Never before has a building created such controversy as the "ground zero Mosque" proposed to be built not far from the site of the worst attack on American soil, and there is a very good reason why. by Raven West
(libertarian)
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Never before has a building created such controversy as the "ground zero Mosque" proposed to be built not far from the site of the worst attack on American soil.
On the political correctness side, politicians are standing fast on the "high road" of the U.S. Constitution, where freedom of religion and property rights are, for the most part, individual liberties where governments should not interfere.
On the other side are those who feel that when we are at "war", we should not welcome the enemy with open arms into our backyard. The major problem is, and always has been, who are we fighting and how do we know who the enemy is? The only factor in our "war against terror" that we do know is that the terror comes from one religious group; Muslims and their "Army of Islam". The two are not the same, but for the general public, the terms are interchangeable.
Never before has a building created such controversy as the "ground zero Mosque" proposed to be built not far from the site of the worst attack on American soil.
On the political correctness side, politicians are standing fast on the "high road" of the U.S. Constitution, where freedom of religion and property rights are, for the most part, individual liberties where governments should not interfere.
On the other side are those who feel that when we are at "war", we should not welcome the enemy into our backyard. The major problem is, and always has been, who are we fighting and how do we know who the enemy is? The only factor in our "war against terror" that we do know is that the terror comes from one religious group; Muslims and their "Army of Islam". Although the two are not the same, for the general public, the terms are interchangeable.
While it is true that not all Muslims are terrorists, the murders who slaughtered innocent Americans and others on 9/11, who are shown on videos decapitating reporters, who shot and killed eight humanitarian medical workers, commit atrocities against their fellow Muslims, especially women, and the enemy we are at war with are TERRORISTS. And their motivation, their source of their power and ability to persuade young men and women to strap bombs to their bodies and murder as many as they can is their religion.
Want to build a church? Christians consider suicide a sin, and a one-way ticket to hell. Muslims believe it is an honor and they will be rewarded in the afterlife. Want to build a Jewish Temple? Jews pray for peace and actually work hard in many volunteers organizations to make that peace a reality. When Jehovah Witness knocks on your door, they're armed with a copy of their "Watchtower", not an MK-47.
Pick a religion, any religion, Buddhism, Hinduism, even Wiccan and they;ll all be welcomed because you'll not find one, in these modern times, that murders anyone in the name of their God. Except Muslims.
We are at war. A very different kind of war. We are not fighting a communist government trying to expand into neighboring nations. We are not fighting to free a country from a dictatorship. We are fighting a religious fanatical barbaric ideal. Many believe the way to win this war is to fight their ideals with our own. That if we open our doors and award them the same religious freedoms our country guarantees to all, that our way of life, our freedoms and religious tolerance, will persuade them to stop trying to kill us.
This philosophy reminds me of an old fable about the woman and the snake. A woman was walking along a stream that was partly frozen when she saw a poisonous snake frozen in the water. She carefully picked the snake up took it home and placed it in front of the fire to thaw it out. She fed it and nursed it back to health. One night, the snake slithered into her bed and bit her. As she lay dying, she said to the snake, "I brought you into my home. I took care of you and saved your life, why did you bite me?
The snake replied, "I'm a snake what did you expect?"
If the Muslim and Islamic community wishes to be welcomed into our homes and into our cities, then they must be the ones to weed out the snakes and work very hard to change American's perceptions of who and what their religion means. But they remain silent.
If after 9/11 the leaders of the Muslim world went on every television network and denounced the attack, and pledged to bring the heads of the terrorist regime to justice, they could build their Mosque at ground zero. But they didn't.
If massive demonstrations were held in every Muslim country and Western city to denounce Islamic terror and shared the many hundreds of verses from the Qur'an that encourage universal brotherhood, peace and tolerance, they could build their Mosque near ground zero. But there are none.
If effigies of terrorists were burned and a slew of fatwas and clerical condemnations against terror soon followed every atrocity, or if tens of millions of ordinary Muslims rallied against violence and demanded that their leaders root out and eliminate the Islamic terrorists and their supporters, they could build their Mosque near ground zero. But they don't.
If Muslims and their clerics called for introspection and atonement, accept the role that the radical elements of their religion play in worldwide violence, stop the threat of nuclear attack from Iran and commit themselves to combating and eradicating the misinterpretation of their religion , then they could build their Mosque near ground zero, or anywhere else without protest or controversy, but they remain silent.
Muslims cannot have it both ways, and neither can we. We cannot justify a war against terrorists with one hand, and welcome them into our community with the other. It isn't Islamaphobia when they really are trying to kill us.
Until all Muslims stop preaching hate, stop killing in the name of Allah, and their leaders stop remaining indifferent to the violence committed by those who follow their religious dictates, we do not want them building a safe haven, religious sanctuary or any other building which may be used for the possible recruitment for the next terrorist attack.
Until then, build your Mosque anywhere you want, only not in my backyard and certainly not anywhere near ground zero.
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What a wonderful piece of work, coming from such a "libertarian." Makes me want to support the "ground zero" cultural center -- and, more generally, freedom of Islamic worship -- more heartily. Thanks for two-folding my desire to resist ultra-statist (national-socialist?) tendencies to wage permanent, total war against contrived, monolithic threats to "our way of life."
Posted By: jmounteer
Date: August 16, 2010 12:55:44 PM
"Pick a religion, any religion, Buddhism, Hinduism, even Wiccan and they;ll all be welcomed because you'll not find one, in these modern times, that murders anyone in the name of their God. Except Muslims."
And Christians...
We need to nip this hate and fear mongering in the bud!
“THEY CAME FIRST for the Communists,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist.
THEN THEY CAME for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist.
THEN THEY CAME for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew.
THEN THEY CAME for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up.”
Posted By: TeancumElite
Date: August 16, 2010 07:35:05 PM
The 9/11 atrocity was a ritual sacrifice/execution and The Mosque is there to finalize the rite.
It doesn't matter if 9/11 was an inside job. It doesn't matter what religion the murderers were. Those who finalize the rite are those who get credit for giving the offering.
The Mosque has nothing to do with constitutionally approved religion. This Mosque will be dedicated as a house of Bal.
Posted By: Dale Husband
Date: August 18, 2010 01:12:35 AM
Pick a religion, any religion, Buddhism, Hinduism, even Wiccan and they;ll all be welcomed because you'll not find one, in these modern times, that murders anyone in the name of their God. Except Muslims.
That is a flatly false statement! I guess you thought the struggles between Catholics and Protestants on both mainland Europe and Ireland weren't examples of Christians engaging in violence against each other. The Irish Republican Army even used terrorist tactics against British occupiers and Protestant civilians! And what about the Crusades in which Christian armies wantonly slaughtered Jews and Muslims in lands they conquered? Sure, that wasn't in "modern times", but who is to say that giving Christians absolute political power, like Muslims have in the Middle East, won't make many of the Christians engage in terrorism and mass murder again?
You are a contemptible and dishonest bigot, and not fit to be called a Libertarian!
Posted By: LibertarianBlue
Date: August 18, 2010 11:24:30 AM
What kind of Libertarian are you? Standing up for private property rights is politically correct now? How can a Libertarian support the "Some animals are more equal than other animals" mentality? Conservatives, Paleoconservatives and Liberals have no problem with that mentality but Libertarians are supposed to be above that.
Posted By: TeancumElite
Date: August 21, 2010 01:22:34 AM
LibertarianBlue, DID YOU WATCH GLENN BECK AND HIS TAKE ON THE MOSQUE?!?
These are radical imperialist progressives who claim to be Muslims but might not be at all Muslim. This could have been set up to cause this very contention.
