Mosque Madness
"There should be no mosque near Ground Zero in New York as long as there are no churches or synagogues in Saudi Arabia."
Newt Gingrich on his website
And there should be no women drivers in NYC as long as there are no women drivers in Riyadh. Moreover, there should no elections for President of the United States as long as there are no elections for the head of state in Saudi Arabia. After all, what's good for the Saudi goose is good for the American gander, right?
Unlike former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R, Georgia), I am not inspired by the Saudi example of human rights or principles of governance. Instead, I want the controversy over the erection of an Islamic Center, including a mosque, at 51 Park Place, about two blocks from the former site of the World Trade Center, to be decided on the basis of American legal principles.
Whether you like Islam or not (and I don't like it much), the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the US Constitution prohibit local governments from treating Islam any differently from any other religion practiced in America. Local governments may restrict the building of churches and other houses of worship by zoning and building codes, but they cannot discriminate on the basis of religion. The fact is that the area of the proposed mosque is zoned commercial, and there are churches nearby. As both Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City and President Obama have noted publicly, the Muslims have the right to build a mosque in that location.
But in the toxic atmosphere of contemporary American politics, if you are not on the side of the "9/11 Families" who are outraged by the proposed mosque, you are on the side of the Muslims, the very group whose members destroyed the World Trade Center in the name of "jihad" (holy war). And didn't the leader of the Muslims behind the project say that US policies "were an accessory to 9/11?" (1) And won't the new building be named "Cordoba House" after the city in Spain in which Muslims converted a church into a mosque?
Osama Bin Laden, whose terrorist group carried-out the 9/11 attacks, is by no means the acknowledged leader or spokesman for Islam. In fact, no one is. Rather he is the charismatic leader of a religious homicidal/suicidal cult, an Arab Jim Jones or David Koresh. He issued a fatwa (psak) in 1996 declaring America the enemy of Islam, and called upon all Muslims to commit jihad against this nation. Although millions of Muslims admire Bin Laden, only a few actually put his words into action. And those who seek to build the Cordoba Mosque are not among them.
Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin implored peace-loving Muslims to "refudiate" (sic) the proposed mosque because it would "stab hearts." But even the peace-loving Muslims (if she can find them) know their rights and intend to exercise them.
About 70% of Americans are against a mosque on Park Place, so the politically popular stance is to oppose it. I do not endorse or support building a mosque there either. But on matters of religious expression in a free country, the majority does not rule, and so the Cordoba Mosque will be built, even though most Americans find it insensitive or even offensive.
The Cordoba Mosque will not loom over Ground Zero, no matter what is ultimately built there. The Cordoba Mosque will be on the other side of West Broadway and two blocks north of Vesey Street, the northern border of the World Trade Center site; aerial photos of the area show numerous multi-story buildings between the two more than two blocks to find it.
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(1)AssociatedContent, Aug. 17, 2010.
Newt Gingrich on his website
And there should be no women drivers in NYC as long as there are no women drivers in Riyadh. Moreover, there should no elections for President of the United States as long as there are no elections for the head of state in Saudi Arabia. After all, what's good for the Saudi goose is good for the American gander, right?
Unlike former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R, Georgia), I am not inspired by the Saudi example of human rights or principles of governance. Instead, I want the controversy over the erection of an Islamic Center, including a mosque, at 51 Park Place, about two blocks from the former site of the World Trade Center, to be decided on the basis of American legal principles.
Whether you like Islam or not (and I don't like it much), the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the US Constitution prohibit local governments from treating Islam any differently from any other religion practiced in America. Local governments may restrict the building of churches and other houses of worship by zoning and building codes, but they cannot discriminate on the basis of religion. The fact is that the area of the proposed mosque is zoned commercial, and there are churches nearby. As both Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City and President Obama have noted publicly, the Muslims have the right to build a mosque in that location.
But in the toxic atmosphere of contemporary American politics, if you are not on the side of the "9/11 Families" who are outraged by the proposed mosque, you are on the side of the Muslims, the very group whose members destroyed the World Trade Center in the name of "jihad" (holy war). And didn't the leader of the Muslims behind the project say that US policies "were an accessory to 9/11?" (1) And won't the new building be named "Cordoba House" after the city in Spain in which Muslims converted a church into a mosque?
Osama Bin Laden, whose terrorist group carried-out the 9/11 attacks, is by no means the acknowledged leader or spokesman for Islam. In fact, no one is. Rather he is the charismatic leader of a religious homicidal/suicidal cult, an Arab Jim Jones or David Koresh. He issued a fatwa (psak) in 1996 declaring America the enemy of Islam, and called upon all Muslims to commit jihad against this nation. Although millions of Muslims admire Bin Laden, only a few actually put his words into action. And those who seek to build the Cordoba Mosque are not among them.
Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin implored peace-loving Muslims to "refudiate" (sic) the proposed mosque because it would "stab hearts." But even the peace-loving Muslims (if she can find them) know their rights and intend to exercise them.
About 70% of Americans are against a mosque on Park Place, so the politically popular stance is to oppose it. I do not endorse or support building a mosque there either. But on matters of religious expression in a free country, the majority does not rule, and so the Cordoba Mosque will be built, even though most Americans find it insensitive or even offensive.
The Cordoba Mosque will not loom over Ground Zero, no matter what is ultimately built there. The Cordoba Mosque will be on the other side of West Broadway and two blocks north of Vesey Street, the northern border of the World Trade Center site; aerial photos of the area show numerous multi-story buildings between the two more than two blocks to find it.
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(1)AssociatedContent, Aug. 17, 2010.
posted by Gerald S Glazer at 10:02 AM
5 comments
