I’ve been following with horror the media and right-wing frenzy over the so-called “Ground-Zero Mosque.” It’s not at Ground Zero, it’s almost a half-mile away and all those people, from Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin to the Anti-Defamation League who are opposed to its construction seem also to be opposed to the First Amendment of the Constitution, that protects freedom of religion.

We’ve seen this sort of thing before. In the California town where opponents of a mosque were urged to bring their dogs to the rally (“because Muslims hate dogs”) this year, ten years ago, there was opposition to construction by the Latter Day Saints. They’ve run into difficulty over plans to build temples in many communities over the last couple of decades. Other religious groups struggle even more.

When we lived in South Carolina, Corrie and I were involved in Harvard’s Pluralism Project, which seeks to document the presence of religious communities in the US. As part of that work, we got to know Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists, and learned about their difficulties in Spartanburg and Greenville in establishing places of worship. We also, very occasionally, tried to help some of these groups negotiate with their neighbors when tensions arose.

Besides the Capitol itself, Grace Church is probably the most recognizable landmark in Capitol Square, and its presence there bespeaks an earlier time when Christian churches were at the heart of American culture and power. That’s not the case any longer. It’s often tempting for Christians to view themselves as a persecuted minority, but I rather doubt that anywhere in the US the sort of outrage that has arisen over the construction of an Islamic community center and mosque would be generated by any church’s building project. And whatever slights we might receive in the press or wider culture, are nothing like the vitriol that Muslims have received from wide swaths of American culture in the past couple of months, actually since 9-11.

There are a number of sites that are following the various controversies that include news of a Florida church that plans a Quran burning on September 11. Among the best is Religion Dispatches. There are also several essays worth reading. One is by Jeff Goldberg of The Atlantic. It’s available here. Mayor Bloomberg’s remarks are here.

The Pluralism Project has tracked incidents of religious intolerance and intimidation for a number of years. They also archive examples of inter-religious cooperation. That website is here.