America Rallies Against Mosques

Last week we talked about a construction project for an Islamic center two streets away from ground zero, the opposition that it began to provoke and how much this New York controversy reverberated throughout the country. Some candidates for November’s elections – even in states far from the Twin Towers – are using this story to mobilize their voters.

As if New York had given the signal, protest movements suddenly formed across the United States to reject the construction of mosques in some communities.

In Murfreesboro, Tennessee, hundreds of protesters organized a march against an Islamic center. In Temecula, California, protesters brought dogs during Friday prayers to reject construction of a new place of prayer on vacant land. In Sheboygan, Wisconsin, opponents of opening a mosque in a former grocery store were led by several members of the clergy.

Until recently, those who rejected the construction of a mosque in their neighborhood or city used methods like posing worries about the traffic problems that would inevitably result from the influx of faithful.

That time is past. Opponents now assert loud and clear that it is Islam with which they have a problem, and they even proclaim that Muslims want to replace U.S. laws with Sharia – Islamic law – and that Islam is incompatible with the country’s values.

This movement is in part inspired and provoked by the Tea Party, but especially by groups such as the Florida-based ACT! For America, whose goal is to protect Western civilization from Islam. Former Muslims, like Walid Shoebat and Wafa Sultan, also contribute to this movement through blogs or books. According to a study conducted last year, there were 1,900 mosques in the United States.

Up to now, because it is built on religious freedom, the country has had a hard time understanding French controversies over wearing the veil in educational establishments. But the impact of Sept. 11 – along with recently attempted attacks, such as that in Times Square in May, and the current widespread anti-immigration wave due to higher unemployment – is suddenly producing a backlash against Islam, which will soon be the second-largest religion in the United States, just behind the Christian churches. As in Europe twenty years ago, Islam is forcing Americans to reexamine the place of religion in society and the compatibility of the Koran’s values with those of the United States. The Somalian writer Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who had to flee Holland after the assassination of Theo Van Gogh, with whom she had created the film “Submission,” continues to receive death threats at her office and home in Washington. The hostility towards new arrivals isn’t new. Irish, Italians, Jews or Poles have all experienced this “rite” of passage. But will Islam be soluble in American democracy? This is an open question.