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Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...
The current non-issue over the proposal for the Islamic Community Center two blocks from the Ground Zero site has been twisted and distorted by hate groups, xenophobes and right-wing politics into something it is not and never was...a threat.
It is a common and well used tactic by some to make up "creative" names for things in order to create the appearance that it is something it is not...just for the purpose of manipulating and scaring those who are easily mislead by fear or bigotry. This is a clear example of miss-information and a false name used to create controversy and to divide Americans for political gain by one side.
First let's debunk the name. There is no such project as the "Ground Zero Mosque" or "Super Mosque" the actual facts are that it is NOT at Ground Zero and cannot even be seen from Ground Zero...it is over two blocks away from the nearest corner of the site and more like 6 blocks from the "official" Ground Zero location.
The second fact is that it is not a Mosque at all but a 13 story community center. It will include sports facilities, pool, theater, and restaurant, and will be open to the public to show that Muslims are full community members. It will help turn a mostly boarded up blighted neighborhood into a clean and safe neighborhood, all with zero taxpayer dollars. Yes it will include a prayer center on the top two floors but that is not the same as a true Mosque which can only be attended by the faithful.
Why the location? Because it was available at, what for New York City, was a bargain basement price of $4.8 million. It's construction was unanimously approved by the City. No one in the Federal or State government is involved or has any say in the matter, it is a done deal so far as New York City officials are concerned and none of the talking heads is involved in or has any say in the decision.
There are an estimated 5-8 million Muslims who live in and are citizens of the United States. They enjoy the same Constitution the rest of us do including religious freedom. They are no more to blame for the 9/11 attacks than German Americans were for the Holocaust or Japanese Americans were for the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
One of the biggest shames we bear as a nation was when the US rounded up of approximately 110,000 Japanese Americans during the second world war and put them into prison camps. These were citizens like you and I who had committed no crime, yet they lost their homes and businesses because of hate and hysteria that falsely assumed that because their roots were in Japan, they were somehow a national threat.
In 1988, Congress passed and President Ronald Reagan signed legislation which apologized for the internment on behalf of the US government. The legislation stated that government actions were based on "race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership". Over $1.6 billion in reparations were later disbursed by the US government to Japanese Americans who had either suffered internment or were heirs of those who had suffered internment.
Today some right wing politicians are out shame our great nation yet again, based on those same attributes of race, hysteria and a failure of leadership.
On the one side we have those who actually uphold the constitution and have gone on record to support the right to build the center as protected by the First Amendment of our Constitution. These politicians have not endorsed the actual project but have merely clarified that it is their right to build. This is the correct and ethical response when the question is raised.
On the other side are those who would deliberately stir hate and bigotry for their own political purposes. They have an audience easily manipulated and are distorting this issue to bend these people to their agenda. Many who are led like the sheep that they are either do not care about the Constitution or somehow believe it can be applied wily-nilly based on their personal agenda of hate. Constitutional rights are just that "Rights" and no one gets to vote on them.
I have not labeled these sides with political party names because there have been those on both sides who would deny Constitutional protections to Muslims. That said we know where the vast majority of this hate is being generated.
One of the worst offenders seems unlikely because of his past history of being well educated, this is Newt Gingrich.
"America is experiencing an Islamist cultural-political offensive designed to undermine and destroy our civilization," claims Newt Gingrich, who argues that the United States can't let Muslims build a "mosque" "at Ground Zero" because Saudi Arabia doesn't permit the building of churches and synagogues.
It would appear that Mr. Gingrich holds Saudi Arabia in higher esteem than his own nation. I personally don't want us to become like Saudi Arabia so I decline to agree with Mr. Gingrich. How is it that the man who once swore to uphold our Constitution has already forgotten what it means? This is a man who is trying to stoke the exact type of fear, hate and bigotry that lead us to incarcerate our fellow Americans just because they were of Japanese descent. This is shameful behavior on his part.
It is quite one thing to think that this may not be the best place to build but the discussion put forth from the far right fringes is not willing to discuss the issue of emotion separate from the Constitutional right to build. Those who have stood firm to remind us that this is American and we have a Constitution that protects religious freedom for all are to be commended. Those who have taken it to the next step to suggest that, perhaps, the constitution should not protect this particular religion tread on a dangerous line. They do so for a dishonest purpose.
One fool went so far as to suggest a nation wide moratorium on building any mosques. To do so constitutionally would also require the same moratorium on all churches, synagogues or any other place to be built by any church. This is still America.
As America goes forward we can take one of two paths. First is to hold our heads high and proclaim to the world that we have a constitution that protects individual freedom and liberty including the freedom to practice our religions as we see fit free from Government intervention.
Second is to follow xenophobic leaders who would twist our nation into something looking more like our own enemies and deny those very freedoms we all enjoy today. They would do this in order to miss-direct us toward their own political agenda where our Constitution only means what they say it means and is subject to their will depending upon who they decide to hate tomorrow.
Who are you going to stand beside? Those who are proud to be Americans with a tradition of respecting all of it's citizens belief's or those who think we should become more like Saudi Arabia and restrict religions freedoms to only those they think are "proper".
I'm going to side with the Constitution
before it is lost to hate and fear.
