An open letter to ADL
Dear Sirs,
I am appalled by the recent statements against the so-called ground zero mosque. Let’s move past the facts that the proposed mosque is not actually at “ground zero” or that the land is going to be developed commercially and not seen as particularly sacred by those who develop it.
Those points alone put paid to the hypocrisy of your stance, but they are not the real issue that needs to be addressed.
Your organization is designed to promote American liberties and fight racism and defamation. Yet, your stance on this only panders to racism, prejudice, fear and guilt by association. Here are some points to help you get over this inability of yours to distinguish between American citizens of the Islamic faith and the Jihadis who destroyed the Two Towers.
1. Islam is not monolithic. Given the terrible history of relations between Jews and Christians, should you be opposed to people building churches? If you aren’t - and I hope you aren’t, some possible reasons to not be opposed to the construction of new churches is that Christianity is not monolithic either. Most Christians are not keen on re-starting the inquisition and moreover most of them would be appalled by it. Obviously it would be wrong to deny a church because you lump all Christians together. Extend the courtesy of the same logic to American Muslims. The same applies to American Muslims.
2. We should only punish the guilty. To do otherwise is to simply be prejudiced. If you meet someone who is German, do you hate them? I bring that one up because, honestly when I was younger and I first went to graduate school, I met some real live actual Germans. I could not help a pit in my stomach when I met them. Then I realized that blaming someone for the sins of their grandparents was just wrong.
3. American rights and liberties stem from freedom of speech and freedom of religion - in short freedom to believe as you will without being persecuted for it. Going down the slippery slope of making exceptions in order to assuage what is ultimately a charge of guilt by association and latent racism on your part is a loss for all of America. Again and again, your organization has made this very point.
4. In the long run, the problem in 3 is a loss for you too. There are plenty who would rather not see a synagogue or a kosher bakery built as well. There are plenty who have issues with setting up an eruv. But it goes further than that. There are plenty who will have whatever grudge against this form or protestant or that form of Catholic. Would you argue that a Church that openly accepted gays should be closed or not built? You know full well that many in this nation feel that way to the point of violence. By making America free, the founding forefathers had the sense to prevent all of that, by taking it off the board.
5. American Muslims are just as American as you. Give them the same honor for their faith as you would expect in return. Just like you respect the rights of Christians even though some Christians tell you that are going to burn in hell for being a Jew.