Folks Who Cling to Their Liberalism and Antipathy to People Who Aren't Like Them

I've just read the second opinion piece in the mainstream media today that is critical of the Ground Zero Mosque Imam. Interesting . . . I predicted that a turning point may have been reached the other day when Imam Rauf implied that the mosque had better go ahead . . . or else. That may have been the straw that broke the camel's back.

But the reason I call attention to this piece is the way in which William McGurn, writing in the Wall Street Journal, skillfully draws the connection between Iman Rauf and American liberalism. His closing line is beautiful!

Here is an excerpt:

For American liberals, that two out of three Americans oppose the construction of an Islamic center on its current cite occasions no second thoughts. To the contrary, it likely confirms a view of the American people as dangerous yahoos. In fact, it probably confirms the liberal view that the war on terror is less a war against radical Islamists than a more general battle between moderates and extremists of all varieties.

Yesterday at the Council, Imam Rauf made this explicit. "The real battlefront, the real battle that we must wage together today," he said, "is not between Muslims and non-Muslims. It is between moderates of all faith traditions against the extremists of all faith traditions."

Now, the world has its share of Christian, Jewish, Hindu and other religious extremists. Sometimes that extremism leads to violence. At least in America, however, to compare this to the sustained, organized international war crimes planned and carried out by Islamic extremists beggars belief.

No one walks the streets of Manhattan fearing a Methodist may blow up his office, hijack his flight, or kill his son fighting in Afghanistan. Unless you are Angelina Jolie or the dean of Yale Law School, this is not only true but obvious. . . .

Yesterday at the Council, Imam Rauf made this explicit. "The real battlefront, the real battle that we must wage together today," he said, "is not between Muslims and non-Muslims. It is between moderates of all faith traditions against the extremists of all faith traditions."

So here we are, with the grievances on all sides more aggravated than assuaged by this latest experiment in liberal bridge-building. If the president and the mayor and the imam sound bitter about the 71% of New Yorkers who would like to see the Islamic Center moved, we shouldn't be surprised. It's what happens to folks who cling to their liberalism and their antipathy to people who aren't like them.

I don't know about you, but I'd say that McGurn has said it about as well as it can be said.