Islam in America

"The Ground Zero mosque."

Many conservative Christians today and disgruntled New Yorkers with visions of 9/11 still fresh in their minds (which is completely understandable) are in an uproar over Islam planting a mosque at ground zero. Although the building the Muslims are looking to occupy is two blocks away at Park 51 that is still too close for many. The common argument is that the Muslims are planting this mosque in order to commemorate the Islamic world's victory over the United States on September 11th 2001. Another interesting comparison by one anonymous person is that "it would be like the KKK occupying a meeting space where Martin Luther King Jr. had been killed." Yet, there exists another side to this contraversial issue. Two sides to every story, right? Well, the Muslims who want to start the mosque emphasize that they do not represent radical, terrorist Islam. They come in peace. This building simply fits their vision for creating and ideal mosque and recreation/family center. They do not wish to celebrate any triumph over the United States as this is now their country. Who's right, who's wrong and what should we do about it? This back and forth battle has been going on for over 4,000 years. Lets look at a few things to consider...

The Origins...
The begining of this rivalry has it's origins in father Abraham. He is the direct human ancestor of Israel, Islam, and the Christian faith. The separation of these nations and religions comes about when Sarah, his baron wife, asks him to go into (have sexual relations) with Hagar, who was the servant of the household, so that she might bear them a child. Hagar gave birth to a son named Ishmael. Ishmael was considered to be a wild donkey and a person who would war against his brothers, while the Koran says he is the son of promise. One thing to keep in mind in all of this is that the book of Genesis was written around 2,600 years before the Koran, do what you will with that. Eventually in Abraham's old age God promised that he would bear a son and make a great nation out of his descendants. Sarah did become pregnant in her old age with Abraham's son, and Isaac was born. Isaac was the son of promise through whom the nation of Israel descended from and Jesus was born an Israelite. Once Isaac was born Sarah became jealous having Hagar and Ishmael in the same household and convinced Abraham to send them away. Abraham loved Ishmael and gave them some provisions before they went off into the desert. Just about when Hagar was about to give up and leave Ishmael to die God provides a well in the desert for them and promises that because Ishmael is Abraham's son He will make a great nation out of him as well. Ishmael is the ancestor from which came the religion Islam; as their prophet ,Muhammad, was his descendant. So, right off the bat these two don't like each other very much.

The Crusades didn't help...
Once Islam became well established in the world during the late 600's A.D. through the 700's, the Roman empire had fallen and the more primitive western culture had fallen into the Dark Ages with the Christian Church (the Catholics, although there was an eastern church in the Byzentine empire as well) being the one shining light. Islam helped save many of the Roman and Greek books and artifacts from being lost to history as they conquered region after region in northern Africa and eastern europe. They eventually took Jerusalem which enraged the Catholic Church who sent out delegates to recruit knights from various different countries in Europe to go forth and make Holy War against the nation of Islam and win back Jerusalem for God. This lead to a series of brutal, bloody wars which were the origins of many of the boundaries we see between the Middle East and Europe to this day.

The current situation in the United States...

All of us are still aware of the hostility that still exists today, not only in the Middle East, but also on our own soil. Over the past several decades many Islamic people have migrated to the United States. Most people have been tolerant of their presence because they seem much more peaceful here than they do in the Middle East and northern Africa. We all know what happened on 9/11. The terrorist group known as Alkaida attacked New York City, Washington D.C., and crashed a plane over Pennsylvania. This in turn started a war between the U.S. and terrorism in the Middle East. Most of the Muslim world today rejects the ideals and values of these extremist groups because they find that they themselves are also coming under attack. It is debatable if this is out of fear, because the U.S. is a major power and we support Israel (their mortal enemy), or because they genuinely want to have peace. The saying "a few bad apples can spoil the whole batch comes to mind." Consequently this has had an affect on the American culture's psyche and many want to demonize everything about Islamic people in this day and age. Now many of the stories in Middle East hold sway over this belief and many of them are true. If you are common citizen and are not a Muslim living within an Islamic region you will be treated as a second class citizen. If you attempt to speak against Islam or stand for up for your own rights it will be met with violent aggression. If you are a child, woman, or man and decide you don't want to practice the Islamic faith you will be cast out by your family and possibly even killed. Yet, you will rarely, if ever, hear stories of this in the United States. . .

The New Generation...

I have the priviledge of working with quite a few Muslims at my second job. These are what I would call "Americanized Muslims." As we all should know this is the month of Ramadan and all Muslims are required to fast from sun up until sun down and pray 5 times a day while facing Mecca, their holy city. The older Muslims I have encountered remain devout and faithful in practicing Ramadan. There does seem to be a distinct difference in the younger Muslims who were born and raised in this country. I find it kind of ironic that the Muslims preserved much of Greek philosophy and Roman politics that have come to shape the U.S. politics and education that exists today, along with certain Christian values. Now when they come to this country and are raised in this culture they become much more secular than there ancestors. They actually buy into the idea of co-existence because many of their closest friends and favorite things to do are forbidden by the old religion. Because of our law system, the older generation has no choice but to except this. The same apathy I see in many young Christians in the States also shows up with the new generation of Muslims. Secularism has it's side-effects. What then is the enemy on our soil I wonder...? Worth considering. Still developing this thought.

*MOST IMPORTANT SECTION BELOW*

"God put you in my way." - Muslim man from the movie Four Feathers.

"...But I say to you love your enemies." -Jesus

When I think about the Muslims moving close to the 9/11 site I find myself "feeling the tension." My mind is being pulled in many different directions. Clearly many Christians still look at the nation of Islam as an enemy. I am a Christian, so I must strongly consider this view. Clearly the Muslims have not forgotten what the western world has done to their people throughout history. It is understandable why they wouldn't like us. Especially when we are still raising are voice against them to this day. To truly express my opinion on this matter I will begin with a true story that came from a book called the "Emergent Church" by Brian McClaren. The story goes like this. A family living in a middle class suburban neighborhood in the U.S. has just returned home from a shopping trip. The youngest little girl gets out of the car and sees her neighbor Muslim mother and daughter also getting out of the car. She looks at the head dresses and asks her mother very loudly so even the Muslims themselves could hear, "Mommy why do those people wear sheets on their heads?" The Muslim mother listens intently to hear would the mother would say before entering her house. Then the response, "they wear those because they want to show everyone that they love God." "Oh," replied the daughter. The Muslim mother was taken back at this answer and came over with her daughter and said "Thank you so much for telling your daughter that, you do not know how much that means to me." From there a budding relationship was built (this is not quoted directly from the book so no quotes needed). This is how I see we as Christians should respond. The Muslims will never listen to the Gospel when they are treated like enemies. Jesus says to love our enemies. Paul the Apostle says, "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers in this dark world, and wicked spirits in heavenly places."(Ephesians 6:12) Again he says "To the weak I became the weak, to the win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that I may by some means win some." (1 Corinthians 9:22) So, I choose not to look at this situation as "the enemy gaining ground," but an opportunity for Christians to take a step forward in a healing process that will open the door for the Gospel to impact the Muslims in the U.S. We of any other country have perhaps the greatest chance to do that on our own soil. It all begins with forgiveness and love that expresses itself in action. The only way the enemy will advance in this situation is if we either do nothing and continue to fight against them. Even if they should still despise us, we must continue to love them. I believe this is another act of divine orchestration. It looks to me like they will be moving into that building close to the 9/11 site. God has put them in our way. What will we do about it? Continue to fight or begin to love?

Thank you for "Facing the Tension" with me, if you read my blog. I would be eager to hear your thoughts and opinions on this very important matter.