To start with, I want to give my own thoughts on the mosque that is being built very near ground zero.On a legal basis, there isn't much to be said against it. Private groups can privately buy property and put up whatever the hell they want to. The permits were all approved, and really, that's that.
I understand the opposition, however. While I can't see anything that can be done about the mosque being built, it does give me an uneasy feeling. Not because it's necessarily a "celebration mosque", although I can't say for sure it's not, but because it just...doesn't feel right.
Let's say that I decided to build a museum dedicated to the most successful white people in Gary, Indiana. It wouldn't be right, and the predominately African American community in that city would be rightly pissed off because it would seem like a slap in the face.
Or, let's say that I decided to buy property and put up a KKK historical museum next to the building that Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in. It would be a huge slap in the face, and there would be a LOT of negative reactions.
Granted, this is a LITTLE different, since it has to do primarily with freedom of religion in our country that allows anyone and everyone to worship however he/she feels, but it's a little bit similar as well because it involves an uneasy clash between cultures that has resulted in violence and death.
Now, some may read this opinion and immediately jump on the "he's a bigot" bandwagon. That's a shame. I would have hoped that we were a civilized enough society where people could intelligently speak to each other and express concerns. Sure, there are some bigots that have a somewhat similar view as me. I'm also against abortion, and so automatically fall into the "male chauvinistic pig" category to some. That's o.k. with me, really. I know what I am and I know how I feel about certain things, and as I showed earlier on in this article, I know how to separate my feelings from my intelligence, something that far too many liberals aren't capable of doing.
As noted at the beginning, there isn't anything anyone can do about it. What I would love to see is the mayor of New York, Michael Bloomburg, a pretty liberal Republican, take the initiative and arrange a meeting between the people that are trying to build the mosque and those in charge of the Anti-Defamation League, the nations largest Jewish civil rights group and most vocal opponents of the mosque, along with, perhaps, some of the family members of those that died during 9/11, and work out an agreement. Hell, have a beer summit!
In fact, I think President Obama would have been better off taking this approach as well rather than simply coming out in support of the mosque. I agree with his stance on religious freedom (although it would be nice if liberals had this same zeal for it during Christmas time) but he really pigeon holed himself and allowed for an "open Obama season" to spring up, and especially with the general election coming up so soon, I'm sure a lot of moderate Democrats are shaking their head right now and wishing he would have taken a more moderate approach.
Regardless of what SHOULD be done, what HAS been done, and what WILL be done, regarding this mosque, people shouldn't immediately label those with opposing view points bigots. All that it shows is that that individual either doesn't want to take the time to have an intelligent debate on the subject, or doesn't really care about the matter anyways. By backing people into the corner of "racist", or "bigot", or "hate monger", all that does is get the attention of those that don't have a proverbial horse in this race and cause them to start being sympathetic to those that are being labeled wrongly. If you really want to make a point regarding such touchy issues as those mentioned in this article, take a breath, realize that everybody has a different viewpoint and a different slant on every issue, and calmly begin to assert your opinion. You'll be surprised how much could be achieved.
