The Sacred and the Profane

The more I think about it, the more I'm disturbed by the brouhaha over Park51, the proposed Islamic community center modeled on the 92 Street Y that would be built a couple of blocks away from ground zero. The reason? An already existing neighborhood establishment called the New York Dolls Gentleman's Club. For some reason, the people who are incensed by the idea of Park51 have yet to utter a peep about the club.

Now, I'm not going to question why people are criticizing the proposed center. In fact, I'll assume that everybody is guided by the purist of motives. But if people are indeed concerned about the desecration of a sacred location, one might think that they'd be disturbed by the presence nearby of a place where lap dancing and other forms of sexual entertainment are the order of the day. Then again, one would expect people to be outraged by the idea of building a casino next door to the hallowed battlefield at Gettysburg, yet that project seems to have garnered a surprising amount of support.

Something is very wrong here. If you ask me, we certainly have strange notions of what constitutes profaning the sacred in our post-Christian, post-religious age.

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