The imam behind the so-called Ground Zero mosque reflects on the “insanity” of religious radicals. How have the events of the summer changed you? We learned a number of lessons, the most important of which is this: the real battlefront is not between the West and the Muslim world. It’s between the moderates of all […]
The Other Religion at Ground Zero
A Greek Orthodox congregation has been waiting longer—and working harder—than Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf to restore the church that was destroyed on September 11, 2001. Father Mark Arey won’t put it quite this way, but he doesn’t see why Muslims are getting all the attention for their religious building near Ground Zero. Especially when the […]
The Misinformants
What ‘stealth jihad’ doesn’t mean. Here is the latest semantic assault from the party that brought you “Islamo-facism” (circa 2005) and “Axis of Evil” (2002). The term “stealth jihad” is suddenly voguish among politically ambitious right wingers who see President Obama’s approach to terrorism as insufficient. If it sounds like a phrase from a military-fantasy […]
Religious Pluralism at Ground Zero?
If President Obama wants to convince Americans to support the ‘Ground Zero mosque’ he needs to tie it to our personal tolerance for other faiths. With his remarks last week in support of “the mosque at Ground Zero” and his rather lame parsing (“not commenting on the wisdom” of the project) the next day, President Barack Obama […]
War Over Ground Zero
A proposed mosque tests the limits of American tolerance. They have almost everything in common, including the tragedy that defines their lives. Both women were born in the Bronx and educated in Catholic schools. They married and raised kids of their own in the boroughs that circle Manhattan; as parents, they—like most of us—fought too […]