America the Indignant

While listening to “The Takeaway” on NPR this morning, I was impressed with the comments of co-host John Hockenberry regarding the controversy now swirling around the proposed construction of a mosque near Ground Zero in lower Manhattan.

Hockenberry observed that a kind of “religion” has grown up around Ground Zero, which is not actually religious in nature, but rather a kind of secular devotion that maintains an odd sacredness of the environs.  While not discounting the tragic reality that there are yet human remains in various forms on that site, he points out that such veneration is unique to that particular space.  One thinks of the memorial in Oklahoma City that does not possess nearly the same sanctity.

The opponents of the Islamic structure, which is actually a community center that will include a mosque, seem to equate the evil that played out there on September 11, 2001 with the religion of the perpetrators.  In places across the country where Muslims are noticeably absent, there is a profound suspicion of adherents to that faith.  Most folks don’t stop to consider that members of the KKK are often nominal Christians.  Evil done in the name of religion is still evil.

Perhaps Hockenberry’s analysis is telling.  American Christianity often morphs into a pseudo-secular faith that equates patriotism with righteousness.   The furor over the Muslim center falls into that trap.