{"id":20026,"date":"2023-12-10T08:40:10","date_gmt":"2023-12-10T08:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mediashower.com\/blog\/?p=20026"},"modified":"2023-12-18T08:13:18","modified_gmt":"2023-12-18T08:13:18","slug":"religious-tolerance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/religious-tolerance\/","title":{"rendered":"How Michael Bloomberg Built Religious Tolerance for the 9\/11 Mosque"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>TL;DR:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg defends religious liberty and tolerance in a speech highlighting New York City\u2019s past and appealing to its common humanity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>So What?<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Bloomberg takes on a difficult issue squarely and argues that judging a faith by a few of its alleged adherents is wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After the attacks of 9\/11, the people of the United States \u2013 and, especially, the city of New York \u2013 entered a new and challenging era, mourning the lost lives and struggling with the personal and political implications of terrorism.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nearly a decade later, after a memorial had been built at the site where the Twin Towers once stood, developers proposed an Islamic community center and mosque two blocks from the World Trade Center tragedy site.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The planned building was quickly dubbed the \u201cGround Zero Mosque,\u201d and became enormously controversial. Some felt that it was an offense to those who\u2019d lost their lives and their families, an opinion quickly amplified in news columns and on cable networks.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Michael Bloomberg, the city\u2019s mayor, viewed the controversy as unbecoming of the city. New York is home to the largest number of Muslims in the US (roughly 750,000) &#8212; hardly the place to lay the blame for the attacks. So here&#8217;s what he did.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bloomberg took an opportunity in his speech at the historical Governor\u2019s Island, with the Statue of Liberty behind him, to stand up for his constituents\u2019 religious freedom \u2013 and to use his language to show what it meant to do the right thing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/kXm_fUDfJZQ?si=Rojk9EgIvdwAIJBA\" width=\"780\" height=\"438\" frameborder=\"&quot;\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>Using Rhetorical Questions and Taking a Stand<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Throughout the speech, which is only seven minutes long, Bloomberg returns to a major point: That freedom of religion is a core principle of the United States, and no one should be judged based on their religious beliefs alone. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>In his opening, Bloomberg makes his point clear:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cWe&#8217;ve come here to Governors Island to stand where the earliest settlers first set foot in New Amsterdam and where the seeds of religious tolerance were first planted.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Drawing on history and collecting us into a shared past sounds like a story. We\u2019re big on using storytelling elements, but here, Bloomberg not only connects with his listeners but reminds them that there is a shared set of values that we all claim, one of which is religious tolerance.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He then uses that technique again, but jumping forward in time to make a more critical connection:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt was exactly that spirit of openness and acceptance that was attacked on 9\/11, 2001. On that day, 3,000 people were killed because some murderous fanatics didn&#8217;t want us to enjoy the freedoms to profess our own faiths, to speak our own minds, to follow our own dreams, and to live our own lives.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He follows up with another historical example:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIn the mid-1650s, the small Jewish community living in Lower Manhattan petitioned Dutch Governor Peter Stuyvesant for the right to build a synagogue &#8212; and they were turned down<br \/>\n<\/span><\/i><i><span>[\u2026]<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the 1700s, even as religious freedom took hold in America, Catholics in New York were effectively prohibited from practicing their religion &#8212; and priests could be arrested. As a result, the first Catholic parish in New York City was not established until the 1780&#8217;s.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All of this builds up to a rhetorical question Bloomberg asks his audience:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cShould the government attempt to deny private citizens the right to build a house of worship on private property based on their particular religion?\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In classical rhetoric, there is a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Enthymeme\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">logical structure called the enthymeme<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Aristotle identified the enthymeme as a logical argument in which one or more premises are left unstated, with the idea that the audience will \u201cfill in the gaps.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As you might imagine, setting up an audience to \u201cfill in the blanks\u201d is rhetorically powerful. By setting up a series of propositions about religious freedom (in a historical context), he invites the listeners to provide their answers regarding contemporary Muslims in post-9\/11 New York.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bloomberg carefully chooses examples from two other major religions so the audience can see these truths in other belief systems. It\u2019s a way to build inclusion and shift the view of audience members who may oppose the mosque.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Building Community: Everyone Means Everyone<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-20029\" src=\"http:\/\/mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/michael-bloomberg-on-a-podium.png\" alt=\"michael bloomberg on a podium\" width=\"780\" height=\"520\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/michael-bloomberg-on-a-podium.png 800w, https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/michael-bloomberg-on-a-podium-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/michael-bloomberg-on-a-podium-768x512.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px\" \/><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Photo Credit: <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/people\/22007612@N05\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gage Skidmore<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Building on that, Bloomberg also carefully uses inclusive language and examples throughout his speech. He states in the opening that everyone who lives in New York is a New Yorker:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cOur doors are open to everyone\u2026 And whether your parents were born here or you came yesterday, you are a New Yorker.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Part of this is giving his due to his audience: He spoke to religious leaders from across the city, who worked with its diverse population in several ways. However, you\u2019ll find inclusive language throughout the speech to bring everyone listening into the fold. He\u2019s careful to use \u201cwe\u201d and \u201cour\u201d and to include the city\u2019s Muslims and himself, in lines such as:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cLet us not forget that Muslims were among those murdered on 9\/11 and that our Muslim neighbors grieved with us as New Yorkers &#8212; and as Americans. We would betray our values\u00a0 and play into our enemies&#8217; hands if we were to treat Muslims differently than anyone else.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That inclusion extends to those on the other side of the debate. Bloomberg is careful to make clear that he respects the views of people who disagree with him. Again, this is established early in the speech:<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><i><\/i><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe may not always agree with every one of our neighbors. That&#8217;s life and it&#8217;s part of living in such a diverse and dense city. But we also recognize that part of being a New Yorker is living with your neighbors in mutual respect and tolerance.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bloomberg lays out the difficulties some have had, not simply dismissing them. Towards the end of his speech, he notes the mosque\u2019s future leaders are planning to build an interfaith outreach center, and he hopes that it will help people struggling with the fallout of the attacks find a little peace.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He closes by noting that controversies fade but that principles don\u2019t:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c&#8230;our values and our traditions endure &#8212; and there is no neighborhood in this city that is off limits to God&#8217;s love and mercy, as the religious leaders here with us can attest.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2>Calling On Shared History and Values to Speak to Tolerance<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While Bloomberg\u2019s support was welcomed, the community center struggled in the end. It\u2019s a condominium building, with a mosque planned but not yet built in the parcel. Still, that Bloomberg spoke out to defend the right to build it is a good reminder of the importance of religious tolerance and freedom and how it can help heal a community\u2019s wounds.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For communicators, the key lessons to draw from Bloomberg\u2019s speech are that shared history and values can help marketers lead an audience where they want them to go\u2026 but it\u2019s even more powerful to call upon those values to let your audience come to the right choice themselves.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you need help crafting effective communication for your target audience, Media Shower wants to use our expertise for your benefit. <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/mediashower.com\/user\/free_trial?__mscta=2822_97621_162\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Get a free trial<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and find out for yourself.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mediashower.com\/blog\/content-marketing-plan-template\/?__mscta=2965_97621_162\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-19295 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/3-2.png\" alt=\"marketers meet your master plan cta\" width=\"680\" height=\"240\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/3-2.png 680w, https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/3-2-300x106.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Michael Bloomberg shows communicators how to encourage healing and stand up for a principle even among disagreement in his \u201cAddress in Support of Religious Tolerance.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":20027,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[459],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20026"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/113"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20026"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20026\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20031,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20026\/revisions\/20031"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mediashower.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}