Intolerant of Intolerance

It has been a long while since I've been able to post. Life continues to fill with commitments, responsibilities and distractions. However, I have long noticed in the media the ongoing hostilities against Muslim-American citizens to the point that I feel compelled to write about them.

With September 11th looming, the media is increasingly abuzz with talk about the proposed Muslim Community Center to be opened so near to Ground Zero in New York. Additionally, there have been several instances of anti-Muslim assault filling media bytes and the mouths of talking heads, whether or not these instances have anything to do with the issue of the community center. A drunk fare stabbed his taxi driver after questioning him about his Muslim heritage. Another drunkard urinated in a mosque, condemning the worshipers within. And now, there's a pastor in Florida who plans to hold a Qur'an burning on September 11th.

At a time when our country mourns the loss of thousands as a result of heinous attacks rooted in hatred and intolerance, it saddens me to see our country sink to the same level by responding in kind. To be honest, it is difficult to imagine a world without religious intolerance. Yet I cannot see anywhere in the scriptures I study daily where Jesus justified attacking or maligning members of another religious community. Quite the opposite, in fact. He glorified the Good Samaritan, rewarded the faithful Canaanite/Syro-Phoenician woman, and ultimately instructed his disciples to teach his commandments to all peoples, commandments that emphasized compassionate and sacrificial love.

But leave faith out of the issue for a moment. I am weary of Americans who wish to deny these Muslims their natural and Constitutional right to establish a community center wherever they deem it prudent. To deny them this is to deny our Constitution, and to the Constitution is to forfeit the to decry these Muslims, for our freedoms of speech, petition and assembly are conjoined with our freedom of religion. But, one may ask, what about the alleged connections to terrorist cells? I recently saw a video on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart that I believe is very appropriate to this issue. The bottom line is that, if you allow for seven degrees of separation, I'm sure you could establish a connection between myself and terrorist cells. I've traveled to the Middle East before. I've watched Al-Jazeera before. I'm sure there's a racist and intolerant bigot somewhere that would accuse me of supporting terrorist cells, all the while concealing his or her views behind political-speak. Americans need to understand that America is not a white, "Christian" man's country club in which all other minorities serve as the caddies and cabana boys. What would the world look like if we could just respond to such ignorant hatred by rallying around the victims thereof with compassion and love? It seems to me that the old ways of vengeful retaliation don't work, since humanity has failed to escape its self-destructive patterns of war, genocide, estrangement and intolerance from the dawn of "civilization."