We shall not rehash why we oppose the construction of a mosque near Ground Zero. But in the subsequent discussion, a pernicious defense has been raised. The claim is made that since moderate Muslims are not responsible for 9/11, it is appropriate for them to construct a mosque near Ground Zero. Why blame people who were not responsible? In fact, the Muslims who want to build the mosque represent a corrective to 9/11 and embody this countrys commitment to religious freedom.
As appealing as this argument might sound, it reflects exactly what is wrong with politics and culture in this country. This argument undermines the very idea of responsibility. Consider: A saying that gained much currency during Americas war against Vietnam was this one, by Abraham Joshua Heschel: Some are guilty, but all are responsible.
The meaning was clear to all who lived through that era, and who opposed the Vietnam war. Not everybody pulled the trigger, not everybody manned the bombers or dropped the napalm, not everybody worked in a weapons plant, and not everybody voted for Lyndon Johnson or Richard Nixon, but all were responsible. For a simple, clear and compelling reason: those who prosecuted the war acted in the name of all of Americas citizens. If this were not the case, why the sustained outrage and sometimes violent protests? If the prosecution of the war had nothing to do with those who were not actually pulling the trigger, why should they have been so disturbed?
Yes, some are guilty, but all are responsible. It is an idea that has more applicability than Vietnam and than 9/11. During the period of the Crusades and the expulsions, Jews were slaughtered by Christians. Was Christianity responsible? Of course it was. The idea that it was not a true Christianity that prosecuted these massacres and expulsions, century after century, is rightly seen as an evasion of responsibility. Now, did every Christian commit murder? Was every Christian guilty? Of course not. But all were responsible.
Though on the scale of violence, the comparison between the Crusades and the murders commited by Dr. Baruch Goldstein in 1994 is so out of proportion as to be ludicrous Crusaders and their ilk murdered millions, while Goldstein murdered 29 people in principle the issue is the same. No one was guilty of Goldsteins murders but Goldstein. But all Jews were responsible. Goldstein was educated in the teachings of Judaism and acted in its name which is why all, or at least most Jews, were outraged at his terrible deed. The sense of responsibility was palpable.
Exactly the case with 9/11. Many, perhaps even most Muslims were appalled by the murders commited in the name of Islam. They were not guilty. But they were responsible. And because they were responsible, humility, contrition and self-scrutiny not the projection of a mosque at the site of the murders are the only appropriate responses.
The Economist argues that the 9/11 murderers did not act in the name of Islam, but in the name of al-Qaida, a terrorist outfit that claims to speak in Islams name but has absolutely no right or mandate to do so.
On the basis of that logic, every American killed in Vietnam was but an aberrant criminal, while America itself bore no responsibility for what happened there. Every Christian Crusader and other anti-Semite who murdered Jews was but a self-motivated criminal with no motivation or mandate from the Catholic Church. Baruch Goldstein was but an oddball with no tie to Judaism.
Sorry, when we rightly understand the collective responsibility not guilt that governs our understanding of history, be it political or religious, we reject the simplistic, atomistic notion of the lily white innocence of moderate Muslims.
In fact, al-Qaida terrorists study Islamic texts, find proof for their actions in Islamic history and act in the name of Islam including a mandate from some of its highest religious authorities. (Think Iran, for example, whose terrorist outrages via Hezbollah and Hamas are mandated by the highest Shiite authorities.) If all this be a distortion of Islam, then those responsible for the distortion embrace all members of the religion, and require that they protest. Some are guilty, but all are responsible.
Copyright © 2010 by the Intermountain Jewish News
