A proposal to build an Islamic community center two blocks from Ground Zero in New York City has created a polarizing debate from coast to coast on whether this is appropriate. The staff of The Kirkwood Call voted 31 to 15 that the liberties endowed by the First Amendment overrule the controversy surrounding this mosque, and the people who intend to construct this center are well within their constitutional rights to do so.
As of late, people in this country seem to be confusing fact with fiction. The current issue with the New York City mosque is not an exception. Their confusion is understandable, seeing as there are dozens of news stations each spewing their variations of the truth, but when it comes to important issues like the mosque, accuracy is vital.
These are the facts:
1. Sept. 11, 2001, four commercial planes were hijacked, two of which were intentionally crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, claiming nearly 3,000 lives from 115 different nations.
2. The hijackers were members of al-Qaeda, an international terrorist network led by Osama bin Laden.
3. Nine years later, Feisal Abdul Rauf, founder and CEO of the American Society for Muslim Advancement (ASMA), has decided to build an Islamic community center two blocks from the site of where the Twin Towers crumbled, sparking a nationwide debate over whether this mosque should be built at this controversial location.
The United States might miss a perfect chance to demonstrate to the rest of the world what we are all about. Were we not developed on the belief that we have certain rights that no one can take away from us? Did these rights not include the freedom of religion and peaceful assembly? Or was there a subtext hidden in our Constitution stating that freedom of religion and peaceful assembly are only offered so long as the location is pleasant for everyone else?
“We are Americans, each with an equal right to worship and pray where we choose,” Michael Bloomberg, New York mayor, said. “There is nowhere in the five boroughs of New York City that is off limits to any religion.”
Couldn’t agree more, Mr. Bloomberg.
At any rate, many Americans seem to be buying into the misconception that this Islamic center will be built atop the ashes of the fallen towers. This is completely false; two long blocks separate Ground Zero from the community center. But in all honesty, why should it matter? The people guilty of the tragedy that occurred on Sept. 11 nine years ago would not be the people praying at this mosque.
“Al-Qaeda was responsible [for 9/11], but that doesn’t mean the whole Muslim religion should be indicted,” Republican Rep. Ron Paul said. “[Timothy] McVeigh probably was a Christian and he bombed the Oklahoma federal building [in 1995, killing 167 people]. But does that mean a Christian church can’t be built near there and Christianity is blamed?”
Stereotypes are tearing our country apart from sea to shining sea. Within one year of the World Trade bombing, 1,714 hate crimes were reported to the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Many people in the U.S. seem to have forgotten that Muslim does not equal terrorist.
As said by Daisy Khan, the executive director of the ASMA, “9/11 was our tragedy as much as it was anyone else’s tragedy.”
We see no reason this Islamic center should not be built. The whole point of America is freedom. Freedom of expression, freedom of religion, or even the simple ability to be free.
These are the facts.
