President Obama pleaded for religious peace Saturday in honor of 9/11 and in response to controversy surrounding plans for an Islamic community center and mosque near the former site of the World Trade Center in New York City.
However, this plea for peace is not restricted to the New York City limits. Discrimination against Islam is prevalent across the country, said Assistant Professor Loren Lybarger, who teaches an Ohio University course about Islam.
(In Athens
) we live in a region of the country that has had its own struggles with various forms of exclusion - racial or class-based. Right here in our own region we have a basis for developing some sympathy and understanding with other people who are discriminated against Lybarger said.
There are two sides to the controversy, Lybarger said. The first is that the Ground Zero site is a sacred place that should not be disrespected by the presence of a mosque. The second, in direct contrast to the first, is that America is an inclusive nation committed to the First Amendment protections of freedom of religion.
To build a mosque there is seen as an attempt to Islamize the memory of 9/11 and take it away from its true meaning as an attack on America - it's muddying the picture and trampling on sacred ground
Lybarger said.
Even so, it is important to remember that the plans for the site include not only a mosque, but also an Islamic community center that would promote interfaith relations, Lybarger added.
From my perspective
this whole debate is less about sacred space as much as it is of defining the nation and who is included in it and who is excluded
Lybarger said. It's a debate about how we define the sacred in terms of the nation and what are the proper symbols of this nation.
Most Muslims see 9/11 as a distortion of their religion, Lybarger said.
This situation is further complicated when Muslims feel forced, directly or indirectly, to take responsibility for the actions of others, said Shani Salifu, the vice president of OU's Muslim Student Association and a graduate student studying instructional technology.
Muslims are able to see the difference between the acts of individual Christians and the religion of Christianity. It is surprising that (Christians) are not able to make the same distinctions for Muslims
Salifu said.
The best way to bridge the gap between Islam and Christianity is for Christians to try to engage with Muslims, not to antagonize them, Salifu said.
No amount of antagonism ... is going to make the Muslims in America pack their bags and leave the U.S.
he said. They are Americans and this is the only home they have.
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