Thanks, but no thanks!

That’s basically what CNN host and Newsweek columnist Fareed Zakaria said to the Jewish Anti-defamation League when he returned a first amendment award which he received five years ago.

The Jewish civil rights organization was “not only saddened but stunned and somewhat speechless” when Zakaria returned “the handsome plaque and the $10,000 honorarium that came with it”.

In a Newsweek column posted August 6, 2010, he explained the conflict he felt when the Anti-defamation league challenged the appropriateness of the Muslim community center within several blocks of Ground Zero.

Zakaria, who admittedly is not a practitioner of Islam or any other religion, nonetheless appreciates the value of a demonstration of a moderate Islam, which he believes the mosque in question advocates.

Furthermore, he values greatly the efforts of the Jewish Anti-defamation League and believes the current position to be inconsistant with its impressive record, stating:

This decision will haunt the ADL for years if not decades to come. Whether or not the center is built, what is at stake here is the integrity of the ADL and its fidelity to its mission.

There is an important point to be made here, and one that was not lost on Mr. Zakaria. If a Catholic or Protestant church, or Jewish Synagogue were to be built, there would be no protest. To suggest the inappropriateness of a Muslim project just because it is Muslim is to accuse the Muslim congregants of the crimes of 9/11. Is that not defamation of the first order?

No wonder Mr. Zacaria was troubled by the inconsistency of retaining an honor bestowed on behalf of the First Amendment by an organization whose stated purpose was

“to put an end forever to unjust and unfair discrimination against and ridicule of any sect or body of citizens”.

As a Christian, I find it impressive that Mr. Zacaria, who espouses no religious faith, has demonstrated a sense of moral sensitivity that has alluded many professing Christians and ambitious public servants.