After reading this post by Tom Levenson about the proposed construction of a new observatory on Mauna Kea, which is contested by some local Hawaiian groups on religious grounds, I have a question:
Would some of the rhetoric that has been used by astronomers be used if the proposed site were the Wailing Wall/Al-Aqsa Mosque*?
I’m guessing that some of what has been said might not have been.
*Yes, I realize no one in her right mind would sight a telescope in the middle of Jerusalem.