The Ground Zero Mosque
Count me with the overwhelming majority of Americans who believe that they have the right to build that mosque just two blocks from the site of one of the worst mass murders in history made in the name of their religion, but that they shouldn’t.
Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. Ever since computers and Adobe products got so powerful, that’s one of the first things any instructor would tell their students about using the software.
It goes double for exercising your constitutional rights.
Over at The Corner, Jonah Goldberg explains it well:
But there’s one point that I haven’t seen made that I think is really worth reminding people of. Simply: This is an incredibly tolerant country and, it has shown remarkable tolerance since 9/11. There has been no “anti-Muslim” backlash.
And yet, to listen to the proponents of the Cordoba House tell it, you’d think this country desperately needs to prove its tolerance. That this is some important gesture, some critical test of our ability to treat Muslims fairly.
This is a crock. [emphasis in original]
Read the whole thing. If you don’t believe America has been extremely tolerant, imagine if “Christian” terrorists had committed a similar act in any majority-Muslim country. There wouldn’t be any Christians left in that country a week later – alive.
3 comments on “The Ground Zero Mosque”
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"...some critical test of our ability to treat Muslims fairly."
Why do people always put Americans to this test? Why is it always necessary for Americans to prove themselves this way? And who are we proving ourselves to? Egyptians? There was a letter to the WSJ from a Coptic Christian pointing out that that in Egypt a church can not make any repairs without a special permit from the government, something that is never needed by a mosque. The permist is rarely, if ever, given. The aim is to make the churches disappear over time.
I don't know if you read Right Wing Bob, but he had a post on this same point, and I think he did a better job than Goldberg. Here is a taste:
"... the 13-story building itself will be the message, and it will be one of Islamic triumphalism, and it will be clearly seen and heard by the intended audience across the world."
http://www.rightwingbob.com/weblog/archives/9011
And I was surprised to find Sam Harris writing the same thought:
"The erection of a mosque upon the ashes of this atrocity will also be viewed by many millions of Muslims as a victory—and as a sign that the liberal values of the West are synonymous with decadence and cowardice."
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-08-13/ground-zero-mosque/
I accept the right of Muslims to build the Mosque with the same enthusiasm that accept that the followers of the Aztec gods have the right to set up an altar for human sacrifice so long as they don't actually sacrifice anyone.
I will support the Mosque when a single solitary Muslim leader says three things:
1. That stoning is an abomination and should never be done in the name of Islam.
2. That apostasy is a crime to be punished by Allah and killing an apostate deprives him of the chance to return to the faith.
3. That there should be a Christian Church and a Jewish Synagogue in Mecca where those of the other Abramic faiths may worship.
Until then, no thanks.