politics! because i know yall love em!

[news.yahoo.com]

thoughts on the mosque?

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"you cannot fight your fate, but you can die trying." ~ Laurence Fairbanks

Have regrets. They are fuel. On the page they flare into desire.

If they own the land, it's theirs to do whatever they want with it...

OK, my thoughts:
First, good grief--since when do we get all our news from Tweets? Facebook was bad enough, but this is simply becoming too much...lol
Second: has anyone considered the logic behind this? If so, I'd like to hear it--to me, it seems like when people think of 9/11, the first thing they connect it with is the war on militant islam. So having a mosque there isn't going to be helpful to anyone--not the people who would celebrate the American heroism of that day, not the people who would worship Allah on the spot--
Interupting self:
And what about the people who WOULD go there to worship? You can't honestly think that it would be a peaceful place to worship--regardless of my personal feelings about Islam, can you imagine how many crazy people would target this mosque and the people inside? It's just asking for trouble.
That, and I personally don't think they should build ANYTHING there--just my own little thing, but it seems like a permanant memorial along the lines of what's in the Washington Mall would be better than a mosque or a church or even rebuilding the Towers.

OK--there's my two pence. Feel free to shred

Pay no attention to the bird behind the curtain!!
Trav is a SHE
http://www.musings-in-a-strange-land.blogspot.com/
I am a Wraith of Yore...fear me and my power of forgotten-thread blackmail

I was actually in total agreement with Trav, but after reading the article I'm torn. A friend of mine from work, who isn't a practicing Muslim but was raised Muslim, had talked to me about it a few weeks ago and we both thought that it was kind of insensitive--like, of course legally you have the freedom to worship wherever you want, and of course as a country we really CANNOT equate the terrorists with our Muslim citizens (srsly, that ad?? wtf?!), but by the same token, New York's a big city, you know? There's no reason to TRY and cheese people off. Particularly when, as Trav said, it's probably not going to be the most peaceful place to worship.

But you know, when I type it out, when I actually put it into words, I don't like the sound of it; I could be talking about ANY minority group, couldn't I? The reasoning doesn't really stand up, on its own. It's their city as well, and I'm sure some of them lost loved ones in the 9/11 attack, and how American are we being, really, by even pretending as though the terrorists' Islam is at all similar to the Islam practiced by our own people? When I think of it that way, I'm in support of the idea: we need to stop the implicit acceptance of that kind of condemnation. Maybe a mosque, visited and worshiped in by perfectly normal Americans, is exactly what we need to remind people that the terrorists were radicals of the worst sort, and not at all typical of Muslims.

Also, the fact that it's a community center gives me further pause. I like that part. I'm not really sure of the logic behind it, but a city that big could always use more places like that.

So, I guess in conclusion, I'm in support of it, but I can understand why many aren't, as I was uncomfortable with it myself and still am in some ways, and I agree that it could be a potential target for hate crimes, but then, so is any gathering of any group deemed "different". On the whole, though, I think it would be more harmful to us as a society to NOT allow this: it only perpetuates the idea that all Muslims are terrorists, which is unhealthy and flat-out wrong.

And that is my $.02, feel free to discuss further.

Hhmm... I'm torn as well for pretty much the same reasons Var stated, but I think I lean more against it for all the reasons Trav gave. If the Muslims don't mean to be insensitive, isn't there somewhere else in the entire city that would work better?

The concept of telling a group "you can't worship here" bothers me. In my mind, it isn't any different than the signs in shop windows saying "No Irish Need Apply". We don't mind if you work, or worship, or live, but don't do it here.

To look at it from a completely different angle, the mosque/community center isn't being built at Ground Zero; it's two blocks away. That's almost half a mile. New York proper really isn't all that big--only a couple of miles in any given direction. Anything built in the city will, by its very nature, only be at the most five miles from anything else. Also, because the city proper is so small, real estate is premium. If you can get land, you take it, wherever it happens to be.

And you who seek to know me,
know that the seeking and yearning
will avail you not,
unless you know the Mystery:
for if that which you seek,
you find not within yourself,
you will never find it without.



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 07/21/10 03:45PM by Rian.

If it's not being built at Ground Zero, then why are people claiming that it is and starting up such a controversy anyway?
Geez. Humans.


OK--my edit.
In my curiosity, I googled this story and found some other articles--an activity I strongly suggest to other debaters. LOL Anyway, I found everything you might imagine, butmany people are saying in the most polite way possible the same thing: "We don't want a mosque to be built here. Period."

Granted, it is a few blocks away. But the building (the old Burlington Coat Factory store) is close enough that one of the planes' landing gear crashed into it during the attacks. Why there? Sure--a new community center is a great idea, especially in New York, with all the problems that city has.

But why here? Why is building slated to commence on the ten-year-anniversary of the attacks?

Another interesting question/note that one article made me think about--the building of religious sites at conquered locations. Muslims have built mosques at Hagia Sophia in Turkey, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, and the Great Mosque of Cordoba in Spain. And the new mosque/community center is to be called the Cordoba house.

There are just too many questions to answer, too many potentiall fireballs...it's just not a good idea, from any perspective.




Edited 1 times. Last edit at 07/21/10 04:08PM by The Traveler.

i would disagree with the 'from any perspective' since it seems we have two perspectives that disagree with that =P

personally i agree with rian and var, if it was a Jewish temple would we complain?

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"you cannot fight your fate, but you can die trying." ~ Laurence Fairbanks

Have regrets. They are fuel. On the page they flare into desire.

Probably not, because it wasn't Jews who crashed plains into the towers.

>>>the building of religious sites at conquered locations. Muslims have built mosques at Hagia Sophia in Turkey, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, and the Great Mosque of Cordoba in Spain. And the new mosque/community center is to be called the Cordoba house.

I was going to mention that. I'm not accusing the Muslims of rubbing it in Americans faces, but honestly, with this tradition, they obviously would know how people would react.

You're kidding me, right? You're really going to hold today's Muslims, just trying to build a worship and community site, on the same level as the ones who, centuries ago, built mosques on "conquered ground"? While we're at it, why not liken each and every German politician to Hitler? They're after the same things, right, building a stronger national economy?

~Why, yes, I am one of those arrogant, elitist heathens you've been whining about. What's your point?~



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 07/22/10 12:59AM by gaygan.