How Is This Tolerance?

[Soul Crusher]

How Is This Tolerance?
By David Harsanyi
www.realclearpolitics.co m

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Is questioning the presence of a mosque at ground zero really a sign of bigotry?

Or is it just common sense?

This week, the prospects of an Islamic center's rising on the boundary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks were all but assured when a New York City commission unanimously voted to allow the demolition of the building that now sits on the site.

Which, technically speaking, is the right thing to do.

After all, if we were to apply a skewed moral litmus test to First Amendment protections, we'd be no better than folks who support the Fairness Doctrine or oppose the Citizens United campaign finance decision.

And if we backed the use of zoning laws to compel others to act in accordance with our own value systems, hey, we'd be as tyrannical as the average environmentalist on the average city council.

But since when does deference to the Constitution prohibit a person from pointing out the obvious and worrisome symbolism of this project?

If we concede that a mosque at ground zero is a sign of our tolerance - and it is - surely debating the problems with its setting lets the world know we have the cognitive ability not to be a bunch of saps.

Bigot!

It is, you see, ugly and un-American to question the motivations of those opening an Islamic center a stone's throw from ground zero - a project that will cost $100 million - but not ugly of organizers to pick a spot that's a stone's throw from ground zero.

Those who have spoken out against the project - Sarah Palin, Rick Lazio, Newt Gingrich and the Anti-Defamation League, among many others - have been accused of political grandstanding and, naturally, of peddling a form of unquenchable "bigotry."

Let's concede that grandstanding is a permanent feature of political interaction.

(Though there have been fewer distasteful forms of grandstanding than the preening and imperious lecturing we see from those who decide what is and isn't tolerance.) But opposing the ideology of religious institutions - any religion - does not constitute bigotry.

Furthermore, Daisy Khan, a partner in the Cordoba project, conceded in an interview with National Public Radio that Islam "has been hijacked by the extremists, and this center is going to create that counter-momentum, which will amplify the voices of the moderate Muslims."

That would be a productive - if unprecedented - undertaking. We need more secularized Muslims. And, of course, reasonable Americans do not conflate the moderate with the radical. Yet even Khan states that the religion has been "hijacked." So surely, it is to be expected that some would be skeptical of the group's intentions.

There is, you see, some evidence to back the concern.

Though the Cordoba Initiative is under no obligation to do so, if its purpose is to battle extremism within Islam and build cooperation with other faiths, why not divulge the funders of the project? Why not unconditionally condemn Islamist terrorism?

Neither has happened.

Then again, even if we were boundlessly tolerant, there is an inescapable fact: This 13-story community center is going to be built two blocks from the worst modern atrocity committed in the name of Islam.

Such a project is not just in poor taste; for many Americans, it confirms their concerns about Islam's provocative nature.

How that helps interfaith dialogue remains a mystery.

Reach columnist David Harsanyi at dharsanyi@denverpost.com.
Copyright 2010 Creators Syndicate, Inc.


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Great article.   

Cue in 240 who probably wants to make his first trip to NYC to visit this place.   

[Fury]

Great article. This tactic by the liberals and MSM to paint westerners as intolerant really takes the cake. It wasn't America or any other western country that fell on the recent list of worst violators of religious freedom. But 10 Muslim countries did make up the list of 13 (with the rest being Communist countries). Yet it's us who are intolerant. Muslims are so tolerant that all non-Muslims are BANNED from entering Mecca.

And with regards to the constant cries of islamophobia (Samson, Jag, kcballer like to parrot this), there were more anti-Christian and anti-Jew attacks than anti-Muslim attacks in 2009. CAIR is so desperate to push this concept of anti-Muslim attacks that they are constantly fabricating fake attacks on Muslims and pushing them as part of their agenda.

[George Whorewell]

Well it's just courage without consequence.

Libs like to bitch and whine about religion becoming too intertwined with our secular society. They also take shots at the church every single opportunity they can. Finally, Libs also speak in outrageously inaccurate generalities and lump all religions into the same lot without regard for the realities of todays world. You see, for libs truth and reality are not readily definable attributes of the Universe, they are only details that should be harped upon when convenient for the talking points of their ideology. Why do they bow to Islam and demonize religions that have figured out (for quite sometime) how to live in harmony with the secular world? Because confronting evil requires the acceptance that there is evil in the world and that the existentialist mindset is nothing more than a diversion perpatrated by ivory tower academics that is used to brainwash impressionable college students into the belief that the world is whatever they imagine it to be.

It is much easier to take shots at the peaceful and complacent than it is to directly challenge the violent and deranged. Think of it as bullying the meek, silent type in the schoolyard while allowing the stupid, crazy kid who carries a switch blade in his book bag to run amok. It's easy to pretend your a champion of "freedom" and "expression" when the only real threat to freedom and expression is glossed over and directly ignored in plain view.  

[Soul Crusher]

Well it's just courage without consequence.

Libs like to bitch and whine about religion becoming too intertwined with our secular society. They also take shots at the church every single opportunity they can. Finally, Libs also speak in outrageously inaccurate generalities and lump all religions into the same lot without regard for the realities of todays world. You see, for libs truth and reality are not readily definable attributes of the Universe, they are only details that should be harped upon when convenient for the talking points of their ideology. Why do they bow to Islam and demonize religions that have figured out (for quite sometime) how to live in harmony with the secular world? Because confronting evil requires the acceptance that there is evil in the world and that the existentialist mindset is nothing more than a diversion perpatrated by ivory tower academics that is used to brainwash impressionable college students into the belief that the world is whatever they imagine it to be.

It is much easier to take shots at the peaceful and complacent than it is to directly challenge the violent and deranged. Think of it as bullying the meek, silent type in the schoolyard while allowing the stupid, crazy kid who carries a switch blade in his book bag to run amok. It's easy to pretend your a champion of "freedom" and "expression" when the only real threat to freedom and expression is glossed over and directly ignored in plain view.  

ONE OF YOUR BEST POSTS EVER.  SPOT ON GW.