Posted on 08/25/2010 5:01:08 PM PDT by Chi-townChief
Agreeing to move mosque a few blocks would put bigots on spot
Time magazine's cover phrases the question in stark terms: Is America Islamophobic?
What the anti-mosque uproar tells us about how the U.S. regards Muslims
To answer the question: No. The United States of America, population 305 million, is not Islamophobic.
But there's no doubt a sizable percentage of Americans are indeed suspicious and resentful of Muslims.
In addition to revisiting the ongoing and still-heated controversy about the proposed Islamic cultural center two blocks from Ground Zero (did you know that Muslims have been praying at that site for nearly a year now?), the Time story says "at least six mosque projects across the U.S. have faced bitter opposition."
A doctor in Sheboygan County, Wis., was reportedly stunned by the level of opposition to his plans to open a mosque in the town of Ootsburg.
"I never expected that the same people who came to me at the hospital and treated me with respect would talk to me like this," says the doctor.
Opponents of the "Ground Zero mosque" say it's too close to sacred ground. (Apparently they don't care that liquor stores and strip clubs are just as close to that sacred ground.) Advocates say if Imam Feisal Rauf and his wife Daisy Khan back off from the Park51 project, it's a blow to freedom and a victory for those who don't respect the Constitution.
Even among the opposition, few are disputing that the planners have the legal RIGHT to build the center. They're saying it's inappropriate, morally wrong, antagonistic.
Part of me wishes Rauf and Khan would find a site about six or eight or 10 blocks from Ground Zero, and announce that while they know they had every right to build on the first proposed site and they're not backing down from intolerance, the whole idea of the community center is to promote interfaith understanding -- so they're going to build at this new site, out of respect to the families of the victims of Sept. 11 and as a gesture of compromise and healing.
How does anyone argue with that? Are the protesters going to say, "10 blocks is still too close to Ground Zero!" They'd look like fools -- or be exposed for their anti-Islam prejudice. No longer would they be able to cloak their intolerance in the memory of Sept. 11.
mailto:rroeper@suntimes.com
Because the World Trade Center wasn't destroyed by Johnny Walker and Marilyn Mellons you d-bag. Love them or hate them, strip clubs and liquor stores are inherently American.
So you compromise and show respect by building a monument to the very thing that caused it? Not hardly.
No, it's being built as a full blown, in-your-face, finger-flipping TEACHING moment so they can stand their and scream 'we WON!'
[Gee. Where have I heard that before? /s]
You can't have two loyalties....not in this case....because the teachings of Islam are not religious teachings, they are "political" teachings.
Funny the left never does a piece about how anti-christian some elements of the country is.
Want some real fun? Read the storyand replace ‘muslim’ with ‘christian’. You’ll never see the MSM standing up for the overwhelming Christian majority here.
You can tell the Sun-Times got the Islamic talking points memo as they repeated, almost verbatim the meme about the liquor stores and strip clubs. Offensive to some, but especially to adherents of the faith [except when getting ready to blow themselves up] yet misses the significant point that strippers and sellers of alcohol didn’t fly planes into buildings in the name of lap dances and drinky-poos.
Man, it’s almost sad to see their arguments reduced to the absurd.
To my recollection, this is the very first instance of the left standing up for a religion in my lifetime.
I wonder what got into them...
It’s because it’s a religion that they do not understand that Christians they hate, are opposed to.
They believe they won’t get hurt. They believe we are making this stuff up about the muslims. They don’t think sharia will ever be set up in America. They don’t think they will ever be targeted as long as they are ‘tolerant’.
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