Earlier today, during his press conference, President Barack Obama gave a noteworthy and eloquent defense of the proposed Islamic center near Ground Zero. His response was moving precisely because he clearly understood that this isn't really about the "sensitivity" of a religious building being located in a "sensitive" area, but about American Muslims being able to claim the same rights and privileges in American life that everyone else can claim.
Initially, the president relied on the rhetorical frames that have been developed as part of the administration's national-security strategy--disassociating Islam from terrorism, delegitimizing terrorists' theological claim to Islam, and isolating them as a small, extremist minority. He even recognized his predecessor's deliberate efforts to emphasize American religious plurality and tolerance. But the president's speech really took off when he reminded everyone that, when it comes to American Muslims, "we don't differentiate between them and us. It's just us."
The other reason it's important for us to remember, that is we've got millions of Muslim Americans...in this country. They're going to school with our kids. They're our neighbors. They're our friends. They're our coworkers. And when we start acting as if their religion is somehow offensive, what are we saying to them? I've got Muslims who are fighting in Afghanistan in the uniform of the Unites States armed services. They're out there putting their lives on the line for us and we've gotta make sure that we are crystal clear for our sakes and their sakes. They are Americans, and we honor their service, and part of honoring their service is making sure they understand that we don't differentiate between them and us. It's just us. And that is a principle that I think is going to be very important for us to sustain, and I think tomorrow is an excellent time for us to reflect on that.
It's a variation on the bedtime story that Obama tells better than anyone else -- the story of how strangers and foreigners, immigrants and slaves become Americans.
National Review's Jim Geraghty was obviously moved by Obama's response, and here he takes up Obama's challenge to explain to a Muslim American service member why the center shouldn't be built.
It's a compelling answer, but in the end I'm unconvinced. I would say to that Muslim serving in the Armed Forces, “First, thank you for what you do. Every American ought to honor your service. But on this proposal, I don't want a self-proclaimed Official Mosque of Ground Zero any more than I want a self-proclaimed Official Church of Ground Zero or Official Synagogue or other institutions of faith. The events of 9/11 are too big, and too deeply meaningful to too many people, to be shoehorned into one sect's interpretation, even if it turns out to be a good one. This is separate about questions of the Imam's… well, good faith, no pun intended; his viewpoint seems to be that no amount of intense public opposition, distrust and resentment will deter him from his mission of promoting unity, trust and healing. No matter how counterproductive his actions get, he never seems to be willing to reconsider what he's doing.”
Obviously, I find this pretty inadequate. First because the center is located blocks away from Ground Zero, it wouldn't be "the Official Mosque of Ground Zero," and the idea that no institutions of faith, let alone a Muslim one should be built in proximity to Ground Zero is by definition shoehorning an interpretation of that event that excludes American Muslims as having the same claim to citizenship as anyone else. There also happens to be a 9/11 Christian Center near Ground Zero run by a preacher who "attacks Muslims as pedophiles." The notion that the center should be moved because it's angering so many people is also untenable -- to say this is to argue that discrimination against religious minorities is appropriate as long as it's done under the auspices of avoiding offense.
But look, Geraghty has an impossible task here. There is no conceivable way to describe to a Muslim American soldier facing death and danger in Afghanistan or Iraq in the name of their country that the freedoms they are fighting for simply do not apply to them. One cannot reconcile Muslims taking on among the most solemn responsibilities of citizenship with the kind of disparate treatment Park51 opponents are asking American Muslims to sustain. If there is no them, if there is just us, then the argument over Park51 is already settled.
