It
went down this way. Rev. Terry Jones heard from the Lord that all those
excellent reasons for burning a Koran should be waived if and only if
Cordoba House (aka Park51, aka the Mosque of Doom) is moved a few blocks
uptown, lest the practice of Islam (“from the Devil,” in the theology
of Jones’ International House of Spiritual Dovebars) pollute the Holy of
Holies at Ground Zero and bring down His Wrath. Something along those
lines. Bring on Harrison Ford.

The key point here is that the
proposed Islamic Center has become the all-purpose wedge for
legitimating Islamophobia in America today. Everybody down to Sarah
Palin disapproves of burning Korans, but gosh, you might trump Donald
Trump himself if you drag Ground Zero into it.

Meanwhile, even
the most benign expressions of religious inclusivity are becoming
occasions for the digital outpouring of anti-Muslim bile. A couple of
days ago, the Hartford City Council was inundated when it resolved
to diversify its pre-meeting prayers with an Islamic invocation now and
then. Given how little interest the Hartford City Council generates
these days, I’ve got to believe that most of the angry emails came from
non-Hartford residents. But these days, it’s hard to know.