the Park 51 mosque - just let them build it

[Afterthought]

this argument has been going on for a month, and it's all political, which is ugly enough.
but the stuff people say about it, give it a rest. it's a building. not Mechagodzilla.
it's a community center, which is a good thing. therefore my argument is very simple.

1) The First Amendment - and I quote - "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." this should be as simple as that. SHALL MAKE NO LAW. just because it's not your religion, doesn't mean they can't practice their religion. this country was founded on religious persecution when people had to leave England and come here. so just because it's not a Christian religion, it doesn't mean we should persecute them for it. I may not like Scientology, but I don't go bashing Tom Cruise on a daily basis. that's for South Park.

2) all this talk about religious zealotry. "if they build it, then the terrorists win." no. no they don't. just because you're Muslim doesn't mean you're a terrorist. so by building a place of worship doesn't make you an extremist. and don't say that Islam is a violent religion by default. think about Christianity. we've got some bad history ourselves. the Crusades. the Spanish Inquisition. the KKK. it hasn't all been peace and harmony. the KKK just love that Old Testament talk about slavery, and I know we can all agree that's a bad idea. I don't know many religions that are bad things, but I can think of plenty of extremists who use or have used religion to do some awful things.

3) are we the land of the free or aren't we? they bought the land and they should be able to use it however they see fit. I don't know why the land is such an issue, the place used to be a Burlington Coat Factory. doesn't seem all that sacred to me, but I only have 1 coat. by having a community center, it doesn't mean you have a meth lab in the basement. if you break the law, then I have a problem with you. if not, you're A-OK with me. so if you're one of those types who rubs marshmallow fluff all over yourself and runs around the house naked, so be it. just so long as you don't break any State or Federal law I really don't care what you do. that's what freedom tastes like, the ability to do whatever you want, whenever you want so long as you don't break the law. this issue should remind us what freedom truly is and why we shouldn't forget how lucky we are to have it, or that people are still fighting for our right to keep it.

rant done.

[Thunder]

This project was initially titled "Cordoba House," which is in reference to the Christian church that was overthrown by Muslims in Cordoba, Spain and turned into a super-dooper megamosque.   There is no defeat of freedom of religion by saying no to this, it is a matter of location.    An amusement park was proposed for a Civil War battlefield and it was thankfully shot down.   This is hollowed ground and should be kept and used as a memorial.

[Blimigerite]

I think its nice they want to build next door to the strip club.  I think that would do more converting to western culture and defeat the terrorists.

[OPIE]

I may not like Scientology, but I don't go bashing Tom Cruise on a daily basis. that's for South Park.

Sorry derailing from the entire thread. Scientology is not a religion. It's classified as a cult strictly because they force their members to pay for a membership and they practice what would be said to be "religious acts." It was founded by a science fiction writer although they deny that. They are responsible for the biggest breach in privacy when they infiltrated the FBI and I do believe the CIA it was one or both of them and retrieved personal information on millions of US citizens. Other countries have actually banned them from setting up so called "churches" and even banned anyone from practicing it because it's believed to be a very dangerous cult. So by all means bash Tom Cruise all you want and his cult. Did I mention they have their own Navy? They have a military...heh.

But to the point of the main topic. Ya let them build it. Just because extremists who practice the religion did what they did doesn't mean it should hinder people who practice the same religion and belief peacefully and impede their right to the first amendment. The main argument is that it's so close to ground zero, I personally could care less if it was on ground zero. And personally I do believe 9/11 to be a government action either planned to happen or let happen for political reasons. Just wait till the day Social Security dissipears, thats the start of the next American Revolution and the government won't be able to stop it.