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'OPPOSITION TO BUILDING THE MOSQUE IN NEW YORK'

[Al-Arabiya, United Arab Emirates]

 

 

News, Switzerland

Moderates in 'Radical Headlock' Over 'Ground Zero Mosque'

 

"The goal of the terrorists was to make the world less free and to force the West to restrict its own freedoms by generating fear and anger. This project, and the reactions to it, shows how extreme Islamists and Christians manage, in their mutual hatred, to put the moderate majority into a radical headlock, with the goal of stifling the freedom we once fought so hard to obtain."

 

By Patrik Etschmayer

                                     

 

Translated By Stephanie Martin

 

August 23, 2010

 

Switzerland - News - Original Article (Switzerland)

Feisal Abdul Rauf, executive director of the Cordoba Initiative, has traveled the world to talk to moderate Muslims on behalf of the U.S. State Department. He now finds himself ensconsed in a fierce battle to prevent his initiative from being completed.  

BBC NEWS AUDIO: Professor Akbar Ahmed discusses his travels across America visiting 100 mosques in 75 cities, Aug. 23, 00:03:08RealVideo

It would be a very bad idea, if it were actually true:  There are plans to build a mosque at Ground Zero. Yes, you could say that this is the stupidest thing that could be done.  Even if the builders had the right to do it.

 

But there are three hitches to the current dispute: For one thing, the controversial building won't be located at Ground Zero, the former site of the WTC-Twin Towers, but two blocks away. Furthermore, it will not be a mosque, but a Muslim community center with a prayer room. But the construction of a restaurant, a stage, a fitness center, a pool, a basketball court and various other facilities are also planned, which would all disqualify the building from being a mosque. We’ve also heard the occasional argument that any building with an Islamic prayer room is a mosque … but then the Pentagon would be a mosque as well. An interesting idea. We’ll get back to that later.

 

Nevertheless, among opponents of the building, there is always talk of the "Ground Zero mosque," and when people protest, especially people like Sarah Palin or Newt Gingrich, then things are getting critical. After all, these folks are well-known for a casual approach to facts and a tendency to emotionalize things to the extreme, which is not necessarily beneficial for the debate.

 

That the building would be a stab at the hearts of every innocent victim's family is a classic Palinist blooper. Among other things, because her statement implies that there were also victims who were not innocent. Might she be referring to those non-Christians working at the World Trade Center during the attack? After all, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists and Atheists - people that Palin considers un-American and not part of the “real America” - were also victims of the idiots in the aircraft.

 

Another Palin quote (that she published on her popular Twitter feed), brings us to the third hitch with this issue: "We all know that they have a right to do it, but should they?” In the first part of her Tweet, Palin says absolutely correctly: The "Community Center" has a right to be built. It is legal. And that’s the critical factor in a constitutional state. The "Park51" project is to be built with private funds on private property. Finished. The question of whether it should be built is presumptuous.

 

The author s opinion on whether religious sites should be built has long been public knowledge: if schools and educational centers were erected instead of all the churches, synagogues, temples and mosques, the world would, in my opinion, be a better place. But my opinion isn’t relevant in a pluralistic, free society - at least not until it becomes general consensus and is enshrined by law. And for President Obama, whether he likes it or not, there is no legal way to stop the project - so I ask you, with what legal argument are people to be discouraged from abiding by the law?

 

 

SEE ALSO ON THIS:

Daily Jang, Pakistan: Mosque Opponents Will Spur Islamic Radicalization

The Jakarta Post, Indonesia: Ground Zero Mosque, Jewish People and Indonesia

Rheinischer Merkur, Germany: Cordoba House: Let it Be a Triumph of Tolerance

ABC, Spain: Cordoba House: The 'Impossible Mosque'

ABC, Spain: The Mosque Near Ground Zero: A Case of Insensitivity

La Opinion de Zemora, Spain: Cordoba House and 'Hussein of Yankeeland'

Guardian Unlimited, U.K.: The Poison Behind the Ground Zero Mosque Furore

The Telegraph, U.K.: The Depressing Debacle of 'Ground Zero Mosque'

BBC News, U.K.: Mosque Dispute Exposes Obama on Two Sides

 

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The charge that the plan is in poor taste is extremely subjective and dangerous - especially for members of other (non-) religious minorities that have also joined the protest and are supporting the Christian Right in their efforts to bend the law.

 

A "Ground Zero" Law, based on such subjective criteria, could eventually lead to prohibiting the building of a natural history museum near a church because the scientific thought it represents is offensive to believers.

 

But it was precisely this equality before the law that was supposed to distinguish Western culture. And anyone who wants to prevent the construction of the community center must look for things that are legally relevant. Rumors of illegal financing, for instance. If there is anything to that, then more power to them - funds in the construction budget from terrorist supporters would kill the project faster than you can say "Ground Zero.”

 

Whether it would be wiser for those who wish to build the center to choose a more distant location is a justified question, but one that they themselves must answer. Moreover, another question then presents itself: How far away is far enough? Four blocks, eight or sixteen? Not in Manhattan at all? The discussion isn't likely to be silenced quickly and yes, it is entirely possible that this center could be counterproductive. But as hard as it might be to detach oneself from it emotionally, that’s not the issue.

 

The goal of the terrorists was to make the world less free and to force the West to restrict its own freedoms by generating fear and anger. This project, and the reactions to it, shows how extreme Islamists and Christians manage, in their mutual hatred, to put the moderate majority into a radical headlock, with the goal of stifling the freedom we once fought so hard to obtain.

 

CLICK HERE FOR GERMAN VERSION

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[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US, August 27, 1:05am]

 







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