Another in the set of bad arguments about the NYC Islamic Community Center and Mosque. We all have suspicions, but surely a little time could be invested in getting at the record. The Mosque has been in the neighborhood for over 20 years -- it is not new. At most, it is relocating within the neighborhood. Ground Zero is some distance away, not even visible from the location of the new building. That building is largely a community center, with the usual array of services and spaces -- auditorium, meeting rooms, childcare, restaurant, and, no doubt, a worship space (mosque). The project is being run by an imam and his wife, who have been there for over 20 years. The imam did overseas trips for the US under Bush (and Obama). He is well-known in religious circles as a political moderate. What is the problem here?
That people who identify as defenders of Islam are responsible for 9/11 attacks is not really an argument. It is plain that Al Queda does not speak for the religion, and that its adherents are not responsible for the nuts. If we adopt a different approach, then are the capitalists and christians all to be held to answer for the slaughter in Guatemala and El Salvador? Do we ban nationalists -- after all it was nationalists who gave such a century of slaughter in the 20th? The opposition seems pretty keen on the kind of argument that gave China is re-education camps for all those connected with capitalism. Mr Smith has apparently forgotten the flood of expressions of solidarity and condemnation from almost the entirety of the Islamic world following 9/11 (virtually all of the Islamic states and a multitude of religious leaders). Maybe the messages were not sent to his house, but surely a quick look at the news from the following weeks would put to rest the canard that the Islamic world celebrated 9/11.
Recent Comments