With over 70% of the American public against building a mosque in the same neighborhood of the September 11th attacks, the United States fueled by comments made by politicians is sliding down the slippery slope of religious intolerance and guilt by association we have always attributed to other cultures. Sadly, the Republicans will not let the issue go because it is winning them votes and Democrats are mostly afraid to openly support religious freedoms for Muslims in a bad election year. So let me ask:
Should Muslims be banned from entering lower Manhattan out of respect for the 9/11 victims?
How far away from Ground Zero is it respectable for a mosque to be built?
How far away from Ground Zero is it respectable for a church to be built?
How far away from Ground Zero is it respectable for a synagogue to be built?
Is it acceptable to burn an American flag in front of the White House?
Would you be against allowing a strip club or sausage factory next to the mosque?
What makes America great is that our cultural superiority (and yes, I think ours is better than anyone else’s) allows us give people the freedom to be rude and repulsive, sweet and caring, or simply apathetic to our surroundings. The fact that we openly talk about racism and allow protesters to burn the American flag are only a fraction of the great qualities of American culture not enjoyed by our peers in other countries.
Many of those who oppose the mosque question the sensitivity and respectability to 9/11 victims but fail to remember that over 60 Muslims died in the tragedy as well. By building the mosque near Ground Zero, the US would lead by example which is what the most powerful country in the world should do. If we don’t, then the terrorists have won and we don’t even realize it.
