The most recent flap over whether or not to put a mosque near NYC’s ground zero has struck a chord for many. Although its okay for a strip club to be located nearby, a mosque crosses the line.
Robert Wright does a nice job in his essay on the topic for the NYT, and Shambala picks it up here:
The irony is that the mosque project is spearheaded by one of the most liberal and ecumenical Muslim clerics in the US, Feisel Abdul Rauf (pictured), a good friend to many Buddhist, Christian, and Jewish progressives and contemplatives.
The irony, of course, is that he is exactly the kind of person that those who oppose religious extremism should be supporting. But in this age of neo-McCarthyism, the cynical find it useful to tar all Muslims with the same brush.
