I have to admit, I've had some conflicting feelings about this mosque. Obviously, from a legal perspective, they have every right to build one, and I'll fight for their right to do so (as an aside - you can sign a pledge here in support of their right to constitutional freedoms). On the other hand, it has felt to me to be in slightly bad taste - imagine if there were an atheist terrorist group that blew up St. Paul's Cathedral, or Big Ben or something, and a totally unrelated atheist group wanted to make a freethought center on the ashes. That'd be exceptionally crass, in my opinion.
However, there are some meaningful counterarguments - first of all, the "Ground Zero Mosque" isn't actually on Ground Zero, but a few blocks away. So, one might ask, how many blocks away is enough? At what point does it become permissible? Secondly, these are two unrelated sects of Islam at work. Would you blame a Protestant for the Inquisition? And third, the center already supported Muslim religious activities before.
But still... the center wasn't exclusively Muslim, either. And, while this is a very soft, aesthetic argument - sort of like when that judge stated that he couldn't define pornography, but he knew it when he saw it - while I couldn't put my finger on how far away to build this mosque... three blocks is too close. Give it twenty years, or fifty, or whatever, and maybe it wouldn't be too close - but today it is too close.
Of course, these are only aesthetic arguments. They have every legal right to build it, and I'll support that right. But... it still feels a bit in bad taste.
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I have to disagree a bit with you here - though with the admission that I'm not an American and therefore may be less in touch with the sentiments surrounding this issue.
ReplyDeleteThere are Muslims in the area, and it is, I think, offensive to raise such a fuss about this when they clearly have no connection with 9/11. It's just the general ignorance about the fact that Islam is a disparate religion with some moderates and some extremists - just like Christianity - and to paint it with such a broad brush is wrong-headed.
To me it's a bit like being against a YMCA being built anywhere near an abortion clinic that has been bombed.
Yeah, I can see your point. And, you're probably right that the response isn't completely rational. Maybe that's something that Americans need to grow up on - but to me, it's less like the YMCA in your example, and more like a megachurch. And, this wasn't a simple abortion clinic, either, this was a massive terrorist strike that killed thousands of people and temporarily disrupted our entire economy.
ReplyDeleteI can agree to disagree on this - as I said, I may just be more out of touch with the sentiments surrounding this.
ReplyDeleteSomething to think about, though: It is likely that, once the place is open and functioning, and all the media hype has died down, it is unlikely that anyone is going to care anymore about this. All that will be left is a Muslim community center, which will (one hopes) be a reminder to those in the community that they are in a diverse country, and not all brown people are going to bomb them.
Maybe you're right, but I'm more worried that even if the media forgets, people won't, and what they'll remember is a religious minority that will throw riots over a cartoon, but then build a mosque over a holy place. I think many people will be reminded that we're in a diverse community, but I think that what many people will understand from that is 'we' have to be polite while 'others' are offensive.
ReplyDeleteAnd, in my own case... I understand that this is for all practices and purposes a separate religion, but it's still a religion. They might not be telling people to blow buildings up, but they're still promoting the underlying ideology of blind faith - so, to add ANOTHER analogy to the ones we've made so far, it might be like the KKK blowing up a major landmark, and a racist Southern Baptist preacher moving in next door. The racist preacher isn't promoting violence, but he's still promoting racism, which is the core of the problem.
Also, as a stylistic note - I'm not a conservative, so no harm done, but if I WERE an American conservative, it's very important not to accuse them of hating all brown people. It's not a racial issue (except in the most abstract terms, which is its own debate IMO) for I'd guess 90% or so of conservatives, and accusing them of racism is probably the best way to get them to stop listening to you. My personal recommendation, if you choose to follow it, is to try to keep race out of it unless you're specifically having a debate about race and want to get into the deep issues involved.