[MD] Theocracy, Secularism, and Democracy

[david buchanan]

Steve said:
I don't know if you saw Sam Harris's article on the mosque thing. It sounds like he would count himself in the 70% though he does not think legal action should be taken to prevent the building of the mosque. A lot of those 70% may be right to think it is in bad taste (to put it mildly) even if it ought to be allowed under the Constitutional right.

dmb says:
That's disappointing, although I'm interested to know exactly how he put it so I'll try to find that article. 
Obama sorta backed away from his principled stance the following day. His speech asserted their RIGHT to build a mosque, he said, but he did not and would not comment on the WISDOM of it. This is a lot like the suggestion that it would be in bad taste but not bad enough to take legal action. 
But the more I find out about the actual details of this plan, the more I think the whole thing is just more manufactured outrage from the Republican hate machine. Olbermann's news show had maps and photos and such. It's not really a mosque at all. It's the old Burlington Coat Factory that is to be converted into a cooking school, a pool, and there are some prayer rooms on the two top floors. It's two blocks away from the edge of the world trade center site, but there are tall buildings in between such that you can't even see this building and it doesn't look like a mosque. It's just a building like any other building and they're just going to fix it up. There has been a similar kind of Islamic cultural center nearby, four blocks away, since 1970. No problems in 40 years. The guy who wants to open a new one served the Bush administration as a kind of amateur ambassador and it widely respected among the moderate, interfaith types. It seems more and more like a normal real estate development project has been whipped up into a nice frothy lather of not much.

Maybe I'm just numb but the actual project doesn't seem distasteful or unwise to me. If I had to think of something to complain about, I'd say the project itself is kinda boring. 
Maybe I'm just naive but I was thinking that we should build an actual mosque directly on top of the world trade center site, the biggest mosque in the world. This could be our chance to send a message to the world about religious freedom, not to mention acceptance and forgiveness. These are good messages. 
Come to think of it, I don't know if domes and turrets are going to work in lower Manhattan. Being distinctive is one thing, but that would probably stick out like a sore thumb, especially if they use traditional colors. Nope, come to think of it, building a mosque on the site would be in bad taste. And with the vacancy rate what it is in that neighborhood, I guess it would be unwise too.