Recently, Islam has come under fire from seemingly every front. Proposed mosques in New York and Tennessee are being heavily protested.

Roughly one-fifth of Americans still mistakenly believe Obama is a Muslim. A mosque in Tennessee was recently the subject of cruel arson. Imam Rauf, the man in charge of the New York mosque, has come under fire as a divisive extremist when all he is trying to do is forge a moderate way forward for his faith.

And while much of this discussion has been couched in political terms, for me it is not political. This is an issue of religion, plain and simple. And so, with this lone sidelong glance at the First Amendment, I shall argue theologically.

I belong (and you do too, if you are Baptist) to a tradition that was founded, partially, on the basis of religious liberty. We Baptists – or at least our forebears – knew what it was to be persecuted. Because of their refusal to swear oaths and serve in the military, our Anabaptist ancestors were often arrested and killed, occasionally with a horrifically ironic drowning. We even suffered at the hands of other Protestants, watching in horror as Catholics and Anglicans turned on our leaders. We understand the necessity of tolerance.

Baptist John Leland takes tolerance even further: “The liberty I contend for is more than toleration. The very idea of toleration is despicable; it supposes that some have a pre-eminence above the rest to grant indulgence, whereas all should be equally free, Jews, Turks, Pagans and Christians.”

Toleration is only the beginning. It is, in essence, a weak word that implies an absolute surety in our own faith and a rather cold disdain for others. What we need is not just tolerance, but respect and understanding.

The best way to promote understanding is to build the New York mosque. Mosques have existed in the neighborhood since the 1970′s, and the building where Rauf is proposing the new community center is already being used as a prayer hall. The “Hallowed Ground” of the neighborhood is also home to a strip club that does not seem to offend anyone’s sensibilities. The proposed building cannot even be seen from Ground Zero; the view is obstructed by a post office.

But these points are periphery. Rauf represents the kind of Islam that is antithetical to the kind of violent Islamist tradition that destroyed the World Trade Center. This mosque is more than a mosque. It is a bright light, a symbol that Islam refuses to be defined by its worst adherents and will, instead, produce something powerful and good from tragedy. It is a movement that we should embrace. In the same way that we strive to be better, so should we support this attempt by Islam to become better than its own demons.

I do not in any way want to belittle the terrible tragedy that we experienced on September 11, but it was not propagated by true Muslims. In the same way that I cannot be held responsible for the Crusades, so Rauf and all moderate Muslims cannot be held responsible for an extremist sect. Rauf’s Islam is a peaceful, moderate Islam that represents change. He has been hailed by many for his attempts at building bridges between Islam and the West. If we stop this mosque from being built we take a big step backward, a big step into intolerance and hate.

As Padraic O’Hare recently said, “Build a Muslim house of prayer near Ground Zero? … Hand me a shovel.”