The Oklahoma City bombing of 1995 and today’s “mosque” controversy in Manhattan
On April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh drove a truck loaded with explosives into the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 persons and injuring 680 more. McVeigh, a former soldier, was a supporter of right-wing militias. He was furious at the federal government and carried out his attack on the second anniversary of the federal-led destruction of the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas.
Initially, many assumed the Oklahoma City bombing was carried out by “Middle Eastern terrorists.” Area Muslims were under suspicion and one local Iraqi family had a brick thrown through their front window. The Rev. Jim Shields, local United Methodist minister, took the family flowers, a teddy bear for their little boy, a prayer for peace in Arabic and a message of goodwill from the Fellowship of Reconciliation, whom Shields represented. It was soon established that the attacker was Timothy McVeigh, who had no links to the Middle East, but rather to our own home-grown militia movement.
There was a strong response to the bombing, eventually centering in the building at the bombing site of an impressive National Memorial with annual interfaith services and programs. Many nearby churches have suitable memorials, including a statue of Christ weeping for the dead and wounded children. Christian, Jewish, and Muslim support has been present from the beginning with ongoing efforts to promote understanding, goodwill and healing. Overall, constructive forces have characterized the predominant response to the 1995 bombing. One can only speculate what the response would have been if McVeigh had been a Muslim.
The vastly larger destruction of the World Trade Center in 2001 has had an ongoing impact on American attitudes and policies, both domestic and foreign. The U.S. responded by going to war in the Middle East, resulting in a military conflict that has lasted almost a decade. Islamophobia, meanwhile, has been a recurring poison in our national discourse.
The present proposal to build a community center in lower Manhattan has ignited a controversy that has taken an ugly turn. The center is sponsored by Muslims long involved in interfaith and community efforts for service, understanding, and goodwill, but despite that, the project is being mislabeled as “a mosque that will desecrate the sacred ground of the World Trade Center.” It has been politicized by those who would use it to their own political advantage rather than utilizing its potential for building goodwill and healing for us all. Historic American commitment to religious freedom and an open, democratic civil society is under siege by merchants of hate and prejudice.
Not adequately discussed or understood in this controversy is the misuse of religious labels and stereotypes. Despite wide differences, every religious tradition has its peaceful dimension and its violent dimension, its nonviolent practices and its violent practices, its tolerant and its intolerant outlooks. We easily fall into the habit of judging the best of our own religious beliefs with the worst of the beliefs of “the other.”
Gandhi was a devout Hindu; millions of Indian Muslims and Hindus followed his nonviolent philosophy and actions, but a fanatic Hindu assassinated him at evening prayer. In Israel, Rabbis for Human Rights defend the rights of Palestinian farmers threatened by settlers; but Prime Minister Rabin, advocating peace between Israelis and Palestinians, was assassinated by a fanatical Torah student. Christians working for peace in the Middle East are villified by Christian Zionists who believe in a warrior God who will usher in the final war in which the enemies of Christ will be destroyed.
Islamophobia paints with a violent label all Muslims and overlooks the vast majority of Muslims who are men and women of goodwill. Martin Luther King called Love the supreme unifying principle that brings together Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Jews, and Buddhists in the work of peace and justice. King demonstrated that this principle outweighs that which divides us.
All persons of goodwill should rally together to support not only this center and its purpose but all such efforts that can bring healing to overcome division, hate and suspicion wherever they are found.
Richard Deats, an United Methodist minister, is editor emeritus of Fellowship magazine and served as the first interfaith programs coordinator at the Fellowship of Reconciliation.
