Archive for August 18th, 2010

I saw a story on CNN a while ago about some uproar because a mosque was being build “at Ground Zero”. Ground zero referring to the site of the World Trace Center attacks. Obviously confused, since that land is already owned by somebody, and nothing is being built there at all for some reason, I did some research (I watch the Daily Show and did a Google search on it) and found that the Islamic Cultural Center (which includes a mosque) was instead being build a few blocks away in an old Burlington Coat Factory. Now I’m even more confused. Why is this an issue?

First, let’s look at the First Amendment in the United States Constitution:

Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Now, let’s take a look at the Fourteenth Amendment (which some Republicans want to repeal for idiotic reasons)

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws

Those two quotes make it pretty clear that separation of church and state is absolute, and that it applies to all religions, not just ones that the GOP believes in. This goes beyond a legal question, however, since even most Republicans are admitting that there is nothing illegal about the mosque, they claim, instead, that such a mosque is “unethical” and a “slap in the face to the victims of 9/11″. How? Yes, the terrorists that blew up the World Trade Centers on September 11, 2001 were Muslims; and no, nations in the Middle East would never show us this kind of tolerance, but that doesn’t matter.

Why? Well, for starters, just because those terrorists were Muslim, doesn’t mean that all Muslims are terrorists, and to treat them like they are is ignorant and wrong. It is no different than saying “The Beltway Snipers were black, so all black people are snipers”. I realize the opponents to this mosque will say “we don’t think all Muslims are bad….”, but that’s a damn lie. The fact that they’re opposing this means they think a mosque is a symbol of Islamic extremism. When they see anything remotely Islamic, they immediately think of 9/11. The fact of the matter is, most Muslims are decent, peaceful people. I have met a few Muslims in school, and I can honestly say that they are some of the nicest people I have ever met. While I will never understand hijab they wore, that doesn’t take away from the fact that these are good people. We, as a society, need to stop this mental connection between 9/11 and Islamic extremism.  9/11 wasn’t perpetrated by Muslim terrorists, it was perpetrated by terrorists that happened to have been “Muslim” (much in the same way Scott Roeder is a “Christian”). Beyond the simple fact that not all Muslims are terrorists, keep in mind that there are Muslims that dug through the rubble of the World Trade Centers trying to save people and there are Muslims in active duty in the United States Army. But even if that weren’t true, it doesn’t matter because they have the same rights as anyone else in America.  If you’re an American and you don’t like it, try moving to China. I hear they don’t have freedom of religion there.

I referenced earlier the fact that the Middle Eastern nations would never show us the same liberties, but that doesn’t matter either. True, if you tried building a church in Iran or Saudi Arabia, it probably wouldn’t end well, but that doesn’t matter. We are better than these countries. Yes, I’m aware that I’m Canadian, but for the purpose of the rest of the article,I may refer to “the West” as “we”, since most of countries referred to as “the West” have similar human rights. Anyways, we must hold ourselves to a higher standard than these countries hold themselves to. I absolutely hated George W. Bush and still maintain that he was one of the worst Presidents in U.S. history, but I will admit that we was better than Ahmadinejad or Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. This is the same reason I oppose torture: we are a better society. We don’t stone women for dressing promiscuously, we don’t support torture and we don’t discriminate against people because of race, religion, gender, or (in Canada, at least) sexual orientation. We believe in unalienable human rights, and we stand by them at all times. As Jon Stewart one said, “if you don’t stick to your beliefs when they’re tested, they aren’t values, they’re hobbies.” Freedom of speech refers to all speech, even the most heinous speech and freedom of religion refers to all religions, even those you disagree with. In fact, those are what these laws are for. We don’t need laws to protect popular speech (or religion), we need the laws to protect unpopular speech (and in this case, religion).

I have a question for anyone who opposes this “mosque at Ground Zero”: would you oppose the construction of a church near the site of the Oklahoma City bombing? Chances are the answer is no. Why not? Timothy McVeigh professed that he maintained the “core values” of Roman Catholicism. Wouldn’t building a Catholic church near that sight be a slap in the face to everyone who died in that bombing? For the record, there is a Catholic church right across the street from the Oklahoma City National Memorial (though, in all fairness, it was built before the bombing). The fact of the matter is, Muslims are as responsible for 9/11 as Catholics are for the Oklahoma City Bombing, which is to say not at all.

“But, the terrorists attacked us on 9/11 because we’re not Muslim”, some of you will exclaim. That’s, frankly, a childish and false examination of the events. While the attacks were by no means justified, they were more political than religious. Motives for 9/11 included U.S. sanctions against Iraq, American presence in Saudi Arabia and American support of Isreal (which is political as well as religious).

Despite what the “critics” have said, this has nothing to do with location. It doesn’t matter where this mosque was being built, people would be complaining. People are protesting mosques being built in Brooklyn, California, and Florida. You can’t get much farther away from Ground Zero and still be in the United States than Florida. This has nothing to do with location and everything to do with racism, plain and simple.