As we approach the ninth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the legacy of that day seems increasingly hostile to a particular group of Americans. As described in a report this weekend from the Associated Press’ Rachel Zoll, it is becoming clear that American Muslims are under increasing threat of harassment and violence from individuals who appear incapable of differentiating between the terrorists of 9/11 and all other adherents of Islam.

In Ms. Zoll’s report, she documents the desire that American Muslims have to counteract the anti-Muslim fervor of the summer (centered around the proposed Manhattan mosque) and the other xenophobic battles being fought across the country:

Islamic centers in many cities are intensifying surveillance and keeping closer contact with law enforcement. Adding to Muslim concern is a fluke of the lunar calendar: Eid al-Fitr, a joyous holiday marking the end of Ramadan, will fall around Sept. 11 this year. Muslim leaders fear festivities could be misinterpreted as celebrating the 2001 terror strikes.

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• 9/1, Augusta Free Press, Rights groups urge feds to reject 287(g)
• 9/1, Cheryl Corley, National Public Radio, Often, You Can Film Cops; Just Don’t Record Them
• 9/1, David G. Savage, McClatchy Newspapers, Supreme Court asked to decide whether White House has right to exclude critics from public speeches

• 8/30, William Fisher, Inter Press Service, FBI: No Probable Cause Required For Surveillance
• 8/30, Glenn Greenwald, Salon, Lawsuit challenges Obama’s power to kill citizens without due process
• 8/29, Glenn Greenwald, Salon, Anti-mosque sentiment rages far from Ground Zero
• 8/28, Darryl Perry, Independent Political Report, One Nation Under Surveillance
• 8/27, Daphne Eviatar, The Seminal, How to Overcome the “Legacy of Torture”

The political backlash and opportunism surrounding President Obama’s defense of Muslims’ First Amendment rights jeopardizes religious freedom for all Americans.

On August 13, 2010, the White House sponsored the annual Iftar, a tradition started by President Clinton in 1996, commemorating the month of Ramadan. Diplomats, members of Congress, and community leaders from diverse backgrounds celebrated America’s venerable support for religious diversity and freedom.

At the dinner President Obama accurately summarized the Founders’ intent to preserve religious freedom in America, for native-born and immigrant alike. He commendably stated, “As a citizen, and as President, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country. And that includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in Lower Manhattan.”

Republicans were quick to criticize President Obama for “endorsing” of what has misleadingly come to be known as the “Ground Zero Mosque.” Facing a tough reelection, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid broke with Obama, joining those who call for the mosque to be built somewhere else. Leading critics claim that they aren’t opposed to building the community center and mosque per se, but rather its location. But their claim is belied by growing protests against mosques in cities across the country, not to mention escalating religious bigotry on the internet and a scheduled Koran burning on September 11. Statements from major figures like Newt Gingrich comparing supporters of the community center to Nazis make it clear that, in fact, all Muslims are being falsely tarred with the brush of extremism.

Some cite polls indicating that the majority of Americans oppose the project, but we should ask ourselves whether opinion polls should be our compass when it comes to the Bill of Rights and the exercise of religious freedom in America? Indeed, such rights were promulgated by the Founding Fathers precisely to shield minority faiths from persecution by those in the majority. In our history we have nevertheless seen the systematic persecution of Catholics, Jews, Mormons, and Quakers. But in each case, the persecution was ultimately repudiated and support for the Constitution restored. That elected officials have forgotten this fundamental American principle is baffling given many of their constituents self-identify as staunch defenders of religious freedom.

This paradox illustrates two important lessons.

First, the fundamental right to religious freedom rings hollow for all if it is only applied selectively. There is nothing in the charter of the Cordoba Center that can be cited as an offense to the memory of the thousands of Americans, including Muslims, murdered on September 11, 2001. And if opinion polling is sufficient to stop an otherwise lawful plan to build a community center and house of worship for Muslims, we are setting a dangerous precedent. By the same logic, predominantly Christian communities might similarly be allowed to oppose the building of a synagogue or temple.

Second, the integrity of our Constitution depends on a meaningful enforcement of the Bill of Rights. When our founding principles are not put in practice, the rule of law is systemically undermined and our Constitution becomes nothing more than a dated piece of paper.

Critics like Gingrich like to suggest that only when Saudi Arabia allows a church or a synagogue to be built in Mecca should we allow the Community Center to be built. But do we really want to cede leadership on religious pluralism, a hallmark of American freedom, to Saudi Arabia or other Mideast states?

Take for instance the issue of religious freedom in Egypt. Article 40 of the Egyptian Constitution states, “All citizens are equal before the law. They have equal public rights and duties without discrimination between them due to race, ethnic origin, language, religion, or creed.” Yet the 2009 U.S. State Department human rights report highlights the difficulties Christians face in building new churches and renovating existing ones, due in large part to political opposition by a segment of the Muslim majority population. And in Saudi Arabia the state dictates the practice of religion.

The vitriol and specious arguments being made against building the Cordoba Center should serve as a wake-up call. Once we start down the slippery slope of compromising religious liberty to accommodate majority opinion or the winds of political opportunism, we proceed at our own peril. Pressuring minority faiths to opt out of their rights under the U.S. Constitution can render those rights meaningless for all.

The freedom to practice one’s religion is a founding principle of our nation and is embedded in the First Amendment. “And that has been upheld ever since,” noted President Obama. Let this not be the day when we focus more on its inscription than its enforcement.

This article was originally published by ACS Blog.

• 8/24, Sahar Aziz, ACS Blog, Turning Our Back on Religious Freedom Hurts All Americans
• 8/24, Editorial, Times Record (ME), Security vs. privacy requires trust
• 8/24, Carol Rosenberg, Miami Herald, Ramadan at Guantánamo: Nightly force-feedings
• 8/23, Matthew Lee, Associated Press, US admits human rights shortcomings in UN report

This weekend, Dick Cavett—former host of The Dick Cavett Show—penned a column for The New York Times addressing the controversy over the Muslim community center planned in lower Manhattan. Calling on all Americans to stand up for the Consitution and against bigotry, he wrote,

I’m genuinely ashamed of us. How sad this whole mosque business is. It doesn’t take much, it seems, to lift the lid and let our home-grown racism and bigotry overflow….I like to think I’m not easily shocked, but here I am, seeing the emotions of the masses running like a freight train over the right to freedom of religion—never mind the right of eminent domain and private property….

What other churches might be objectionable because of the horrific acts of some of its members? Maybe we shouldn’t have Christian churches in the South wherever the Ku Klux Klan operated because years ago proclaimed white Christians lynched blacks….

I just can’t believe that so many are willing to ignore the simple fact that nearly all Muslims were adamantly opposed to the actions and events that took place on 9/11, and denounced them strongly, saying that the Islamic religion in no way condones it.

Our goal in at least one of our Middle East wars is to rebuild a government in our own image — with democracy for all. Instead, we are rebuilding ourselves in the image of those who detest us. I hate to see my country—and it’s a hell of a good one—endorse what we purport to hate, besmirching what distinguishes us from countries where persecution rules….

I remain amazed and really, sincerely, want to understand this. What can it be that is faulty in so many people’s thought processes, their ethics, their education, their experience of life, their understanding of their country, their what-have-you that blinds them to the fact that you can’t simultaneously maintain that you have nothing against members of any religion but are willing to penalize members of this one? Can you help me with this?

Set aside for the moment that we are handing such a lethal propaganda grenade to our detractors around the world.

You can’t eat this particular cake and have it, too. The true calamity, of course, is that behavior of this kind allows the enemy to win.

When I first heard that there was a church that had planned a Qur’an-burning event for its parishioners, I was saddened. I became ashamed when I realized that the church was in my native state of Florida. But, this week I’ve been comforted in the knowledge that an interfaith coalition of Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and Hindu Americans in Gainesville, Florida, have announced their plans for a peaceful and enlightening counter-event to the proposed Qur’an burning. Despite the recent, tragic attempts to deny free exercise and establishment of religion for Muslim Americans in New York City and throughout the US, it is clear that most of us are interested in defending constitutional rights.

I have new found courage because this mobilization, this move to action, is the best answer to such bigotry and intolerance. I’ve mentioned my love of James Madison’s Fed. 10 before, and I sadly see myself referring back to this document throughout the rest of my life when discussing contemporary civil rights. But, the truth is, Madison’s feared factions—groups of reactionary and ignorant individuals who would like nothing better than to strip rights away from other groups—have thrived on the fear that has gripped this country since September 11, 2001.

In an editorial this week, CNN’s Roland Martin (no doubt wearing an ascot while writing the editorial) quoted Representative Barbara Jordan of Texas:

My faith in the Constitution is whole; it is complete; it is total. And I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction, of the Constitution.

When the construction of a mosque in Tennessee is challenged, it only seems fitting that college students and young people stand side-by-side with their Muslim brothers and sisters. As a Cuban-American, I wonder why more of my community’s leaders have not stood up to denounce the efforts in Arizona and to prevent similar efforts in Florida; it would only make sense that Latino/a groups across the country be worried and angered by efforts that discriminate against their brothers and sisters.

I refuse to accept that a majority of the American people are composed of bigots and reactionaries. I know the likes of Dove World Outreach Center are a small minority. As a society, we’ve rejected other racist and violent factions, like the Ku Klux Klan, while respecting their civil rights; instead we fought for equal access to education, housing, interracial marriage, so on and so forth. And while those efforts still continue, the successes they have enjoyed provide for us the blueprint on how to reject contemporary hate and extremism. As we near the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, we must take heart in what has already been accomplished and what remains to be done.

The solution to faction and fleeting passion is not to be found in government institutions; it is in the American people. For all the respect I have for Madison, sometimes Congress does not step up to the plate and it does let us, its constituents, down. The way we secure our freedom and a more just society is through the conscious decision by the vast majority of the society to stand up and declare “enough is enough.” Perhaps not because it influences them directly, right now, but because they fear for their rights down the road and because they recognize that an America where only one religious group can worship without harassment and persecution is incompatible with the America they wish to live in.

So this current effort to restrict the construction of mosques, to burn Qur’ans, to deny due process rights to detainees, and the persecution of Latinos/as has to be met with a loud rejection by the American people. This is not the time for half measures and a dejected shaking of the head. We, as a freedom loving nation must rise to the occasion and defend our principles.

All this rhetoric from the talking heads, pundits, suits, etc. about whether an Muslim community center should be built near Ground Zero could be a moot point. It appears there is a movement from the labor force to not contribute to the construction of the building.

The New York Daily News leads its article off with,

A growing number of New York construction workers are vowing not to work on the mosque planned near Ground Zero.

Dave Kaiser, a blaster who is currently working on the Ground Zero site said,

“It’s a very touchy thing because they want to do this on sacred ground…I wouldn’t work there…”

Andy Sullivan, a construction worker has set up a “Hard Hat Pledge” on his blog for people to sign.

I haven’t heard this anywhere, but if the community center is finally built there, I don’t believe the construction will occur unmolested. I’m sure the “outraged” populace will make life miserable for both the workers and the owner during the construction.

Personally, I am saddened that this subject is even being debated. It’s a no-brainer that this Muslim community center should be built.

The proposed Muslim cultural center in lower Manhattan, two blocks from the site of the World Trade Center, has sparked a debate largely fueled by charged, Islamophobic rhetoric that profoundly threatens not only the Constitution, but also US national security.  Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich recently argued that,

authorities had the right to bar the mosque construction because it was akin to the “Japanese putting up a site next to Pearl Harbor.”

“Nazis don’t have the right to put up a sign next to the Holocaust museum in Washington,” Gingrich said Monday on Fox News.

Especially for someone with a background in history, Gingrich appears remarkably ignorant. As President Bush declared at the time, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, were perpetrated by violent extremists who happened to be Muslim, not by Islam itself. Then and now, US foreign policy and domestic counter-terrorism officials—as well as presidents from both major political parties—have reiterated the need to build positive relationships with Muslims both in America and abroad.

Corey Saylor of the Council on American-Islamic Relations made just this point on Countdown with Keith Olbermann earlier this week, noting that that the man characterized by Gingrich as a “triumphalist Islamist” has actually facilitated FBI outreach to Muslim communities for a decade, and has even traveled on behalf of the US government as an informal ambassador to Muslim countries:

Columnist Robert Wright agrees that “Bin Laden would love to be able to say that in America you can build a church or synagogue anywhere you want, but not a mosque. That fits perfectly with his recruiting pitch—that America has declared war on Islam.”  Ali Soufan, a former FBI supervisory special agent, agrees:

There are many reasons for supporting the Muslim community’s right to build a cultural center and mosque on private property, not least of all the First Amendment of the Constitution guaranteeing freedom of religion. But from a national security perspective, our leaders need to understand that no one is likely to be happier with the opposition to building a mosque than Osama Bin Laden. His next video script has just written itself….

When demagogues appear to be equating Islam with terrorism, it’s making young Muslims unsure about their place in the country. It bolsters the message that radicalizers are selling: That the war is against Islam, and Muslims are not welcome in America.

The rhetoric of these “demagogues” also offend principles as deeply American as the First Amendment, which includes the Establishment Clause explicitly prohibiting an official state religion, as well as the Free Exercise Clause ensuring religious rights to all faiths, minority or majority. According to Georgetown University’s John Esposito, who recently wrote to condemn “viral fear mongering” by politicians fanning the flames of religious intolerance, “Efforts to demonize Islam and Muslims have become a political football that now threatens the First Amendment rights and freedoms not only of Muslims, but indeed of all Americans.”

Each month, BORDC recognizes an individual who has done outstanding work in support of civil liberties and the rule of law by honoring her with our Patriot Award. This month, we highlight the excellent work of recent law school graduate Zeenaz Ali.

Zeenaz, who is from New Jersey, has volunteered her time to help BORDC on several projects, including a FOIA request exploring FBI infiltrations and legal research supporting our organizing efforts across the State of New York.

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