Friday, October 15, 2010
My Two Cents
I was sort of on the fence about the whole mosque @ Ground Zero controversy, but the more I think about it, the more I think it SHOULD be erected. The anti-mosque side say it's too close to Ground Zero (it's two blocks away) and it's insensitive to the victims of 9/11 (although I'm not sure if any of the families directly affected by that tragedy have been asked), so let's start there. How much distance is enough?
Five blocks?
Ten blocks?
Fifty?
And why do so many people equate a group of extremists with the Muslim religion as a whole? Should I think of all Germans as Nazis? Should I suspect every Italian is plotting as a member of the Mafia? Of course not, that's nothing short of bigotry.
Notice how this fight is all revolved around organized religion: American Muslims exercising their right of freedom of religion being questioned and persecuted by Christians. Unfortunate that it seems to take the spotlight a lot.
There was a $7.4 billion bill that was NOT passed by the U.S. Senate recently that would have provided health care coverage to rescue workers of 9/11. Funny how in every other industrialized nation this wouldn't even be an issue because there's universal health care widely available, but anyway, there's hardly a mention in any news media about it, but everyone is up in arms about this mosque while former rescue workers will die years before they should because they can't have access to affordable health care.
People today and in history have fled countries due to religious prosecution. The fundamental human right to practice your religion is being lost in all of this because of constant, baseless fear-mongering.
Build the mosque.
Five blocks?
Ten blocks?
Fifty?
And why do so many people equate a group of extremists with the Muslim religion as a whole? Should I think of all Germans as Nazis? Should I suspect every Italian is plotting as a member of the Mafia? Of course not, that's nothing short of bigotry.
Notice how this fight is all revolved around organized religion: American Muslims exercising their right of freedom of religion being questioned and persecuted by Christians. Unfortunate that it seems to take the spotlight a lot.
There was a $7.4 billion bill that was NOT passed by the U.S. Senate recently that would have provided health care coverage to rescue workers of 9/11. Funny how in every other industrialized nation this wouldn't even be an issue because there's universal health care widely available, but anyway, there's hardly a mention in any news media about it, but everyone is up in arms about this mosque while former rescue workers will die years before they should because they can't have access to affordable health care.
People today and in history have fled countries due to religious prosecution. The fundamental human right to practice your religion is being lost in all of this because of constant, baseless fear-mongering.
Build the mosque.
# posted by SBP : 11:36 PM
Comments:
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Well written, SBP. Many mosque-building projects across the States are faced with opposition regardless of proximity to Ground Zero. Never mind that this mosque (http://www.masjidmanhattan.com/ -- known as a masjid, thus avoiding greater scrutiny) has peacefully existed near Ground Zero for decades. This "Community Center of Death" is a running joke on The Daily Show but at its core the sentiment of the opposition is obviously simple fear. It's depressing that we live this way.
I was unaware of the scrapping of the 9/11 rescue workers' health care proposition. Talk about depressing.
I was unaware of the scrapping of the 9/11 rescue workers' health care proposition. Talk about depressing.
(I should add that Masjid Manhattan is not involved in the building of the community center about which you wrote.)
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