Religious respect and civility a 2-way street

Jennifer Bryson

is a scholar in the Islam and Civil Society Project of the Witherspoon Institution in Princeton

Robert P. George

is McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University

Many Americans, including liberals like Howard Dean and Harry Reid, as well as some prominent American Muslims, believe that a decent respect for the feelings of families of victims of terrorism carried out in the name of Islam should cause Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and his supporters to reconsider the placement of their proposed Cordoba House. Some are also concerned that a new Islamic center near the site of a 9/11 terrorist attack would be treated by jihadist terrorists and their supporters as a symbol of victory. People who express these concerns are not bigots, as some in the media have claimed.

At the same time, it must be acknowledged that in various places across the country anti-Muslim sentiment has expressed itself in opposition to the building of mosques. Whatever one's final judgment of what President Obama has called the "wisdom" of building the proposed mosque near a site of 9/11 attacks, there are places where the sensitivities of families of terrorist victims are not what is driving opposition to mosques. Rather, it is an unwarranted fear of, or an unworthy hostility to, Muslims in general that is responsible. This is disturbing and threatens religious freedom not only for Muslims but for all.

We must avoid an attitude of "religious freedom for me but not for thee," for such a mentality rings a death knell for freedom itself and undermines the atmosphere of civility that makes social cooperation possible in a society as diverse and pluralistic as ours. It dishonors religious freedom and threatens the spirit of goodwill on which the great "American experiment in ordered liberty" rests.