A mosque is being built two blocks from Ground Zero in New York against the wishes of those most devastated by the 9/11 destruction of the Twin Towers by Islamic extremists. The American Society for Muslim Advancement and the Cordoba Initiative, partners in the project, claim work to improve relations between the US and Muslims. They assert that the mosque and its attached community center will reach out to residents of all beliefs and political views, the question must be: Why there?
Granted, the orgasnizations own the land and the construction plans conform to all local zoning laws, but they must know it will feel like a "poke in the eye" to many non-Muslim Americans. If they truly wanted to improve America's view of Islam, they would be better served by publicly rooting out and denouncing all radical Islamic elements of their faith.
Daisy Khan, executive director of the project sated, "It will have a real community feel, to celebrate the pluralism in the United States, as well as in the Islamic religion. It will also serve as a major platform for amplifying the silent voice of the majority of Muslims who have nothing to do with extremist ideologies. It will counter the extremist momentum."
The time for American Muslims to be silent must end if they expect us to respect their religion and their politics. We are not inherently intolerant of Islam, but until their actions speak louder, we will remain suspect.
May 13, 2010
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After everything that has happened, they will have to go a very long way to earn any semblance of trust.
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing wrong with building a mosque. There is nothing wrong with Islam either. It is not a mosque or Islam are the problems. The problem is on how to interpret the teaching. There are lots of teaching of violence in Torah / Old Testimony, but we don't condemn Judaism as a violent religion.
ReplyDeleteIf one will take a sentence from any high religion book and will try to interpret it literally instead of metaphorically he/she will go into a path opposite to what the original sentence was.
Building a mosque is not any more disturbing than open a strip club or McDonald in two block radius. After all, McDonald as an entity probably killed more people through unhealthy food and related heart issues than all Muslim terrorists all together.
If the people wanting to build the Mosque truly cared about what Americans thought, and truly cared about helping improve relations, they wouldn't build near Ground Zero. They certainly have the right, but as the old saying goes, "Just 'cuz ya can don't mean ya should."
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