"Ground Zero Mosque"

A New York City panel is set to vote on the status of the 9/11 site on Tuesday. This vote should only be based on the need preserve the city’s heritage because there are indeed historic buildings in the area. The vote should unite people through common historical remembrance, not divide.

But it is dividing because the real reason behind the vote has more to do with the possibility of a mosque and Islamic center being constructed two blocks north of Ground Zero (the commission in charge of the vote says otherwise, of course, but the public understanding of this has realistically changed the meaning of the vote). If the panel grants the 9/11 site “landmark status,” then the buildings currently occupying the site cannot be torn down, effectively killing the plans to build the new Islamic Center.

The opposition to this proposed construction has taken a disturbing turn. Sarah Palin herself tweeted, "Peace-seeking Muslims, pls understand, Ground Zero mosque is UNNECESSARY provocation; it stabs hearts. Pls reject it in interest of healing." Her sentiment is echoed by many conservatives. Not only are they completely misunderstanding Islam (again), they are twisting an established legal procedure in order to infringe upon the rights of a minority group (again)-in this case preventing Muslims from freely and publicly expressing their faith.

How does building a Mosque, a house of worship, amount to stabbing hearts? Islamic fundamentalists attacked our nation on 9/11, not mainstream Muslims. It is only logical to make a clear distinction between those who practice the generally accepted tenants of a religion from the lunatic fringe since they are so unlike one another. Now, building an Islamic Fundamentalist Mosque would rightly cause victims more pain, but there is a difference between fundamentalists and mainstream adherence in any faith-a big one. These opponents are letting their perceptions of Islamic Fundamentalism color their entire opinion of Islam in general. Is it okay to treat Christianity in this manner as well?

Mainstream Muslims are exactly the people who are trying to build this mosque. Oz Sultan of the Cordoba Initiative, the Islamic group behind the building proposal notes that the Muslims organizing this initiative are “committed to promoting positive interaction between the Muslim world and the West.” This statement is clearly not what Palin describes as “UNNECESSARY provocation,” but her words are clearly so. While those like Palin are using divisive rhetoric, the victims of their rhetoric instead respond with unifying language. That should say it all, but the bigoted have more supporters in surprising places.

The Anti-Defamation League, a group that fights Antisemitism and bigotry in general, would like the Muslims to build their mosque further away from Ground Zero because “building an Islamic Center in the shadow of the World Trade Center will cause some victims more pain - unnecessarily - and that is not right.” Strange statement coming from an anti-defamation organization.

The result of all this is very unnerving and insidious; the calls to prevent the center from being built will no doubt influence members of the panel. If this “landmark” vote is used to prevent Muslims from freely and openly expressing their religion in public, once again New York will prove that it still doesn’t quite get it. It’s a shame that the opponents can’t recall a time when Americans opposed the construction of too many Jewish and Mormon Temples or Catholic Churches.