mosque insist that they are being patient with Muslims, but nevertheless that Muslims ought not be “insensitive” or “needlessly provocative” by seeking to build their house of worship near Ground Zero.
Jews and African Americans may recall when they were urged not to be insensitive or needlessly provocative by insisting on moving into certain neighborhoods, eating in certain restaurants, joining certain country clubs and so forth because some might find their presence offensive.
As I see it, the First Amendment either applies to everyone or applies to none.
I think as well that a lot of people who are holding forth on whether or not Muslims should be able build an Islamic center and mosque in Lower Manhattan have never been there. They are offering opinions based on fear or political positions, but without a true appreciation for how New York City's heart beats. For example, one can be indeed be religiously intolerant in New York City, but I doubt that he would be able to live as happily as he might in homogenous and scarcely populated parts of this country.
You can't walk 100 feet in New York, much less ride a bus or train, and not encounter people who are different from yourself. The last place that I lived in New York had four apartments on the 22nd floor. In 22E lived Ade, a Nigerian with his Liberian wife. In 22F lived Mary Ann, a Puerto Rican. I lived in 22G, and in 22H lived Joyce, a Jew, and Sully, her Puerto Rican Catholic husband. You got a problem with that? If not, you can live happily in New York.
Lest we forget, al-Qaida attacked the World Trade Center in the first place because of what it represented: people from all over the world coming together in peace to work, to meet, to trade, to cut deals and to break bread. So when I hear posturing politicians and Christian preachers generalizing about Islam and suggesting that since 9/11, the First and 14th amendments shouldn't always apply, I imagine Osama bin Laden unfurling a banner of his own saying, “Mission Accomplished.”
Betty Winston Bayé's column appears Thursdays in the Community Forum and online at www.courier-journal.com/opinion.
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