Old Hatreds, New Enemies

New Yorkers are up in arms. They do not want these uncouth, superstitious, and filthy newcomers to build their house of worship in Manhattan. Not in the heart of the city. They want it moved somewhere else. They see in their religion an enemy of democracy. They fear this house of worship will be a bridgehead on this land for an assault on Americans; and an effort to take over their government and to apply their own law. They are worried about plan’s foreigner backers. They think the newcomers’ ideology is antithetical to American ideals.

Sounds familiar? Probably you are thinking you have guessed it right?

No. I am not talking about Muslims and it not the community center and mosque, commonly called Park51, they plan to build on Park Place, near ground zero.

A lot of parallels, though. But your guess is way off the mark. Some 225 years.

The year is 1785. The new arrivals are Catholics. The house of worship is St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church, the oldest Catholic church in America at the intersection of Barclay and Church Streets, about two blocks from the site of the proposed Islamic Cultural Center at 51 Park Place.

The Harper magazine calls it The “Ground Zero Mosque” of 1785.

This history lesson comes from Father Kevin V. Madigan, the pastor of this church, who tells his view of the Park 51 project: “We were just pleased to have a new neighbor.”

The Harper magazine has an insightful history lesson of its own:

In England of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Catholics were viewed as terrorists and terrorist sympathizers, and suffered brutal repression. When the government moved to emancipate the Catholics–restoring a measure of civil rights to them–this provoked violent mass demonstrations in 1780 that shook the monarchy. Across the Atlantic in America, anti-Catholic sentiment was if anything even more virulent, and it extended for many more decades, spurred by Catholic immigration.

The Park51 organizers say they will not accept any foreign support for their $100 million-plus project. St. Peter’s Church would not have been built without a 'handsome' donation of $1,000 from a foreigner — King Charles III of Spain.

The opposition to St. Peter came from Protestants. This time round the movement against Mosque is spearheaded by a Jew: Pamela Geller. Or so it seems, at least, from the coverage of the New York Times that has wasted a lot of time, space and ink on her.

It was a matter of survival then; it is a matter of survival now. Plain and simple.