mosque in ny

Controversy continues to rage over whether Muslims should be allowed to build a mosque or a community centre near Ground Zero in New York City.

John Stackhouse writes"

But it seems to me that this is not a difficult matter to understand or decide. In fact, it comes down to an utterly simple question. Either we think all Muslims are somehow implicated in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, or we don’t.

If all Muslims are thus implicated, then of course they shouldn’t be allowed to build near Ground Zero. Nor should they be allowed to build near anything else that matters to the rest of us. In fact, they should all be rounded up and exiled as the clear and present dangers that they are.

If we don’t think all Muslims are implicated in the attack, then of course they should be allowed to build a mosque or community centre or whatever the heck they want to build wherever the zoning and funding will allow—just like any other citizens.

But it seems to me that in the USA, most things get complicated. While Americans hold to the doctrine of seperate of state & religion, religious thinking is very much at the forefront of American political views. And that religious thinking is more about Manifest Destiny than the Kingdom of God; more about commercialism than loving others.

Shortly after reading Stackhouses article I came across Daryll Lang who posts several pictures of stuff that is the same distance from the World Trade Center as the proposed "Ground Zero Mosque", including this one.