ShareThisMuslim leaders in New York recently announced plans to build Cordoba House, a 13-story Islamic community and prayer center, not far from where the World Trade Center once stood.
Public reaction -- particularly among high-profile Republicans -- has been fierce. Sarah Palin said it would be an "intolerable and tragic mistake" to allow a mosque on "hallowed ground," while former House Speaker Newt Gingrich suggested that no mosque should be allowed until Saudi Arabia allows the construction of Christian churches.
Should American Muslims accept less freedom of religion than other citizens? Or is Ground Zero too sacred to permit Cordoba House to proceed? Ben Boychuk and Joel Mathis debate the issue.
JOEL MATHIS:
There should be no "debate" over the Cordoba House or its location.
The First Amendment -- and America's long history of religious tolerance -- simply doesn't permit us to deny the right of worship to religious minorities. There are no exceptions to this rule, nor should there be.
What the controversy has proven, though, is that Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin -- both possible contenders for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination -- are ill suited to serve in the Oval Office. Gingrich would toss away more than 200 years of American law and culture in exchange for the standards of a repressive theocratic monarchy.
Palin offers a more subtle -- and thus more troubling -- example. In a recent tweet on the proposal, she asked "peace-seeking Muslims" to avoid the "provocation" of a mosque near Ground Zero.
But it wasn't "peace-seeking Muslims" who flew the planes into the World Trade Center. It was 19 extremists -- people whose ideology, unfortunately, has broader support than we'd like, but whose views still do not represent the vast majority of American Muslims. The truth is that more Muslims died on 9/11 as victims of the attack than as the aggressors. By implicitly lumping them in with criminals and vile murderers, Palin is suggesting that American Muslims cannot, by virtue of their religion, be fully American. This is false.
The American president is the president of all Americans: Muslim, Christian, atheist and the rest. Gingrich and Palin have shown they cannot live up to that standard. Let the Cordoba House be built -- but keep anti-Muslim demagogues out of the White House.
BEN BOYCHUK:
Yes, let's keep demagogues out of the White House -- better late than never. But let's not build Cordoba House in the shadow of the site of one of the worst acts of terrorism in American history. Let's not let our American sense of fair play, openness and commitment to religious freedom be used by people who would undermine those social and political foundations.
While we're at it, let's recall the wisdom of George Washington, who in August 1790 wrote to the Jewish congregation at Newport, R.I.: "It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it were the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights, for, happily, the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support."
Now let's contrast Washington with Feisal Abdul Rauf, the imam behind the Cordoba House project who wrote a fascinating book in 2004 called "What's Right with Islam Is What's Right with America." In it, Rauf casually argues that the U.S. Constitution and the core principles of Islamic law (sharia) are not in conflict at all and, indeed, the "American political structure is sharia-compliant."
"Islamic law and American democratic principles have many things in common," Rauf wrote, stressing that sharia's support for "political justice" and "economic justice ... for the weak and impoverished" "sounds suspiciously like the Declaration of Independence."
To the casual reader, maybe. Fact is, sharia doesn't recognize the separation of church and state, has a medieval understanding of equal rights and sanctions treating Christians and Jews as second-class citizens who must pay a tax to receive Muslim protection. In other words, to "demean themselves as good citizens" in a "sharia-compliant" America is something very different from what George Washington would have understood.
Let us give bigotry no sanction -- and be ever watchful of those who would exploit American openness and freedom to do just that.
(Ben Boychuk and Joel Mathis blog and podcast every week at http://www.freedompub.org and http://joelmathis.blogspot.com.)
REDBLUEAMERICA
MOSQUES ARE MILITARY CENTERS
ISLAM IS NOT A RELIGION! IT IS A VERY DANGEROUS, MILITANT AND BARBARIC CULT, WHOSE CORE PRINCIPLES ARE IN DIRECT CONFLICT WITH THE PRINCIPLES OF THE UNITED STATES. MOSQUES ARE MILITARY CENTERS AND SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED ANYWHERE.
ISLAM DOE S NOT ALLOW FOR:
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
FREEDOM OF RELIGION
IMPOSES CRUEL & UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT (HOMOSEXUALS ARE TO BE KILLED, FORNICATORS WHIPPED, THIEVES TO HAVE HAND CHOPPED OFF)
THERE IS NO SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE UNDER ISLAM
TO READ MORE ON WHAT ISLAM TEACHES, GOOGLE: TOP TEN REASONS WHY SHARIA IS BAD FOR ALL SOCIETIES
THE IMAM AT THIS MOSQUE HAS WRITTEN BOOKS STATING HE WANTS TO IMPOSE ISLAMIC (SHARIA) LAW ON AMERICANS! NOW DOES THAT SOUND LIKE HE WANTS TO BE "FRIENDLY"?!
THE NAME OF THE MOSQUE WAS HAND PICKED FOR "CORDOBA" SPAIN, WHERE MUSLIMS INVADED AND BUILT A MOSQUE ON TOP OF A CHURCH!
DOES THIS SOUND "FRIENDLY"? DOES THIS SOUND LIKE PEOPLE WHO WANT TO BE "FRIENDS" WITH AMERICANS?!
WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE?
ONE QUESTION FOR MUSLIMS: ARE YOU A FOLLOWER OF MUHAMMAD?
GOOGLE: AMERICAN THINKER SHARIA LAW
IS THIS WHAT YOU BELIEVE? DO YOU BELIEVE THERE SHOULD BE NO FREEDOM OF SPEECH WHEN CRITICIZING THE VIOLENT TEACHINGS OF MUHAMMAD?
DO YOU BELIEVE WOMEN SHOULD BE BEATEN BY THEIR HUSBANDS?
DO YOU BELIEVE THAT HOMOSEXUALS SHOULD BE KILLED?
DO YOU BELIEVE THAT ANYONE WHO DENOUNCES ISLAM AND BECOMES A SECULAR PERSON OR CONVERTS TO ANOTHER RELIGION SHOULD BE MURDERED - AS REQUIRED UNDER ISLAMIC LAW, WHICH WAS BASED ON THE TEACHINGS OF MUHAMMAD?
IF YOU BELIEVE THESE THINGS, THEN YOU ARE A FOLLOWER OF MUHAMMAD AND YOU WILL BE ON AN INEVITABLE PATH TO VIOLENCE AND WILL NOT BE ABLE TO SUBSCRIBE THE PRINCIPLES OF FREEDOM - EVER.
IF YOU DO NOT BELIEVE IN THE TEACHINGS OF MUHAMMAD, THEN YOU MUST DENY ISLAM AND BECOME A SECULAR PERSON OR CONVERT TO A PEACEFUL RELIGION.
PERHAPS YOU SHOULD TRY READING WHAT JESUS TAUGHT INSTEAD!
WHAT MUSLIMS DON'T UNDERSTAND IS THAT THEIR "HONOR KILLINGS" ARE FUTILE, AND A WASTE OF HUMAN LIFE; BECAUSE YOUR "HONOR" HAS ALREADY BEEN RESTORED THROUGH JESUS CHRIST!
"Heal the World" at Ground Zero
I don't want a mosque, a church, a temple, a synagogue, or any other kind of religious symbol at the site of the 911 tragedy. There are alternatives to fundamentalist religions of all types. I want peace, enlightenment, LOVE, and healing at ground zero.
At the site of 911 I want a monument with the words and music to this song.
"Heal the World":
In this place you'll feel
There's no hurt or sorrow.
There are ways to get there
If you care enough for the living
Make a little space, make a better place.
Chorus:
Heal the world
Make it a better place
For you and for me and the entire human race
There are people dying
If you care enough for the living
Make a better place for
You and for me.
Michael Jackson sings it better than I can write it.
Please click on the video link below (or copy and paste in into your address bar)
and read, listen, and be at Peace:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WJrtms8EoQ&f eature=related
Thank you, Michael Jackson.
The official account is false
Wakeup! The official account is false — visit the 9/11 pages at The Wisdom Fund.
Enver Masud
Founder, The Wisdom Fund
As an American, I believe
As an American, I believe that a mosque built near ground zero is a constitutional right. As a human, I find it inconceivable and morally incomprehensible for anyone to propose such an idea. As a Muslim, i could not fathom a reason to build a mosque so close to a place that caused such intolerance and persecution of my religion. A mosque near ground zero would only inhibit others to believe that i was their to worship, as if to celebrate, at the site of such a catastrophe. There should be no mosque at ground zero for the same reason a Catholic church should not be built on a bombed abortion clinic, not because all Catholics endorsed the bombing, but rather because it would send the wrong message about my faith. Although America allows us religious freedom, we should stop perpetrating the idea that we hate America. A sect, albeit a small minority, of our religion caused the attack, and as humans we should realize why it just would not be right.
thank you
thank you
Islam and extremism
please check out http://www.islamicsolutions.com/islam-the-peaceful-religion/
Mosque
I live in Brisbane Australia and I watched the Trade Center tragedy on television and I am not an American,but I cried and was devastated at what I saw. Imagine, turning the television on and seeing this. It was not only myself that cried, some of my friends and family as well.
I am dead against this Mosque being built, and say to these people who are thinking of letting it go ahead. "Remember the 3000 plus people that died. They were citizens of America and they were just going about their own business and these murderers did not give a damn.............."
How dare they even think about this proposal. I do a lot of research here about the Muslims, sharia law etc and it is scary. Wake up everyone, you should be worrying about this and Islam.
It is an insult to the people who perished and their families and if it goes ahead, I am sure there will be repercussions.
Let it be known in other countries and get their backing behind this to ban it and stop it from going ahead. It is all about people power.
I wish you well in stopping it and will continue to monitor it as well.
Barbara
Let's look at it this way.
Let's look at it this way. How do you think WWII would have went if we hadn't "lowered" ourselves by identifying and dealing w/ Nazis in the states. Say we let them build a Nazi recruitment center here in the 40s, using the same arguments that some of the ppl on here are using: that "if we didn't allow it, we'd be lowering ourselves to their level," or that "it'd go against what we stand for as Americans." Those make sense and sound nice, but also aren't the best option to take against an aggressive invader, who views itself as "conquering" non muslim nations. And for the people who have been saying that persecuting all Christians because of a radical minority such as the KKK is the same thing, it's not. It doesn't say anywhere in the bible to wear white pajamas and kill every non white person living in the US. However, it's a fundamental part of the Quran to "Fight against such as those to whom the Scriptures were given (Jews and Christians)... until they pay tribute out of hand and are utterly subdued." (Surah 9:27). And we have all the "Good Muslims" claiming that they don't follow those parts, but do you really think that's how they all feel? What do you think they'll tell another Muslim if asked the same question, especially when it says directly in their little book to persecute any Muslims who don't follow the Quran entirely (http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/koran.html has a good list of quotes like this). As far as I'm concerned, the Quran is one of the most dangerous/fundamentally misogynistic and intolerant pieces of crap to ever be written, let alone mass produced. How can you even pretend to take a nation seriously who is using its women as human bombers by putting bombs in their breast implants (breast augmentation bomb pics). It's not pretty sounding, but we need to at least regulate the spread of this toxic ideology before they become even more entrenched in the countries they're "invading." It's either compromise our values or let them carry out their agenda, so I'd choose the lesser of the two.