The Mosque Near Ground Zero and a Bridge to Nowhere

The claim, in Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf’s own words, is that he aspires simply to be a “bridge-builder.” And, perhaps, he does. Yet despite the near-incessancy with which his claim has been repeated, his course of action has kept it from being entirely convincing, and, if unchanged, will likely make its realization impossible.

The Cordoba House Project—the aim of which is, among other things, to build the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque”—had been generating a minor media buzz for weeks. Then, to the dismay of embattled Democratic Congressional hopefuls across the country, President Obama weighed in. And as he did, what was a mere media buzz gave way to absolute frenzy. Bloggers began blogging, sound-bites were sounded, and pollsters started polling. And what came to light has been rather informative: the American populous is opposed to the Cordoba House Project, and overwhelmingly so. Imam Rauf, therefore, seems to be left firmly wedged between a proverbial rock and a hard place: he can either back down and pull the project, or else move forward as planned and risk further alienation—not only of himself, but potentially his religion as well.

If, however, the assumption is maintained that the ultimate goal of the project is to “build-bridges,” the question at once becomes moot. The Imam, it would obviously seem, should simply call up Governor Patterson—who has very publicly offered to help the group find an alternative site—and look to move the mosque and community center a bit farther away. As things presently stand, the Cordoba House is to be built two blocks from Ground Zero—and, without any doubt, the group certainly has the right to bring these plans to fruition. Furthermore, it is worth bearing in mind that two Manhattan-blocks are doubtless more congested, developed, and populated than, say, two suburban blocks. It seems entirely plausible that the sheer density of urbanity between Ground Zero proper and the location of the proposed mosque might drown any feeling that the two sites actually inhabit the same space. In attempting to “build-bridges,” however, these points—valid as they may be—are only relevant if the groups to be bridged are convinced that they matter. And, as was noted above, in this particular instance one important group is still rather skeptical: the American public.

In an ideal situation, the greater American populous would accept the proposed mosque project with arms wide open. Regrettably, however, the circumstances in which we actually exist fall well shy of the ideal. At this point, it seems rather apparent that forcing the so-called Ground Zero Mosque into existence would do nothing but aggravate already heightened inter-religious tensions. And this—America’s frequently hostile relationship with its third largest faith—points to an issue that desperately needs to be dealt with. Pushing the Cordoba House into existence, however, is not the way to do it.