Well, you do have to admit it is a little insensitive on the part of the Muslim group trying to build it. There are 100s of Mosques and community centers already in NYC and they could have chosen a site a little further away. Also, when it was clear that it was becoming a major issue with the people, in the name of sympathy and good PR, they should have changed their minds and chosen to build somewhere else. The fact they have been so stubborn about it makes me dubious about their intentions and what the community center could symbolize to radical Muslims.

There are polls out there saying 67% of Americans oppose the building of a mosque in that particular location and I think that vast majority should carry some weight. SH, 67% of people think they are desecrating the site by placing a mosque anywhere near ground zero. The arguement isn't about the First Amendment or freedom of religion. Of course they have the right to build a place of worship wherever they want (provided zoning laws are followed and permits/codes are followed). But the issue here is should they. And most Americans are saying No.

The fact that the idea is so opposed should scare them away because you know, if this place is built, it's going to be the constant target of vandalism and arson as well as protests for as long as it stands. Not to mention that it may be difficult finding New Yorkers who will be willing to build the community center in that spot anyway.

It just seems like a major headache to the Muslim leaders trying to build it and a headache to the families of those killed on 9/11 and a lot of the American people, and their stubbornness to build in that particular spot despite all of that stuff makes me raise an eyebrow.

Syd Lexia wrote:

Pandajuice wrote: There are polls out there saying 67% of Americans oppose the building of a mosque in that particular location and I think that vast majority should carry some weight. I'm sure 67% of white Southerners opposed whites and blacks going to the same schools, too. Does that make it right? In some states, gay marriage bans have passed by 70% margins. Does that make it right?

That depends on who you ask and how they feel about the issue. Many people do feel that gay marriage isn't right, or at the very least, calling it "marriage" isn't right. You may disagree, but that doesn't make you any more "right" or correct than those who oppose gay marriage, or this mosque.

Again, this isn't about freedom, or rights, or religious sensitivity; it's about moral sensitivity to 9/11 victims and their surviving families, and obstensibly the people of New York City. No one is arguing that they have the right to build a mosque there and that religious freedom should be upheld. But should the victims' feelings be ignored? Why this particular spot when there are so many others to choose from? Who is funding this Muslim community center? Why adamantly and stubbornly move forward with the idea when it's clearly a very sensitive issue to many Americans?

These are questions no one has been able to answer yet.

This is an arguement about taste, and what's morally right. It's in poor taste to have chosen a spot so near to ground zero to build a Muslim mosque when it was Muslim people who destroyed the twin towers, terrorized an entire city, and killed over 3,000 Americans. Of course all Muslims aren't terrorists, but the terrorists that created ground zero were Muslim.

We'd have the same argument if Mormon extremists hijacked a plane and crashed it into Mardi Gras at the height of the festival, and then wanted to build a Mormon church 2 blocks from Bourbon Street a few years later. It's just insensitive when there are so many other locations to build what is essentially a symbol of a particular sect of people.

It's not about religion. It's about sensitivity and what's morally right. None of you can deny that it isn't at least a little bit of a poke in the ribs to 9/11 victims' families and something that really could be avoided with a little tact and a site move 3 blocks north.

Perhaps if you had a loved one murdered by Muslim extremists, it may be easier for you to see.

To dismiss it so completely without even thinking about it on an objective level to consider or understand how it may be insensitive to a certain person is ignorant at best.

GPFontaine wrote:

Building a mosque has nothing to do with that though. If it had been Nazi extremists that caused the situation would we care if a German embassy was built close to ground zero?

Yes. That's my arguement. Yes, I think people would care as it's not about Islam itself that's causing the ruckus, but rather the denomination that the terrorists happened to belong to that are chaffing people.

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The thing though, Panda, is that it wasn't ordinary Muslims that were responsible for 9/11. It was extremists. People shouldn't be upset that Muslims want to build a community centre near Ground Zero, because it wasn't the ordinary, regular Muslim faith that was responsible for 9/11. The community centre is for Muslims, not Al-Qaeda.

I understand that, but the extremists were still Muslims by faith. And my arguement is that it is pretty insensitive and can even be easily construed as being inflammatory to build a center that represents the 9/11 terrorists' faith so close to ground zero. Of all the places in the city, why there?

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You might be misrepresenting what is going on there. I have not heard about anyone saying the government needs to intervene and stop this thing from being built, maybe some people have but I'm sure they are a very small minority of the people in NY who are protesting this thing. Everything I have seen is people questioning the wisdom to locate the mosque there. They are within their legal rights just as much as the people who are building the mosque.

Phantasm nailed it here and I guess I wasn't being clear enough before. People who are opposed to the mosque are opposed to the wisdom of placing it in that particular spot, not the fact that we shouldn't build mosques anywhere. People aren't opposed to Islam or feel as if their freedoms should be limited. They are opposed to that particular building being in that particular spot.

Imagine I wanted to open a sex shop a block away from a high school. The land is zoned for commercial buildings and I have every right under the constitution to build my sex shop there and conduct business. As their kids walk home from school, they'll be forced to pass by my shop. But don't you think people might protest my choice of location and involve the city in an attempt to force me away from the school? Wouldn't that cause a ruckus much like this has?

Those people aren't against sex or hate what I choose to do for a living. They just don't want a sex shop next to where their kids go to school. Those who oppose this mosque just don't want a mosque that near to ground zero for reasons I would have thought made sense to everyone. The city has every right, under public pressure, to require the owner to either build a different sort of building, or move to another location. It happens every day all over the US.

This is not a discussion about freedom of religion guys.