Let’s have a mind and raise flowers.

The road to a more just and reconciling society is one that will be marked by civil, respectful, informed, and compassionate discourse. It must be a discourse that draws from the best of our nation’s diverse religious and political traditions; where the terms of the discourse are based in mutual respect and do not take unfounded suspicion as their starting point. 

By this measure, I suggest that Rabbi Ira Youdovin’s September 9^th essay in The Independent falls short of an invitation to discourse that would best benefit Santa Barbara or our nation. Civility is the hallmark of a healthy democracy. However, above and beyond mere civility, interested parties in the public square can advocate for conversations of more elevating and redemptive potential than ones offered through sensationalizing media. More than just the Park51 community center project deserving a different conversation than ‘supporters’ and ‘critics’, we each deserve the highest level and type of inter-religious dialogue. We owe it to our neighbors and to ourselves to begin exchanges that at least recognize the shared humanity and connections of experiences, and regard the complexity and diversity of religious traditions.

To the specific content of Rabbi Youdovin’s piece, I would counter that two opportunities were lost for the essay to enlighten the Park51 discussion. Firstly, he writes that “there are powerful arguments for both sides” but fails to offer any of them instead only citing poor or hurtful statements from either side. From the camp of ‘move the Park51 community center’ he cites an unnamed columnist who appealed to Pope John Paul II’s moving of a Carmelite nunnery away from Auschwitz. Connecting this event to the potential Lower Manhattan development, the unnamed columnist writes that they see an applicable lesson being: “This is not your place; it belongs to others. However pure your voice, better to let silence reign.”

Meaningful conversation will be fostered with the continued recognition that New York’s and the nation’s Muslims share equally in the loss and grief of 9/11. The enrichment of dialogue participants’ humanity will be mutual when the shared memory of that day does not erase the experiences of Muslim’s deaths, grief, and acts of heroism. This columnist’s statement is hurtful in its exclusion of American Muslims from grieving as other Americans may and closes the door to Muslims’ equally sharing American identity.

Unfortunately representing the supporters of the present location, Youdovin cites Michael Bloomberg’s dismissive and judgmental statements, which have been tantamount to calling the project’s detractors guilty of bigotry. I believe that with these two examples the September 9^th article missed a chance at modeling positive arguments for others to emulate.

A second missed opportunity was the recognition of faith traditions’ robust diversity, complexity, and contextualization. Youdovin writes that apologists of Islam poorly defend their faith “with their unrealistic denial of any connection between its teachings and the atrocities committed in its name on 9/11.”

This statement confuses the way a faith tradition in one sense may have a singular ‘name’ by which it is appealed to, and in another sense have many traditions of teachings. While Islam was the faith of the terrorists, Islam has a plurality of distinct voices and teachings. This being the case, reasonable minds may not prejudge or assume any possible ‘connection’ between a Muslim and the perpetrators of 9/11. In effective and healing interfaith exchange, we will do well to respect the specific teachings, sects, prophets, and traditions of those with whom we are relating.

We Californians of good conscience who are motivated by perhaps our patriotism, faith, or ethics will continue to practice civil conversation in matters of the Park51 location. However, we can also politely move the conversation from one plagued by divisiveness to others perhaps of more redemptive potential. Rabbi Youdovin hints at one possibility in his touching reflection upon the Days of Awe. As Muslims have just completed their month of fasting, prayer, and repentance, we may find common ground especially during this season in our individual and communal striving for greater righteousness.

I am a proud resident of Santa Barbara and I am confident in our Central Coast remaining not only a place of great natural beauty, but one that remains characterized by our generosity and neighborliness. 

Original Essay by Rabbi Youdovin:
http://www.independent.com/news/2010/sep/08/jewish-high-holidays-and-mosque-ground-zero/

A Response by Philip Koplin:
http://www.independent.com/news/2010/sep/10/who-are-these-others/?foo#comments