Good Morning.

Much has been made in recent days about the so-called 'sacred ground' at Ground Zero in New York City. You're aware that a vocal minority opposes the building of a community center and neighborhood resource that happens to include a small prayer space. Ordinarily no big deal....but that religion happens to be the followers of Mohammed, not Jesus.

Sacred Ground is a rather broad term. It can mean just about anything to anyone, depending on the usage. The Holy Kaaba and the entire city of Mecca is sacred ground for Muslims. The Sikh Golden Temple springs readily to mind, and of course most of the city of Jerusalem, and indeed nearly all of Israel and the surrounding countries is referred to as the "Holy Lands".

But that's religion. Can anything secular be sacred?



We'll take a quick look through some of the more iconic places in American History, but remember to ask yourself, are they sacred?

About 5 miles from where I sit lie the small towns of Lexington and Concord. 235 years ago, these United States were born along Massachusetts Avenue as the Patriots harassed a column of British Army regulars after they failed to capture the Patriot arsenal in Concord. Perhaps this could be considered the most "sacred" ground in the United States. But Mass Ave is still an active roadway...the Battle Green in Lexington is surrounded by commercial businesses, and the farm at the end of the Old North Bridge is now surrounded by residential neighborhoods.

The turning point of the Civil War came at the farm community of Gettysburg, PA. I've been there a few times, and it's much the same as Lexington and Concord. Much of the battlefield is still preserved, as the fighting took place outside the town in the farms surrounding it. Those are still working farms today. Sure, there's monuments everywhere, and a network of roads built to support the tourist trade, but life goes on.

Lastly, we'll go overseas. Not to an American battlefield, but in the Pacific. The City of Manila was devastated at the end of WWII; it's considered one of the three most-destroyed cities by the war. (the other two being Warsaw and Berlin.) I was there in 2002, and even 60 years after the fall of Bataan there were signs visible. The walled city of Intramurous was surrounded by pockmarked walls, and many of the buildings inside were left as rubble as a reminder to Filipinos what had happened there. But the rest of the city had been rebuilt, was modern and vibrant, and a glorious reminder of the chaos of city life.

But what does any of this have to do with New York?

3,000 people died that day in the World Trade Center. In the ensuing 9 years, there has been nothing done. No rebuilding, no memorial, no moving forward from where we were. Sacred Ground is an iffy thing. We can have it shackle us for all eternity, but wouldn't a better memorial be to do something?

The Islamic Center that wants to build two blocks away saw a need. There is still a vast divide between Christian and Non-Christian in this country, and from what I've read about the project, where they want to put it is a blighted neighborhood that would benefit from some new construction and a destination for people to go.

What's wrong with that?

There's something the President said about hallowed ground a while back. It was President Lincoln, and he was standing on the aforementioned battlefield at Gettysburg when he said it.

...We can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract...from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain.

Lincoln said those words about Union troops defending the United States. By applying that same speech to ordinary citizens trying to live their lives, "that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion", looking at the city of New York now, with that big empty hole in the skyline....preventing progress honors the dead how, exactly?

The victims of September 11....they have indeed died in vain.