The Mosque Debate

Aug 4, 2010 by James

Plans to build an Islamic cultural center near ground zero were approved yesterday. New York City’s Landmarks Preservation Department approved the demolition of a former Burlington Coat Factory to have it replaced by a mosque. The 152 year old building was originally granted landmark status, however, the commission decided to have it removed.

Fame whore Sarah Palin is strongly opposed to the building of the mosque although she probably does not know why. Her and Newt Gringrich both called the building of a Mosque near the largest terrorist attack in American history “inappropriate”. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn have supported the project.

Mayor Bloomberg said, “To cave to popular sentiment would be to hand a victory to the terrorists ,No neighborhood in our city is off limits to God’s love and mercy.” He was joined by Jewish, Christian and Muslin Clergy men who are in support of the building.

According to the building projects sponsor, Cordoba Initiative, plans for the center include a 500-seat auditorium, swimming pool, restaurants, bookstores and space for art exhibitions. There website says that they are a pluralistic organization looking to better relations between faiths.

While support for the building of the Mosque is backed by New York City’s government it is also supported by a majority of the people. While nearly 3,000 people died on September 11 most of America and New Yorkers know that people of all faiths and creeds died that day. However with everything these days there is sharp criticism and most of those people come out swinging  thanks to Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin.

I like many Americans can remember my non-Texan history books teaching me that America is a place founded by immigrants; the melting pot. America and democracy thrives off of freedoms for all and that includes Arabs and Muslims. My reason for this post stems from my encounter with a man on twitter who clearly has no idea of what America is yet he calls this country home (although he does live in Arizona). I was disgusted by the tweets from a man who calls himself an American but is unwilling to accept freedom for anyone who is not white and is strongly opposed to Muslims and Arabs in general. Since his twitter is public domain I will share his tweets with you.

I think it’s pretty clear that by “you people” he means the Muslims and I can assure you he does not mean the Saudi men who crashed planes into the World Trade Center.

I don’t know if publicly posting statements calling for the destruction of a holy building or any building is a good thing in todays times, since you love America so much I’m sure you won’t mind dealing with the FBI.

Anyone who takes a logical stance with this man is berated and called un-American and that’s about as nice as the insults get.

Since September 11 just how many “ground zeroes” have happened in your mind?

I’m sure if it were a Jewish church or a Christian church being built there would be no issue in fact I’m sure it would never have made the news. It’s people like this who blow things way out of proportion and put a stain on the reputation of all Americans. It’s not the Muslims who are bad, it’s the Americans who are unwilling to accept that the Muslims building the Mosque and who will attend the Mosque are Muslim Americans.

If you’d like to send your thoughts to this man and the 229 who like what he has to say you can find him here http://twitter.com/PTROCKI

Mosque information via: Bloomberg