[Vision2020] Update on Muslim Center in Lower Manhattan

[Art Deco]

Nick,

I fear for the sanity of our country not only for the intolerance of one or more religions for others, but mostly because so many thoughtlessly buy into religious fantasies in the first place, and for which plethora of fantasies there is no method of deciding which is true, if any.

There is little or no dispute about the truth of the terrestrial applications of the so-called Law of Gravity upon which evidence can be brought to bear, but pick all the religious beliefs for which there is little or no credible evidence, and arguments, uncertainty, intolerance, torture, death, etc is sure to result.  This is especially ironic in the cases such as Christianity and Islam where the beliefs include an all-knowing, all-powerful, perfectly good god, who apparently cannot write a clear instruction manual nor get the word out any better than a severely failing ad agency.

Man, the rational animal?  Methinks not.

W.
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: nickgier at roadrunner.com 
  To: vision2020 at moscow.com 
  Sent: Thursday, August 26, 2010 10:23 AM
  Subject: [Vision2020] Update on Muslim Center in Lower Manhattan


  Good Morning Visonaries,

  New information has been pouring in about the NYC Muslim Center controversy.  The most dramatic revelations have to do with initial positive responses from Fox news personalities and the moderate contents of Imam Rauf's highly acclaimed book, published by Rupert Murdoch's HarperSanFrancisco.

  Additions to my column, the edited version of which is attached:

  Rauf's book "What’s Right with Islam: A New Vision for Muslims and the West" was picked as one of the best five books of 2004 by the Christian Science Monitor. The book was published by HarperSanFrancisco, which is owned, along with Fox News and the Wall Street Journal, by Rupert Murdoch. In a December, 2009 interview with Imam Rauf’s wife Daisy Khan on Fox News' "The O’Reilly Factor," Laura Ingraham had this to say about the plans for the cultural center: "I can't find many people who really have a problem with it. I like what you're trying to do." Fox News is now leading the charge against the project.

  In "What’s Right with Islam" Rauf goes back to the beginnings of Islam and shows how a fatal mistake was made by those who built autocratic political institutions on a basic Abrahamic ethic shared with Judaism and Christianity. Early Muslim government was based on elections, broad deliberation (including women) and consensus, and religious pluralism. The rule of force dramatically came into the play with the assassination of the third caliph in A.D. 656, and a switch to hereditary rule, which as been the norm in Muslim countries for centuries. Rauf believes that Islamic countries should "recognize in the American form of governance a genuine substantive workable expression and model of their centuries-old longing for the kingdom of heaven on earth."

  I also added some material on a parallel reaction against Catholics in American history, up do the Nixon-Kennedy election in 1960:

  In announcing the decision not to preserve the old building at 51 Park Place, Mayor Michael Bloomsberg--with the Statue of Liberty as backdrop--reminded his audience that the early Dutch settlers refused to grant Jews permission to build a synagogue, and that they had also prohibited Quakers and Catholics from holding services. In the 19th Century there were objections to the construction of Catholic churches, and some of them (including some convents) were burned down. (One priest was tarred and feathered by a mob.) Strong anti-Catholic sentiment flared up during the 1960 election with many people fearing that a president John F. Kennedy would mean an alliance with the papacy.

  Finally, here is what Imam Rauf said about the 9/11 attackers in 2006 on ABC News.  Glen Beck was sitting in on the conversation with Diane Sawyer and indicated how important it was to have good moderate Muslims such as Rauf:

  "[Jihadist] reactions are not at all called for by Islamic teaching. The teachings of Islam are very similar to the teachings of Christianity, of loving the one God and loving thy neighbor. These are the two common principles."

  As Muslims and their places of worship are threatened all over the country, I fear for the sanity of my country.

  Nick





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