Opinion: Pointless Protest Against New Mosques

(June 21) -- Recently in my hometown of New York City, two very ugly public discussions about the role of Muslims in American society emerged. Each, in its own way, suggests that dangerous misconceptions about Islam continue even nearly nine years after Sept. 11, 2001.

First in Staten Island, where efforts to open a mosque for the borough's growing Muslim community have been met with outrage by residents. As chronicled in a recent New York Times story, Muslim representatives of the proposed mosque were peppered with angry questions about Shariah law and terrorism. One woman, apparently not aware of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and the religious background of its protagonist, Timothy McVeigh, asked, "Wouldn't you agree that every terrorist, past and present, has come out of a mosque?"

The scene wasn't much better in Manhattan, where plans to build a Muslim community center near ground zero were met with similar catcalls. In a bizarre twist at one demonstration, two Egyptian Coptic Christians who had come to protest the mosque were actually surrounded by demonstrators who believed they were Muslims. They had to be whisked away to safety by police officers.

The protests in New York follow a depressing pattern that is playing out with increasing frequency across the U.S. In Tennessee, a planned mosque had to be scrapped because of widespread community opposition and fears of Islamic terrorism. In Wisconsin, even a Christian minister voiced protests over the construction of a mosque, which was eventually approved.

The feelings of many opponents could perhaps best be summed up by a sign seen at a community meeting in lower Manhattan: "Show respect for 9/11. No mosque!"

But many of these protests reflect a basic lack of understanding about Islam and the connection between American Muslims and terrorism. While it's obviously correct that 19 Muslims, under the banner of al-Qaida, carried out the 9/11 attacks, it is something altogether different to hold an entire religion of 1.5 billion people responsible for this terrible deed. This would be akin to holding all Christians responsible for the murder of abortion doctor George Tiller last year -- in a church no less.

Moreover, it 's nearly impossible to find any in the American Muslim community who supported the 9/11 attacks or jihadist terror in general. A recent poll of American Muslims indicated that only 5 percent had a favorable view of al-Qaida. In fact, al-Qaida's declining popularity in the Islamic world is indicative of the response that its terrorist attacks have generated among fellow Muslims -- one of revulsion rather than acceptance. It's a fact that bears repeating over and over again: The overwhelming majority of Muslims have rejected al-Qaida's murderous ideology.

But perhaps the greatest irony of the growing domestic opposition to mosque building is that it plays directly into the narrative of those who initiated the 9/11 attacks and their depiction of the U.S. as an anti-Muslim society. This was the case with so many of the post-9/11 excesses -- whether it was the Bush administration's attack on civil liberties, the Guantanamo Bay detention center or, of course, the invasion of Iraq.

In reality, acceptance of religious, ethnic and ideological diversity is the rhetorical cornerstone of American democracy -- even if history shows that this has been rather unevenly embraced. Indeed, what could be more fundamentally American then recognizing this country's unique religious differences and celebrating the construction of an Islamic center in the shadow of ground zero? Doesn't that reflect America at its finest -- or even freest?

It's hard to imagine a more effective response to al-Qaida's hateful ideology than the recognition that its warped interpretation of Islam is a distinctly minority view and one rejected by America's Muslim community. Even more so, embracing U.S. Muslims is perhaps the clearest possible sign that America is a very different country than Osama bin Laden and his narrow band of followers would want their fellow religious adherents to believe.

In terms of both America's ideals and even its national security strategy, supporting the construction of mosques, where believers can gather in peace, seems like a rather smart counterterrorism policy -- and a rather patriotic one at that.