It seems that the reasons were a mixture of economic, religious, and regional pride. But even if their reasons had been purely religious, that should not have any bearing on the other 1.5 billion Muslims.</p>
<p>
I would like to know why it is a bad idea. Yes, there are some xenophobic/ill-informed people in the city (and, largely, out of the city) who oppose the idea of a Muslim community center in the vicinity of Ground Zero, but that does not mean building it there is a bad idea. As I said, there is a Muslim community in that area, they seem to want an area where they can meet, socialize, drop their kids off at while they’re at work, and generally use for their community. There does not seem to be a better place for the community to build their center, while still having it be in the center of their community. The actions of a few Muslims do not make it a bad idea for any of the other 1.5 billion Muslims to meet in the same general area.</p>
<p>I don’t consider the community center to be a bad idea; I meant to refer to the mosque. The community center is merely a place for the gathering of Muslims, on whom, I agree, the attacks on 9/11 should have no bearing. However, in my opinion, the mosque is more viably objectionable (but, again, not from a governmental point of view): it is a place of worship of a religion whose interpretation by some contributed to the deadly attacks nearby.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Those who believed it was a mosque over-reacted. Annoyingly.</p></li>
<li><p>It’s their freedom to choose where they wanted to put it. Could they have picked a better spot? Possibly. It’s close to, but not at, ground zero.</p></li>
<li><p>I’m sick of this nations’ intolerance for a lot of things. Can’t pin an entire religion for a few radical individuals. Personally, I feel there are more threats in this country than there are outside.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>First of all, IT ISN"T A MOSQUE, it’s an Islamic community center with a prayer room. Second, if you want to bash on a mosque that badly, there’s one that you can throw a stone at from where the WTC used to stand that attracts 1000 worshippers a year. Ironically, it opened the same year the WTC did. And why, my fellow CCers, do you have to attack the would be community center when a block away, there’s the New York Doll’s Gentlemen’s Club.</p>
<p>I’ll post basically the same thing I said in the parents forum:</p>
<p>Do the project leaders have the right to build in that location? Indisputably. End of story. Is discomfort or doubt regarding the intentions of the planners solely attributable to bigotry? I think not. Look, anyone with any experience at all regarding the US media could have known that this project would spark a firestorm of criticism. From what I know, the planners certainly have enough experience to see that.</p>
<p>One could argue that we need to have this debate in order to solve problems in our community. Perhaps. For myself, I believe that it is unnecessary to reopen old wounds in this manner and I question the motives behind this project. There are better ways to open a dialogue on religious acceptance and better places to build a “community center” or a mosque.</p>
Well, my point about the community and the location stands for a mosque, as well, given that they would need a place of worship. You feel that just because the second largest religion in the world had a few men who twisted the ideology to justify their attacks, that it is a bad idea for all other members of that religion to practice their religion anywhere in the vicinity of the area of attack? How many blocks away should they be?</p>
<p>Incidentally, the Imam behind this center is an activist for mending ties between Islam and the West, and is a Sufi, something that bin Laden is not. If a group of Anglicans got together and destroyed some buildings, killing people, would it be a bad idea for Christians of any group to have a Church nearby?</p>
<p>They’re within their rights. It may or may not be wise, but we’ve no right to stop them. That said, I think people have every right to voice an opposing opinion, protest, etc.</p>
<p>^^^^ It puts the quetion into perspective. Whatever our standards are, we should apply them to all cases, not just one.</p>
<p>I do agree that the thing is probably unwise. I have no way of knowing if the builders have malicious motives or not. I definitely believe that they have a right to build it if they want to do so.</p>
<p>^^^ First off… people have been calling Obama a Muslim since he first decided to run. Old news is old. </p>
<p>Second off… who gives a rat’s arse if he IS Muslim?! (Which he is not.) Last time I checked- being a Christian was not an official prerequisite to be a president.</p>
<p>And IIRC- Muslims believe that all people are born Muslim. So in Islam, we are all Muslim.</p>
<p>I have a reeeeally hard time with this issue. On one hand, separation of church and state is extremely important to me, and I would oppose the government telling people of any religion where they may or may not build a place of worship. I especially would hate to see the perfectly normal Muslims being punished for the actions of extremists. I can see the other side too. I feel that it would be very insensitive to the families of the victims, and I wouldn’t want to put salt in their wound. </p>
<p>Ultimately, I have to side with the law. I see no way that the building can be legally prevented, so I say let them build it. It troubles me.</p>
<p>Do all of you guys have issues with the churches in America? Religious extremists killed millions of Native Americans because of religious ideologies. These people happen to be Christian. We built churches right over Native American graves. Those should all be banned too, right?</p>