The Mosque at Ground Zero

There has been much ado about the proposed community center and mosque to be built in New York City.  There have been several arguments, most of them disturbing, as to why it should not be built on the site.  But I think what many are ignoring is this Mosque is NOT AT GROUND ZERO.  It's actually 2 blocks away from the site.  So my question to all those nay sayers is... How far away does it have to be before it becomes ok to build?  Where does the Constitution's freedom of religion protection end in New York City?  And finally... what happened to not stereotyping all Islamic peoples and Muslims as terrorists?

Back in 2001, the attacks caused much hate in our communities... hate directed toward anyone of the Muslim faith.  Attacks on Muslim institutions and mosques were common in several cities.  And everyone said, including Bush, that the people of the Muslim faith are not to blame... but the extremists who planned and carried out the attacks.

But apparently that separation is over now.

And now, I'm about to completely reverse what you think my position is.

I stand with the ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) is recommending that an alternate site be found.   This is solely because of the sensitivity of the issues involved such as the concerns of the families of the 9/11 victims.  This is by no means a bigoted view though.  In fact, if given the current cultural environment they still wish to build, I'd say let them.  We have a great nation build upon several basic freedoms... and the Freedom of Religion is one of them.  If the Muslim community wants to erect a Community Center and Mosque there, there is nothing we should do to block them from doing it.  But does that mean we should not recommend a secondary location to them?  No.  By building the Mosque at it's proposed location, some may see it as a slap in the face or affront... or an attempt to provoking a response.

While reading a message from the National Director of the ADL, I came across this fact...

The lessons of an earlier and different controversy echo in this one. In 1993, Pope John Paul II asked 14 Carmelite Nuns to move their convent from just outside the Auschwitz death camp. The establishment of the convent near Auschwitz had stirred dismay among Jewish groups and survivors who felt that the location was an affront and a terrible disservice to the memory of millions of Jews who died at the hands of the Nazis in the Holocaust.


Just as we thought then that well-meaning efforts by Carmelite nuns to build a Catholic structure were insensitive and counterproductive to reconciliation, so too we believe it will be with building a mosque so close to Ground Zero.