Indirect update on NYC mosque request

A couple of days ago Father Orthoduck posted on the whole controversy about the building of a mosque near Ground Zero. Mind you, the news media tries to make it sound as though it is on Ground Zero, but it is not, it is near it. An unintended side effect of those who are objecting so virulently and unconstitutionally is that a fellow parish, a Greek Orthodox parish, right at Ground Zero is not being allowed to be rebuilt. Check Father Ernesto’s blog post on that story. The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese owned the land and the church. Father Orthoduck says owned because the land was forcibly taken from the Orthodox by the government, thanks to all those who insisted that the area must be “sacred” ground on which only appropriate memorials may be built. It is only too sad that rebuilding a historic Greek Orthodox parish on the same land which it had held since before the World Trade Center was ever built is not considered an appropriate memorial.

However, let’s keep going. The video above is of a town meeting in Mayfield, Kentucky in which the renting of a building by a mosque is disapproved by the town council. Please notice that during the video it is pointed out that not one Muslim managed to be allowed into the town meeting to speak in favor of the mosque. You see, those who disapprove of building a mosque near Ground Zero are not telling the truth. They actually disapprove of building mosques anywhere in the USA regardless of what the Constitution says. Above is evidence towards that conclusion. And herein is the problem that Father Orthoduck sees with the (Ir)Religious Right. When they speak about preserving our heritage as a Judeo-Christian nation, they really mean keeping out anyone who does not fit their mold of an appropriate citizen of the USA.

So, a mosque is not an acceptable part of that heritage. This is true even if the majority of the Muslims here came here to have the freedom to express their version of Islam, a version which does not include jihad and does not include perpetual war against everyone else. Father Orthoduck suggests that you take a drive through places such as Dearborn, Michigan and see how many Muslims are there who live within our society. The only problem is that you will have severe difficulty in spotting the majority of the Muslims, that is unless you decide to judge who is Muslim by the color of their skin. However, people of that skin color might be Latin American Roman Catholic or Indian Hindu (or Orthodox) or Greek Orthodox, but from the eastern part of Greece. You get the idea.

Some people wonder why Father Orthoduck is in favor of judicial involvement. The case above from Kentucky is a clear example. (Birmingham [Bombingham] in the mid-1950’s is another example.) Father Orthoduck suspects that should the local Muslims take the town to court, it will be a short wait until a Federal judge overturns the town’s decision and grants the right to have a mosque because that is our Constitution. Our Constitution was written both to structure a democracy, but also to prevent mob rule and to protect minority rights. Sadly, all too many in the right-wing have forgotten the second part, in order to prevent mob rule and to protect minority rights.

As an Orthodox priest in a denomination whose headquarters is in the Middle East and as a Latino, Father Orthoduck belongs to more than one of the minorities being targeted by both the Irreligious Right and the secular right wing. Thus Father Orthoduck is very much in favor of judicial protection against the Irreligious Right and the unconstitutional right wing. May our courts remain strong in the enforcement of the rights of all those who are not in the public favor at this time.

For those who claim to be Christian and who wish to honor our Founding Fathers, may you remember what Peter and John had to face in front of a hostile government. May you remember what people such as John Bunyan (the Baptist writer of Pilgrim’s Progress) had to face in front of a hostile government. May you remember the Puritans who stood for freedom and fled to this country in the face of a hostile government. May you remember to apply those hard-won human rights to all those who truly come here for freedom. But, if you will not, then Father Orthoduck’s prayer is simple. May God allow you to be treated as you are treating others right now.