Accommodations: American Catholicism and Muslims in America

Thomas Nast's 1875 cartoon depicts Catholic priests as crocodiles seeking to devour American children

R. Scott Appleby, Director of the Kroc Institute International Peace Studies and John T. McGreevy, Dean of the College at Notre Dame comment, as historians of American Catholicism on the similarities between nativist anti-Catholic sentiment and the hostility to Muslims in America today.  Writing in the NYR (New York Review) blog here they ask  ` Should Muslims accede to popular sentiment and forego exercising their right to build near the World Trade Center?'  Appleby and McGreevy say NO:

Must Muslims unequivocally reject all forms of terrorism—especially those Muslims who wish to promote full Muslim participation in American society? Of course. But if the Catholic experience in the United States holds any lesson it is that becoming American also means asserting one’s constitutional rights, fully and forcefully, even if that assertion is occasionally taken to be insulting. The genius of the American experiment in religious liberty is precisely this long-term confidence that equal rights for all religious groups builds the loyalty every democratic society needs. Certainly American Catholics learned that lesson long ago.

h/t Religiousleftlaw.com

Countering the demagogues: Pope Benedict at Al_Hussein Bin Talal Mosque - 2009

Pope Benedict XVI at Dome of the Rock mosque, Jerusalem

As nativism and paranoia continue to flourish here (e.g. the current phony material circulating about praying Muslims blocking traffic every Friday in Manhattan refuted by truthorfiction.com), I thought it would be good to post the excerpt below from Pope Benedict XVI's address to Muslims last year in Jordan.

"Places of worship, like this splendid Al-Hussein Bin Talal mosque named after the revered late King, stand out like jewels across the earth’s surface. From the ancient to the modern, the magnificent to the humble, they all point to the divine, to the Transcendent One, to the Almighty. And through the centuries these sanctuaries have drawn men and women into their sacred space to pause, to pray, to acknowledge the presence of the Almighty, and to recognize that we are all his creatures.

For this reason we cannot fail to be concerned that today, with increasing insistency, some maintain that religion fails in its claim to be, by nature, a builder of unity and harmony, an expression of communion between persons and with God. Indeed some assert that religion is necessarily a cause of division in our world; and so they argue that the less attention given to religion in the public sphere the better. 

Certainly, the contradiction of tensions and divisions between the followers of different religious traditions, sadly, cannot be denied. However, is it not also the case that often it is the ideological manipulation of religion, sometimes for political ends, that is the real catalyst for tension and division, and at times even violence in society? 

In the face of this situation, where the opponents of religion seek not simply to silence its voice but to replace it with their own, the need for believers to be true to their principles and beliefs is felt all the more keenly. Muslims and Christians, precisely because of the burden of our common history so often marked by misunderstanding, must today strive to be known and recognized as worshippers of God faithful to prayer, eager to uphold and live by the Almighty’s decrees, merciful and compassionate, consistent in bearing witness to all that is true and good, and ever mindful of the common origin and dignity of all human persons, who remain at the apex of God’s creative design for the world and for history."

James Fallows: Bloomberg & Mosque

Thanks to James Fallows for highlighting Mayor Michael Bloomberg's principled stand in the face of the nativist opportunists who find intolerable a mosque in downtown Manhatan.

This Is Not My Normal Beat (Bloomberg & Mosque Dept) ... - Politics - The Atlantic

The Mayor's statement as excerpted by Fallows:

"We may not always agree with every one of our neighbors. That's life and it's part of living in such a diverse and dense city. But we also recognize that part of being a New Yorker is living with your neighbors in mutual respect and tolerance. It was exactly that spirit of openness and acceptance that was attacked on 9/11.... Of all our precious freedoms, the most important may be the freedom to worship as we wish....

"The World Trade Center Site will forever hold a special place in our City, in our hearts. But we would be untrue to the best part of ourselves - and who we are as New Yorkers and Americans - if we said 'no' to a mosque in Lower Manhattan.

"Let us not forget that Muslims were among those murdered on 9/11 and that our Muslim neighbors grieved with us as New Yorkers and as Americans. We would betray our values - and play into our enemies' hands - if we were to treat Muslims differently than anyone else. In fact, to cave to popular sentiment would be to hand a victory to the terrorists - and we should not stand for that."