Mosque in Ground Zero: Politics as Usual

When I read about a mosque being built near ground zero, my initial reaction was the same as many Americans; My initial reaction was, "What!"

However, as I was reading the newspapers and watching the news, I wondered, "why are they attacking people attempting to build a house of worship."

I came up with five reasons why the Cordoba mosque is condemned.

1) the 9/11 victims (and all of Americans) feel that Ground Zero is sacred.

2) the builder, Imam Feisel Abdul Rauf, is anti-American and hates America.

3) there is Islamophobia which is deep in the hearts of many Americans.

4) Politics as usual

or

5) because the president brought it up

Reason number one is relatively debunked because the mosque isn't being built at Ground Zero, the area that the twin towers used to reside. But many still say it is too close to the Ground site for comfort. However, the site plan is two blocks from where the World Trade Center was (and these are New York City blocks we are speaking of). There is also a mosque in the Pentagon (which the terrorists also hit) and there are over a hundred mosques in New York and are 600,000 Muslims in NYC as of 2007 according to New York Church Planter.

So to move the mosque is easier said than done, especially because of the mass number of mosques there to begin with. Yet many uninformed Americans think that the mosque was built near the mosque to antagonize people. (maybe this was the reason, but we have no proof and it may also be to build a bridge between America and Islam).

Number two is interesting mainly because it is the other reason most people do not want the mosque built. Many people consider Rauf an anti-American.

That claim couldn't be further from the truth.

According to the Huffington Post (Yes, the Huffington Post. It was either that or Wikipedia.) Rauf first founded the American Society of Human Advancement. This program was to unite the ideals and culture of American Muslims and non-Muslims. He also written many books, is an Imam of the Masid Al-Farah mosque that is twelve blocks from Ground Zero and, get this, criticized the 9/11 attacks as unislamic. (You wont hear this on Fox News.)

Yet, there are some quotes that Rauf may regret saying (or maybe he doesn't).

He had said that the CIA funded Osama Bin Laden and he was "Made by the U.S.A.".

He has repeatedly said that U.S. politics created the terrorism of the Middle East and did not comment on Hamas as a terrorist.

Finally he said compared Al-Queda attacks to American attacks to Japan.

These are unpopular comments and it is political suicide to side with any of these issues (although the CIA did fund Osama Bin Laden, and in fact funded Saddam Hussein in the early 80's for them to defend against communist Russian troops.) However, Rush Limbaugh has controversial comments every day before breakfast and he still is living well. They don't stop him from building homes in black communities or buying football teams (Wait... it did, although it shouldn't). And if Islam can practice their religion in the Pentagon (in fact, on Fridays, they have an Imam pray with them), a place where a plane actually hit, then a mosque can be two blocks away from Ground Zero, regardless of the builder.

My third reason is Islamophobia which lives in many of us (also know as the fear of terrorism). And to explain, we all have our fears and stereotypes about a certain race or religion. However, it doesn't mean it is right to accuse people of believing in terrorism. It also doesn't mean that the Islamic extremist that killed innocent lives should be blamed on a man (Rauf) who has done much more good than harm and condemned the attack itself even if people are not satisfied with the reasoning behind his logic.

This leads me to reasons four and five

Politics as usual.

It was some (not all) of the 9/11 families who struggle with the notion that the mosque is near Ground Zero, yet politicians (who are the evil of America) seized their opportunity to actually have a stance on something blow the thirteen-story mosque out of proportion. This ranges from Rand Paul to Howard Dean to Sarah Palin to Nancy Pelosi. News anchors who will not be named (cough Hannity cough) then turn the entire story into a defense for American ideals. Of course he forgot the ideal of freedom of religion but that's another matter...

"I am not commenting on the wisdom of the location of the Mosque....but they have a constitutional right to build it."

Actually, I will comment on the wisdom, I was quoting the words of our stance-less president whose takes this entire controversy and squares it. I think he (President Barack Obama) should be focusing on jobs and the economy and not on an issue which should have nothing to do with an issue only those who felt the pain of 9/11 (in other words the people with a stance). And of course these talking heads (cough Sean Hannity cough) turn to bashing the President instead of addressing the issue, as usual.

To me, I rank four and then five as the reasons why this controversy is as big as it is. Then it is number one and two on the basis of number three (and if you don't understand, comment)

This is blown out of proportion and turned into something not very important in the grand scheme of things.

My opinion is that there shouldn't be a problem if the mosque is built near Ground Zero because it is not Ground zero and there are many mosques near Ground Zero anyways. Many families of 9/11 victims support the mosque and it will help many Muslims practice their religion. The mosque is very near the first mosque of Rauf, The Mosque is built in a hotbed of Islamic many worshipers and Rauf may be attempting to bridge another gap between Islamic and non-Islamic people.

I don't agree with Rauf comments about the US breeding terrorism. But I also understand that no one, not even the American Military, is perfect. And regardless of opinion polls, the Cordoba Mosque can be legally built on that site. And last I checked, most of those in the opinion poll do not pray in mosque. Many people would love IRS building not to be built but people don't try to take them down (of course the noted exception is of the man who used a plane to crash into the CIA building.)

You can question the placing of the mosque or the sensitivity of building the mosque there, (and I still question the reasoning on both of those topics) but they have a right to build a mosque there and I will be fine if they do. The President should be happy, we are actually attempting to help this economy start rolling again.