August 16, 2010

A few questions and comments:

First,  if this was a church or synagogue, would you still be opposed to this? Think hard before you answer. Be truthful. If so, you’re being hypocritical.

Are you one of those people saying, “Anywhere but there”? Do you say you have nothing against mosques in general? You aren’t alone in your words. But it isn’t just “there”. Or rather, “there” appears to be anywhere a Muslim community wants to build a mosque. There have been protests against proposed mosques in cities around the country — California, Tennessee — and a mosque was burned in Jacksonville, FL. You cannot hold the moderate Muslim majority responsible for the vile acts of a few on 9/11 any more than you can blame all Jews for any bad acts in Israel and the occupied territories, or all the Christians of Germany responsible for the Holocaust.

The quickest way to radicalize a new generation of Muslims is to deny them the same rights you have. Look at Israel. You think that if the Palestinians there had the same opportunities as Israeli citizens and the same standard of living and the same quality of life they would be hurling rocks and smuggling rockets? Schools, jobs, and moderate religious education can keep kids too busy (and ambitious) to want to fly a plane into a building.

The group in question has the right to build there. Newt Gingrich said that no one has the right to put up a Nazi billboard near the Holocaust Museum. Actually, they do. That’s what freedom of speech is. It would be ugly and awful, but it isn’t even close to what this group of people have in mind. These are not criminals who want to glorify what happened on 9/11. Their goals are the very opposite of that. They want a place to pray — which they’ve been doing at the site two blocks from Ground Zero for some time — and to provide moderate religious education, a place for community events, and swimming facilities that cater to the specific religious requirements of Islam. They think it will be a good thing to show Americans that not all Muslims think it’s a great idea to fly planes into buildings and teach young Muslims that doing so would be against Islam.

Let young Muslims learn about their religion in a responsible way near the place where a group of crazy co-religionists tried to kill America and all we stand for. What better place for them to learn moderation and see what evil can do when given a chance to take root?

I want to say again: there is no way to deny this group of people this right without an outright show of discrimination and bigotry. And there is no better way to radicalize a new bunch of young Muslims than to tell them their worth is less than yours.

Lisa