This is an extremely sensitive topic, and I’ll attempt to put this in terms that aren’t too severe of either party involved. While still realizing this, you have to keep in mind that the importance of this topic shouldn’t be overlooked and we shouldn’t have to be silenced about this topic just because some people may get offended.
As we all know, there are plans to build a mosque inside of New York City two blocks away from the site where the twin towers once stood. This has created a public outcry from both conservative Christians, and those who had family members whom died in the 9/11 attacks calling it distasteful and insensitive. There is a plethora of articles of this around the internet, talking about why we should or shouldn’t allow this mosque to be built. Personally I fell there is nothing wrong with building this mosque here. The last time I checked we still had the first amendment which guarantees ourselves a right to freedom of religion, and I don’t feel that we should try to force groups of people to give up this right, because if we do, this country will become less of a cultural melting pot, and more of a; these are my views, and since I’m in power, you have to have these views too, type of society. The argument for the side saying that we shouldn’t let this mosque be built is in two different sub-groups. There’s the one that we mainly hear about, and is shown on the majority of the news channels, online news articles, etc. that building it this close would be wrong because the country still has “fresh wounds” from when the twin towers were destroyed. This argument however brings up several thoughts however. For one, how far away would it have to be until they are happy? As some do and do not know, there is in fact already a mosque just a few blocks away from the site of this new mosque, around 4 ½ blocks from the ground-zero site. If this hasn’t caused any type of public outcry, why would this one be any different? Some say it’s because this building was hit by debris as well as the landing gear from one of the planes actually crashed through the roof of the building currently standing on the lot that they’re planning on building on. But still, I don’t think this is enough to cause them to move it to a different location. After the” it’s to close” argument, there’s also a, it’s too soon argument as well. Too soon after what exactly? I understand that the tragedy of 9/11 will always live on in our minds, but, it wasn’t an entire religion that destroyed the towers, it was a small group of radicals, and every single religion has radicals, so should we take away their ability to have worshiping grounds where ever they please as well?
Lastly, there is the side to their arguments that you don’t see or hear that much, the fact that the majority of them are driven by hate and fear instead of reason, legitimate facts, and knowledge. As can surely be seen, the amount of anti-muslim sentiment shown in the news these days have been growing tremendously, from the groups saying we should move the mosque, to the small church in Florida that was planning to have a quran burning in order to “honor” those that lost their lives in the world trade centers. I think that this type of bigotry and obligatory racism is one of the most disgusting things in the world. Our fore-fathers didn’t create this as a Christian state, or a white-christian state, they created it as a state that would be a land of opportunity for all, and a state where all could have religious freedom, and I think that we should let these people have the same amount of religious freedom that the rest of us sometimes so gladly take for granted.
I’m sure that this will not be my last entry about this topic or topics similar to it, and if your reading this, I would love your feed back, and I would love to discuss this with you via another means.
-Toshi
