Dear Kossacks,
Pasted below is a letter written and signed by the Philadelphia Interfaith Peace Walk (www.interfaithpeacewalk.org). We'll be releasing it to various newspapers, websites, and the like in hopes of countering the toxic rhetoric, the ignorance, and the demagoguery over this issue. I hope you find it worth reading, and if you have any comments or suggestions as to where send it, we're all ears.
Peace,
Steve Newman
20 August 2010
Dear Sir/Madam:
As members of the Philadelphia Interfaith Walk for Peace and Reconciliation, we write to express our strongest support for the construction of Park51, previously known as Cordoba House, a community center and mosque to be located near (not "at") Ground Zero. For seven years now, members of the Peace Walk—Christians, Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, and Buddhists, among others—have gathered monthly at the Al-Aqsa Islamic Society in North Philadelphia to learn and draw strength from each other as we work toward a more peaceful world. Our Muslim brothers and sisters at Al-Aqsa and elsewhere have been gracious hosts and models for the open-mindedness, peacefulness, and compassion at the heart of their faith. Those same values are evident in those who seek to found Park51. According to its own vision, it plans to be a "center for multifaith dialogue and engagement." One of the leaders of the proposal, Imam Feisal Abdul-Rauf, has justly been recognized as a courageous and eloquent leader in improving relations between Islam and other faiths.
We, too, feel the lingering trauma of 9/11. We continue to mourn the victims, including the many Muslims killed and wounded. We unequivocally denounce the attackers’ perversion of a holy faith shared by a billion people, just as we denounce all violence that profanes the name of God. But it is precisely for these reasons that we support the construction of Cordoba House, along with Mayor Bloomberg, President Obama, many survivors of 9/11 and their families, and the majority of those who actually live in Manhattan.
The question is not simply whether the groups sponsoring Park51 have a right to build it. The Constitution makes it clear that they do, though we are dismayed that some would question it or even argue, as has one prominent commentator, that no more mosques should be built anywhere in the United States. The question is whether this center should be built in this place. Our answer: An unequivocal yes. This mosque and community center will build bridges among various faiths just as we seek to do in the Peace Walk. In doing so, Park 51 will concretely and symbolically reject the evil aims of those who perpetrated the 9/11 attacks and their allies. It will be a sign of our resilience. It will promote something even better than tolerance¬—mutual understanding and a celebration of differences as well as commonalities. In other words, it will embody our nation’s unofficial motto: "E Pluribus Unum," "Out of many, one." We can’t think of anything more American than that. We also can’t think of a better way to honor the image of God in all of us.
Sincerely,
(affiliations listed for identification purposes only)
Ronald Abrams, Mishkan Shalom
Margarita (Miriam) Abuawadeh, Al-aqsa Islamic Society
Anthony Brummans, St. Vincent de Paul
Vic Compher, Tabernacle United Church
Edd Conboy
Katy Friggle-Norton, Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America
Rabbi Nancy Fuchs-Kreimer, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College
Peter Handler, Mishkan Shalom
Adab Ibrahim, Al-aqsa Islamic Society
Wilson Kratz, Chestnut Hill United Church
Lance Laver, Mishkan Shalom
Brenda Lazin, Mishkan Shalom
James McGovern, Catholic Peace Fellowship
Neomosha Nelson, Metropolitan Christian Council of Philadelphia
Steve Newman, Mishkan Shalom
Douglas Norton, Central Baptist Church
Ruthy Lachman Paul
Peter Pedemonti
Jeanne Swartz
Rev. Frank P. Toia, priest, Episcopal Church
Ayesha Weinberg, Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship
Justina Wiggins, Mirabilia Circle
Pecki Witonsky
Pam Yaller, Upper Dublin Friends Meeting