Detractors of the proposed Islamic community center in downtown Manhattan are worried about--well, I'm not sure they mention with great reasonability what it is that they're worried about. But, one thing is for sure: they manage to reveal their ignorance about what it means to have a community center in downtown Manhattan. For them, it means only proximity to Ground Zero, and it seems to mean nothing else that might possibly be considered in light of just how Manhattan neighborhood-based non-profit institutions work.
Ever heard of the 92nd Street Y or the Jewish Community Center (JCC) at West 76th Street? These aren't exactly hotbeds of religio-political conservatism because--guess what?--such places don't survive in Manhattan in 2010. Just who's going to be at this community center during the day? Osama Bin Laden? Yeah, right--the likes of him would be plastered by the first cabbie he encountered at the taxi stand outside of JFK. It's going to be senior citizens taking over-priced pottery classes. There'll be calligraphy courses teaching Arabic script. How deadly. What disrespect that shows toward...? Inkjet printers?
The community center like any other institution offering community center like things anywhere in ultra-gentrified, 85%-Democratic-leaning, average household income of probably $290,000+ per year, at least $150 per square foot commercial property rental value downtown Manhattan is likely:
- to be architecturally rather interesting and innovative (I hope),
- offer vaguely interesting and basically benign programs inclusive of ones aimed at kiddies and grandparents, and
- be visited by "radicals" far less likely to be the likes of blind, raving jihadist clerics and far more likely to be out, lesbian students writing papers at Union Theological Seminary on topics like Sufi mysticism.
Do I think Iman Abdul Rauf is a little shifty, is a little disingenuous, and that his comment that "the United States’ policies were an accessory to the crime that happened [on 9/11]" was a load of bollocks? Yup, I do. But just wait, if Cordoba House isn't at first quite like what I've described above, and maybe some nutter gets up at prayers and states that George Bush was behind 9/11, then just give it a bit of time. Religion doesn't really change New York all that much--never has. Rather, New York changes the religion; such is the predominately moderating, diversifying, intellectualizing--and very, very rarely radicalizing--effect of the Big Apple. There will be scrutiny like you won't believe about every guest lecturer invited by and office supplies order dug out of the trash can of Cordoba House, and no fundie iman's going to take root there. Not when there's workshops to plan on "Granadan astrolabes of the 1200s."
Give it a rest! Unless the building ends up being another ugly and genertically commerical-style glass or concrete rectangle the likes of which Manhattan does not need another of. Then I'm all in favor of burning it down and letting Cordoba House get the insurance money. I mean, have you seen photos of Cordoba, Spain? Gorgeous buildings! Iman Abdul Rauf, you'd better get a good innovative architect, New York is counting on you!
Oh, and here's an astrolabe combining "Hebrew script with an ‘Islamic’ design and Christian features" made in about 1320 in Spain. There might some day be key fob versions of it for sale in the Cordoba House gift store.
(Cross-posted here.)