Will We Ever Belong?

Sadly, that’s what many Muslims are asking themselves these days, according to a Sept. 7 New York Times article. This as a result of the furor over the proposed Muslim Cultural Center near Ground Zero and a recent New York Times poll, which showed that even the diverse, cosmopolitan city of New York harbors a discouraging high level of suspicion of Muslims, about the same level as that following 9/11.

Along with this is the rising level of vandalism at mosques and harassment of Muslims around the country. According to the Times, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, suggests the level of violence is probably higher than reported because victims are “reluctant to go public” with these kinds of hate incidents for fear of retaliation. So, instead, many Muslims are low-keying it, staying inside, and asking themselves: Do we belong here?

Not surprisingly, some politicians are shamefully fanning these flames of fear and mistrust while their timid counterparts are sitting on their hands saying nothing for fear of being hurt politically. Regrettable, but hardly surprising. Moral courage is not a hallmark of politicians.

But, where are religious leaders? Why aren’t they speaking out and condemning this outrage? What do they have to fear, except perhaps a dip in the Sunday collection? The U.S. Catholic bishops, for example, are not reluctant to speak out when it comes to other moral issues they consider important, such as abortion, stem-cell research, and gay marriage. Then, why aren’t they raising their voices in support of the moral and constitutional rights of Muslims, who are in the same boat as Catholics were just a few decades ago when Catholics’ loyalty to this country was being seriously questioned?

N.Y. Archbishop Timothy Dolan has offered his services to help mediate a compromise between those proposing to build the Muslim Cultural Center at Ground Zero and those opposing it. What’s there to compromise? Religious liberty? Sounds like surrender or defeat to me.

Once you start compromising on such essential matters as religious liberty, it’s a slippery slope and ultimately no one is safe, bringing to mind the famous statement of Pastor Martin Niemöller about the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power: “They came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for me and by that time no one was left to speak up.”

Meantime, the political purveyors of fear and bigotry are having a field day fanning the flames, with only a few religious leaders from other faiths willing to rise up in opposition. Unfortunately, that’s the way it always seems to be, as the Irish poet William Butler Yeats so wisely observed years ago in his poem The Second Coming: “The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.”