Guest Opinion: Ground Zero is American Holy Ground. No Mosque Near Ground Zero

By Rev. Johannes L. Jacobse
7/27/2010
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

Don't Let Muslims Define 9-11

Sacred ground is more easily understood by European Christians than their American counterparts. Some events are so catastrophic, or prove to be so historically significant, that they transcend the categories we normally employ to explain them. These events must reference something higher to make sense to us.

The Cross of steel beams left after the 9/11 attack.

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NAPLES (Catholic Online) - Muslims have it over secularists, but not Christians - at least the clear thinking ones anyway. The Muslim proposal to build a mosque two blocks from Ground Zero is not only an affront to all people who died there, but another chapter in a cultural jihad that seeks to replace the cultural traditions of Christendom with Sharia, the code of law derived from the Koran and from the teachings and example of Mohammed.

First the caveats. Yes, most Muslims are not jihadists; they may see the non-Muslim as an infidel but won't resort to violence to defeat him . Yes, Muslim believers pose no threat to American cultural norms and legal structures as long as their numbers remain small. Yes, every Muslim citizen should be afforded the rights due to all Americans regardless of their religion.

The $100 million mosque however, represents more than religious freedom. Named the "Cordoba House," it is meant to recall the great Cordoba Mosque built in Cordoba, Spain in 784 after the Muslim conquest (and etch it forever in the West's historical memory). The Cordoba House in New York (which assuredly will function as a mosque) is meant to broadcast to the world that the destruction of the Twin Towers was a victory for jihad.

It's a perverse twist to a practice that Christians hold dear: Some ground is sacred and must reference God to make sense of the events that took place on it.

Sacred ground is more easily understood by European Christians than their American counterparts (the relative youth of America may have something to do with this). Some events are so catastrophic, or prove to be so historically significant, that they transcend the categories we normally employ to explain them. These events must reference something higher to make sense to us; they must appeal to something outside of ourselves that can explain paradox or recognize great moral courage or even reconcile inhuman suffering.

America has places of holy ground, even though most Americans, while drawn to those places and often deeply moved by their visits to them, don't always grasp that the sacred character of those places is what moves them. Appomattox, where the American Civil War ended with Lee's surrender to Grant, is one such place. The USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor comes to mind. Ellis Island is another. There are surely more.

The secularists don't see it that way of course. But their blindness (which must inevitably default to perceiving these question only in legal categories) is the result of an a priori rejection of the sacred dimension of life.

You can think of secularism as merely a long layover from one city to the next, although this trip takes a few centuries instead of hours. Secularism is not strong or deep enough to sustain a culture. It can't and won't hold. Secularism lives off the religious heritage of Christianity (and Judaism before it), and if Christendom ceases to be Christian the secularist will end up embracing Islam .

The Muslims understand this. Some Christians do too. That is why building a mosque represents not, as some Americans think, an example of American tolerance towards "religious belief," but the continuing desacralizing of American culture under the rubric of tolerance.

If the mosque is built, we will see the slow but certain drift to referencing 9-11 to the god of Mohammed rather than the God of Abraham. And if we drift far enough, religious freedom will die and so will the political and cultural freedoms that are its progeny.

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Fr. Johannes L. Jacobse is an Orthodox priest living in Naples, Fl. Fr. Jacobse edits the website Orthodoxy Today and is President of the American Orthodox Institute .

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Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

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1 - 10 of 69 Comments

wantsome
2 years ago
Did,not the catholic church, also, denounce other religions, through out the world. In the name of God. And, decided it was not in accordance, with the catholic views, and proceeded to force the ideas on them? And tried to kill them, for not wanting to change. Example: the crusades, the Mayans, American Indians, and non catholics, in the country, and across the world. Seems, like everywhere the catholics went there, was death to all, who would not except, the churches views. For, I, believe that the catholic church, has done a jihad themselves.
Quicksilver
2 years ago
A building of all faiths would be more appropriate. It would truly signify our oneness that we so adamantly proclaim.
Charles James
2 years ago
The question about the mosque at Ground Zero is an emotive one. We cannot help our feelings but we are Christians/Catholics. Following Christ is difficult but we cannot do it without him and the comforter, the Holy Spirit. This issue has psychological and political ramifications but as Christians/Catholics we are called by God to forgive.Our christianity should not be reactionary to the present climate of terrorism. We are called to love our enemies. Pope John Paul II apologised for the excesses of men who identified with the Catholic Faith in the historic persecution of the Jews and the slave trade. This issue for us is all about our Faith. Are we going to follow Jesus Christ and His Church or are we only Americans or Europeans who are fighting Islamic terrorism? We will always have enemies but are we a solution to the problems of the world or a big chunk of it? I will throw my lot in with Jesus Christ and the teaching of the Church. Forgive us our sins are we forgive those who sin against us even when it is humanly impossible. Christian morality is not possible without Christ.
maryam
2 years ago
Please read the following paragraphs with the understanding that these words are unaltered words from the Quran. (The Quran was written in Arabic, but like the Holy Bible, has been translated into English with the most popular and purportedly the most accurate being the Yusuf Ali translation from which these passages are quoted).

Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you, but do not transgress limits, for Allah does not love transgressors. 2:190
And slay them wherever you catch them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out, for tumult and oppression are worse than slaughter. 2:191
And fight them on until there is no more tumult or oppression, and let there prevail justice and faith in Allah; but if they cease, let there be no hostility except to those who practice oppression. 2:193
Fighting is prescribed for you, and you dislike it. But it is possible that you dislike a thing which is good for you, and that you love a thing which is bad for you. But Allah knows, and you know not. 2:216
Let those fight in the cause of Allah who sell the life of this world for the Hereafter. To him who fights in the cause of Allah, - whether he is slain or gets victory � soon shall We give him a reward of great value. 4:74
Etc�
Of the Unbelievers: "seize them and slay them wherever you find them: and in any case take no friends or helpers from their ranks." 4:89
…"for the Unbelievers are open enemies to you." 4:101
From those too, who call themselves Christians, We did take a covenant, but they forgot a good part of the Message that was sent to them: so We estranged them, with enmity and hatred between one and the other, to the Day of Judgment. And soon will Allah show them what they have done. 5:14
O you who believe! Take not the Jews and the Christians for your friends and protectors: they are but friends and protectors to each other. And he among you that turns to them for friendship is of them. 5:51
Of the Jews: �When in their insolence they transgressed all prohibitions, We said to them: "Be you apes, despised and rejected."7:166
"Many are the men We have made for Hell" 7:179
Remember your Lord inspired the angels with the message: "I am with you: give firmness to the Believers: I will instill terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers: you smite them above their necks and smite all their finger-tips off them." 8:12
Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, to strike terror into the hearts of the enemies of Allah. Whatever you spend in the cause of Allah shall be repaid to you and you shall not be treated unjustly. 8:60
O Messenger! Rouse the Believers among you to the fight. If there are twenty amongst you, patient and persevering, they will vanquish two hundred: if a hundred, they will vanquish two thousand of the Unbelievers: for these are people without understanding. 8:65
Then fight and slay the Pagans wherever you find them, seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem of war
Fight them and Allah will punish them by your hands, cover them with shame, help you to victory over them, heal the breasts of the Believers. 9:14
Fight those who do not believe in Allah … until they pay the Jizya with willing submission and feel themselves subdued. 9:29
Etc.
In fact these acts are diametrically opposed to the teachings and writings of Jesus who affirmed the greatest commandment(s): "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like unto it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and all the Prophets hang on these two commandments." Mt. 22:37-40

Etc.
K.C.Thomas
2 years ago
Dear John, your idea that we should not hate,shouldbe tolerant is really christian.. If some one inimicaltoyour way of life comes and occulies part of your house,do you like it ? Even taking it as a charitable act,if the occupier wants to teach you that your property and even your wife may be shared with him,what willyou do ? It is like that if followers of this religion occupies such Ground. Later Osamas will govern and you will have to vacate. Do you agree ?
Amedeo
2 years ago
Did someone say Karma? What a joke....
Nicole
2 years ago
I don't have time to read all the comments here, so my apologies if this is redundant (one can only hope)... "Clear thinking" Christians? I'm glad they're out there, but this viewpoint certainly doesn't represent that. Who says this particular sacred ground is sacred CHRISTIAN ground. Do you think the people who died there were only Christian? Perhaps it would be more appropriate for all faiths to be represented near ground zero as this mosque would represent the non-jihadist side of the Muslim faith. And what of all the other lands considered sacred ground to the Native Americans that the Christians who conquered and destroyed their culture built their churches upon? Well, maybe that's what your religion is so fearful of... KARMA?
A son of Dominic
2 years ago
Rob, in short, what you will find is the case for principles favoring religious freedom (not religious toleration, which is a subversive ideological weapon and a potential weapon of state). However, as always, the need for prudential judgment still remains. YET, prudential judgment--and any necessary weighing of vartious principles in relation to, or even against, each othe--must NOT be invoked in order to justify putting any group of people, INCLUDING Muslim in general or any particular group of Muslims, into a no-win situation. So, even if there are some prudential reasons and/or any rights to be observed (e.g., those of 9/11 victims' families) that can justify denying Cordoba House's present application, they would be case specific. Only prejudice or fear would be able to fabricate/imagine a case based on Catholic teaching that would call for a blanket denial of the right for Muslims to build mosques in this or any other country. We should not accept the mentality that every mosque is a threat even if it turns out that there are sinister motives behind Cordoba House [if you know anything about the recent history of Saudi internal politics and the desperate strategy of buying off Wahabi jihadists.with bribes in the form of mosque-builiding & the setting up of the most fanatical preachers as well-paid imams for said mosques in the West, the possibility is not far-fetched since Cordoba House is being secretive about its funding]. So, yes, reasonable Americans and Christians can specifically challenge/question Cordoba House [and oppose the royal Saudi jihadist export program] but not all would-be mosque building programs. I will go one further: It is un-American and un-Catholic to automatically oppose all mosque-building.
Rob
2 years ago
Thanks for the references. I do plan on reading these documents, but for the sake of simplicity, these documents will address the issue of a government, in this case the US government and religious tolerance. My question is not the fact that as Catholics we shouldn't be unaware of agenda, motives etc. (I actually think we have enough issues to worry about than being overly concerned about Muslims...we seem to be hell bent on destroying ourselves without their help). So if I review these documents, I am going to find that the Church unequivocally states that our government should deny this application? Would folks opinions change if this request was for some other part of the country?
A son of Dominic
2 years ago
Rob, also see Vatican II's DIGNITATIS HUMANAE (Of the Dignity of the Human Person) DECLARATION ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM, ON THE RIGHT OF THE PERSON AND OF COMMUNITIES TO SOCIAL AND CIVIL FREEDOM IN MATTERS RELIGIOUS. This is also available at www.vatican.va. Helpful commentaries include "The Myth of Religious Tolerance" by Fr. Thomas Williams, availabe online at catholiceducation.org.

See also the interview of Fr. Richard John Neuhaus by the title of: Vatican II, 40 Years Later: "Dignitatis Humanae" available at Zenit, the Catholic news service,
http://www.zenit.org/article-8747?l=english. The late Fr. Neuhaus, a famous Lutheran scholar before he converted to Catholicism, marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the civil rights era; he was probably America's most significant theologian of culture since John Courtney Murray and the Niebuhr brothers. Neuhaus thoughtfully challenges the notion of religious toleration in favor of religious freedom in said article. In it, you will find specific references to Islam, the significance of 9/11, and government infringement against religious freedom in the name of toleration.

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