先来点背景资料。本月，New York Community Board 通过决议，支持American Society of Muslim Advancement 在距离世贸大厦原址只有两个街区的地方建立一座13 层高的伊斯兰文化中心(定名为“Codorba House")。该场地距离世贸大厦原址只有两个街区，原来是一家 Burlington Coat Factory 商店，在9/11恐怖袭击中被摧毁，据说买方花费$4.8 M 购得此地盘，并将花费$100 M 建立这个社区中心(包括一个清真寺，室外游泳池和图书馆)。
尽管该计划得到了纽约市府有关方面的支持，但却在纽约市民中引起了强烈反应- 对此表达了激烈的反对主要是在9/11 中丧生的民众家属和当地的共和党领袖们。他们的理由主要是，在距离 "Ground Zero" 如此之近的地方修建一个伊斯兰文化中心，是对在这个世纪惨案中死去的人们的侮辱，是对这个“圣地”的不敬。共和党的领袖们，包括前国会发言人Newt Gingrich (据说他可能作为候选人参加2012 年选举), 前副总统候选人Sarah Palin 等也纷纷发表反对意见。Newt Gingrich 说：“They ignore the fact that more than 100 mosques already exist in New York City; Meanwhile, there are no churches or synagogues in all of Saudi Arabia. In fact no Christian or Jew can even enter Mecca.". 他并指出该中心的名字“Codorba House” 是“deliberately insulting term” ，因为“ It refers to Cordoba, Spain - the capital of Muslim conquerors who symbolized their victory over the Christian Spaniards by transforming a church there into the worlds third-largest mosque complex.”。尽管该中心的支持者坚持这个中心的名字并无对基督教不敬之意，它的名称随后被改为“Park 51 ”(详见:http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/07/21/newt-gingrich-no-ground-zero-mosque-until-saudis-allow-churches/)。
不少民权人士和学者对这种将穆斯林等同于恐怖分子的做法提出了异议，并认为美国政府应该反思自己的中东政策在这个恐怖事件中可能起到的间接作用。很多学术界人士(包括在美的犹太裔学者如 "The World is Flat ", "Hot, Flat, and Crowded", “Longitudes and Attitudes” 的作者 Tomas Friedman) 对美国的中东政策在巴以关系上的作用都做了不少反思 (万维网友欧阳峰对他的观点在“伊斯兰教和西方文明：冲突还是和解？”一文中做了详细的介绍，请看下面链接). 当然, 在当时群情激愤的环境下，这种声音很快就被淹没了，而被很多人看作是违反公民隐私和人身自由的“爱国法案”，也在这种大环境下得以通过。在这之后，被美国引以为立国之本和精神标签的宗教自由和言论自由，似乎被放到了国家安全之后，成为为了国家安全和利益可以牺牲的“权利”。
面对这样的环境，世界各地的伊斯兰信徒也开始思考这样一个问题：如何在多元社会生存的同时保护自己的传统和信仰？John Espisoto在书中这样分析道："Never before have so many Muslim minority communities existed across the world, in particular America and Europe. The specter of living as a permanent minority community in non-Muslim countries has heightened the need to address and redefine questions of pluralism and tolerance. Like Roman Catholicism in the 1960s, whose official acceptance of pluralism at the Second Vatican Council was strongly influenced by American Catholics experience as a minority, Muslim communities in America and Europe are now struggling with their question of identity and assimilation." 也许纽约世贸大厦附近的穆斯林文化中心，就是考验双方bottom lines 的一个“试金石”。
I too am trying to understand why Islam population has been growing rapidly in the world. It seems to be a religion that is attractive to people of relatively poor or dominated socio-economic positions - i.e., Africans, African Americans, Southeast Asian countries, etc. Of course, you can't say that the middle eastern countries belong to this category, but they should be considered differently, because they are not the "adopting people", but the "originating" people, so to speak. So to some extent, certain groups of people seem to embrace this religion because it is perceived to be a "world religion", and is "equal" to all who believe its doctrines.
But then again, Christianity is also "branded" to be a "world religion" and is accessible to all who choose to accept its doctrine.. Why isn't Christianity growing like Islam lately? Of course, it is growing very fast in China....
Jihad, sometimes referred to "the sixth pillar of Islam", litterally means "to strive or to struggle" ("douzheng", in Chinese - sounds familar?). According to Quran, it has outward direction and inward direction. The former is usually taken as the justification for terrorism activities - the suicide bombing, for example. So it is really complicated issue.
I think I know what you mean, but I still feel this whole situation reflects the "double-edged sword" nature of multiculturalism. Of course, a lot of it has to do with "political correctness", which then has a lot to do with freedom of speech, and academic freedom. Using 2cent's words, it is a "can of worm" that has so many layers!
Yesterday's ruling in favor of gay marriage in California, Missouri's votes against the Health Care reform act, and of course, the Judge's ruling over Arizona immigration act... All of these recent developments means that there is need for serious re-thinking of constitutionalism, federalism, and separatism. Of course, this is beyond the scope of this piece:).
U： Exactly. It's the "extremists" on both sides that are making it a tricky issue.
One major issue people in the non-Muslim world have with this religion, is its treatment of women. But according to John Esposito, there are many different branches of Islam beliefs, and they don't hold the same view regarding women. Again, it's the extremists or the fundamentalist (like the ones in Taliban) who treat women in the most harsh fashion. But Muslim women seem to enjoy abundant freedom in some parts of the Islam world - they have right to divorce, they have access to their families' assets, and some even play important roles in politics and other fields (for one, several Islamic countries even have had women president or prime minister - which is yet to be seen in the US:).
Of course, this is only one man's view on this topic.
i think the trick lies within extremists on both sides, if there is one outlet, you can not prevent the extremists who will take advantages of any situtaion under questionable circumstances. as long as there is a reasonable doubt.
what makes me puzzled is a lot cultures and religions....women seems often places in a postion of dis-advantage. or is that, the trick that the extremists had played with us for thousands of years ?
"With or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil; but for good people to do evil—that takes religion." - Steven Weinberg
“政治正确”的确也很容易变成 “双刃剑” ，对此我在“乱侃政治正确与学术自由”一文中有较多讨论。其实说到底，还是一个度的问题 -- 任何东西都要适可而止，否则就矫枉过正了。当然，中庸过头也是会成为极端，所谓 everything needs to be in moderation, even moderation itself ：)。
我对伊斯兰教其实了解也不多，以前的印象都比较负面，尤其是它支持政教合一，以及对女性的很多在我们看来是不合理的要求和“压迫”。前一阵看了Sam Harris 的书“The End of Faith”, 该作者对伊斯兰教的评价就非常负面(当然从书名可以猜得到，他对几乎所有的宗教的评价都不会正面，呵呵)，认为它是backward, repressive, and 支持暴力的宗教。但我现在看的两本由 John Esposito 写的书，则比较客观地，从历史背景和文化背景的角度对伊斯兰教的教义进行了介绍，所以让我有了 比较全面的理解。
Just a small correction: To get anywhere in PUBLIC life in Canada (i.e. politics, senior civil service positions), fluent bilingual ability is needed. Certainly NOT SO in the private sector. Phew!!!
