By CodyAnne Pauli
In New York City and across the nation, there is an uproar about plans to build a Mosque two blocks away from Ground Zero.
Before forming an opinion for yourself, take a second and think back to the moment when you discovered the Twin Towers were being attacked…
Now, think about your feelings toward those who committed this act of terrorism.
After recognizing that the terrible atrocity of the attack on the Twin Towers on 9/11/01 and those who committed the act, think about their religion. How do you feel about Islam? Should Muslims be allowed to share the same religious freedoms that we all do, as Christians, Buddhists, Jews, atheists, Taoists, Wiccans, etcetera?
Many say with a booming and resounding voice, “NO.” I think to myself, reading the fervent diatribe from these otherwise independent thinkers, and wonder, “Where am I? Am I even in America?” Now absolutely, they can make their opinions known. They have that right, and I don’t blame many for feeling as if a Mosque near Ground Zero is a slap to their own face. After all, the terrorists who carried out the plot to stab America through the heart were Muslim. That does not, however, mean that all Muslims are terrorists, just as most Christians aren’t KKK members, aren’t proud of the hateful displays of Westboro Baptist Church, and do recognize that the Crusades were wrong.
Having established this, we can move on to the proposed Mosque near Ground Zero. It has been stated that this Mosque will not just serve as a house of worship for Muslims, but also be a center for the community, quite similar in function to the YMCA. It has already been admitted that the building it would replace is quite old, but not historically significant enough to grant landmark status. Those who oppose this Mosque, however, are demanding that it is old and therefore significant, and should be declared as a historic landmark, because it is the only way to keep that Mosque from being built.
In Oklahoma City, there are a number of Catholic Churches as well as YMCA centers. No one complains about them, even though Timothy McVeigh was Catholic. Why not? Were there pickets in front of the doors of new churches ten years after the OKC bombing? Doesn’t that just add insult to injury, as many people are claiming this Mosque down the street will do? Perhaps it does. I won’t say that there isn’t a twinge of pain in remembrance of the many different peoples who were murdered that day by extremists, but that doesn’t justify the discrimination against Muslims.
While I do not identify with the Muslim faith, I have respect for those who do. On the way home from vacation earlier this month, I saw the most beautiful Muslim family and wondered, “How many people are going to react the way many who oppose this Mosque are reacting? Who will cringe when they hear them speak in their native tongue, wondering if this Muslim family might be part of an elaborate terrorist scheme? Will anyone report suspicious persons based on their outward display of their faith?”
I silently wished the best for that family, as they go through their lives here, having to deal with such immense discrimination. I hope one day we as Americans can actually learn how to respect each other and share this land like our forefathers once dreamed.
As far as the questions about investigating the funding of the proposed Mosque, that is not what I have discussed. My opinion is simply on whether or not a Mosque should be permitted to be built down the street from Ground Zero, and the simple lack of tolerance and respect that many Americans display.
indieregister.wordpress.com 
wonderfully written. i wish that all americans could show the tolerance of others’ beliefs that you do.
As far as I’m concerned, this comes down to property rights. If a group of Muslims has raised enough cash to purchase the property and build the mosque, they shouldn’t need anyone’s permission to do so.
Those YMCA centers you speak of are divesting themselves of their Christian background, officially changing their corporate name from the Young Men’s Christian Association to simply “The Y” in an effort to emphasize their “focus on youth development, healthy living and social responsibility. ” [http://www.telegram.com/article/20100714/NEWS/7140398]
Amazingly, nobody in the MSM is protesting that move, although the Village People are said to be upset… [imagine singing, “It’s fun to stay at the Y. and stopping there]. [http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jul/13/village-people-sticking-ymca-despite-name-change/]
When you talk about “freedom” you must always remember that as much as we all have “free speech” you simply can’t shout “fire!” in a crowded theater whenever you want.
How would you feel about losing a family member to a drunk driver – who then opens a bar up on the same corner he killed your family member on?
Have you read up on the Imam behind the mosque on ground zero?
According to Wikipedia, “Speaking at his New York mosque in 2004, Imam Feisal said: “The Islamic method of waging war is not to kill innocent civilians. But it was Christians in World War II who bombed civilians in Dresden and Hiroshima, neither of which were military targets.”
[Is this a justification for the destruction of civilians in the World Trade Center? Sounds like it to me. – CK]
Imam Feisal said that there could be little progress in Western-Islamic relations until the U.S. acknowledged backing Middle East dictators and give an “American Culpa” speech to the Muslim world, because there are “an endless supply of angry young Muslim rebels prepared to die for their cause and there [is] no sign of the attacks ending unless there [is] a fundamental change in the world”.
[There was also an “endless supply” of compliant Japanese soldiers during WWII who would have wrought much more destruction on the world, let alone the US were it not for Hiroshima and Nagasaki… AND let it not be forgotten or passed over that dropping the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the last brave acts of war ever commanded by a Democrat President.]
Besides; going from a capitalistic representative democracy to a dictatorial theocracy WOULD be a “fundamental change in the world”… exactly what would the Imam like to fundamentally change from and change to?
@ Zac, having the money to purchase a piece of land and put anything you want there is NOT a guarantee in the US. There are such things as “zoning laws” which prevent the establishment of a bar next door to an elementary school, for instance.
There is tolerance; and their is naivete . There’s a parable of a frog being talked into letting a snake give him passage across a river you should look up.
addendum: according to the Wikipedia article, “Feisal said: “The Islamic method of waging war is not to kill innocent civilians”.
According to the Koran, “The Dinner Table; [5.51] “O you who believe! do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends; they are friends of each other; and whoever amongst you takes them for a friend, then surely he is one of them; surely Allah does not guide the unjust people.” [http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/k/koran/koran-idx?type=simple&q1=Christian&size=First+100]
Therefore, if a Muslim takes a Christian or a Jew as a friend, the Muslimm is “one of them” – or – “one of the unjust people”.
If a people can be considered “unjust” can they then be considered “innocent”?
addendum #2;
How about a compromise? We allow the mosque at Ground Zero when the Muslims allow a church or synagogue to be built in Mecca?
Doesn’t work?
How about we let them build a mosque at Ground Zero when Muslims let a fellow Muslim convert to Christianity without threatening his or her life?
The error is to presume that the hijackers represent Islam, they don’t. No more than McVeigh represents Catholics, like Cody mentions.
If someone wants to lawfully build a mosque then I say go for it. Just like any church or synagogue has the same freedom.
Thank God our government is founded on secularism, and won’t enter this silly argument between groups of superstitious simpletons with differing opinions on the nature of the same imaginary deity.
Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. I don’t know where you picked up the notion that this country was founded on “secularism”; every day of the week, Bill Federer gives examples of how deeply Christianity is embedded into the fabric of our nation: http://www.americanminute.com/
I’m tickled to see how much you trust “freedom” b/c you don’t even post your first name.
But I’m also bewildered and bemused by the irony of anyone who would say in the same breath, “THANK GOD our government is founded on SECULARISM”; thanks for making me laugh first thing in the morning.
A government based on secularism? Hmm…
The First Amendment. Ever heard of that?
How about the US Constitution, Article VI, section 3?: “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.”
Certainly a shrinking majority of Americans self-identify as Christians, but that doesn’t make the country Christian, and it doesn’t have anything to do with the government either.
Secondly, posting anonymously is an example of freedom in action. However, you can call me Ishmael if you’d like.
Lastly, I’m glad you liked my joke. 🙂
What is the big F problem. These people had nothing to do with what happened on Sept 11, 2001. IT WAS AN INSIDE JOB. Wake up!
An inside job… lol! To what end? To put Obama in the White House? I suppose you think the Apollo Moon Landings were faked too?
It was an inside job to go to WAR and the people in charge at the time to make a boot full of money and had nothing to do with AKA getting into the WH. The moon land had nothing to do with this.
The moon landing has everything to do with this; there are lunatics out there who believe we never landed on the moon, in spite of all the empirical evidence to the contrary.
Obviously there are lunatics who believe the use of jets and innocent lives to bomb the WTC, the Pentagon and an attempted bombing of the White House by Muslim extremists was an “inside” job by members of the Bush administration – empirical evidence be damned.
Two different pieces of history – the Apollo landings and the attacks of 9/11 to be sure; the same utter lunacy in believing the facts of each case to be different than what they are.