Could anything be scarier? Muslims worshipping a mere 2 blocks from the hallowed ground of Ground Zero? GASP ! A “Victory Mosque”? DOUBLE GASP ! On that dark day in American history when over 3,000 people lost their lives at the hands of Muslim extremists, our world changed forever; and not for the better.
“Terrorist“ became a curseword. You must hold your pee on the airplane because getting up may cause you to be bumrushed and tackled by undercover U.S. Marshalls.
At first glance, I’ll admit, the idea of a mosque so close to Ground Zero was appalling. Why would they choose that spot? Everywhere in NYC is expensive real estate, why not somewhere cheaper? Somewhere less controversial?
Honestly, in 2010, I can’t believe that we are really having a debate on whether or not a place of worship can be built because of the religion being practiced there. Wasn’t stuff like this decided way back in the 1700s when our Constitution was written?
I will admit, legally, the Cordoba initiative has a right to build a mosque anywhere they choose. I came to this realization after Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) raised an excellent point on MSNBC last week. Lawmakers should not be commenting on the wisdom of building a mosque at that location. Lawmakers make and enforce LAWS. LAW is (for the most part) impartial and without emotion. When our lawmakers start putting their personal judgments and opinions into enforcement of law, that’s teetering on a dangerous edge. I respect him as a Congressman because despite the prodding of his interviewer, he refused to say whether or not he thought it was “right” to build a mosque there. That was not Rep. Weiner being a politician and avoiding the issue. Although we are nosy Americans and may want to know where he stands emotionally on this issue, we have no right to know and his emotions have no place in the legality of the issue at hand.
I, however, am, not a member of Congress. I am not a lawmaker. I am a private citizen, therefore I can speak freely about my emotions on the situation. And I do not think the mosque should be built 2 blocks from Ground Zero. Is there really a reason to cause the families of 9/11 victims any more pain and anguish? I think for the Cordoba Initiative to consider building a mosque so close to hallowed ground is in very poor taste and is insensitive to the 9/11 victims and families. This also raises the question of how close is “too close” to Ground Zero? Two blocks? Five blocks? 911 miles?
This is all semantics though, legally, anyone could build a mosque on the same block as Ground Zero. Legally, someone could also build a KKK Historical Center next to Rosa Park’s grave. But the determination of is it the “right” thing to do is up for individual interpretation.
Yes, I know the 9/11 criminals were extremists, and their actions do not represent Islam as a whole. However, I don’t kid myself that we are engaged in a religious conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan. Interestingly enough, we are not engaged in a conflict with those countries specifically. Anyone who is reading this blog post should be smart enough to know that we are fighting the extremist sects of Islam who want to rule those two countries. America is a Christian nation, and those with whom we are engaged in conflict believe that theirs is the righteous cause in the eyes of Allah. And although only the Republican right wing crazies will say “God” out loud in public, and we refuse to admit it as a country, we believe that God and “good” are on OUR side. So, yes, we ARE in a religious war.
Mayor Bloomberg and President Obama have both expressed their support for the legality of building a mosque at that location. Both of them have also refused to comment on the wisdom of building a mosque there, a wise choice since commenting on that puts them in the league of douchebag Sen. John Kyl; who has given in to the semantics of the issue at hand and has come out publicly to say that building the Boogey-Mosque is “not right” Read his article here.
Since polls show nearly 70% of Americans and 60% of New Yorkers oppose the Boogey-Mosque, I don’t doubt that personally, the President and Mayor Bloomberg also oppose the mosque. But their personal views do not matter in the context of the Constitution. While I agree with Sen. Kyl that “New York is a big city and there are other places to build”, as a private citizen, I can let my emotions influence what I do. What I do doesn’t affect millions of people. The same is not true for Sen . Kyl. He (unfortunately) matters more than I do and therefore should keep his emotions out of what is truly a legal debate.
New Yorkers and non-New Yorkers alike–your thoughts?
And oh yeh, speaking of 9/11, we still haven’t found Osama Bin Laden yet, have we? Okay, just checking.
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