About That "Mosque"Any discussion of the so-called "Ground Zero Mosque" should be prefaced with a couple of important facts: — The site is not at Ground Zero. It is two blocks north and around the corner from where the World Trade Center towers once stood. — It's not exactly a mosque. "Cordoba House" is expected to be a sort of Islamic version of a YMCA, a neighborhood center with meeting rooms, a swimming pool, a day-care center and yes, a prayer room. Prayers will be said there, and sermons will be preached. — For many Americans — 70 percent according one recent poll — a "Ground Zero mosque" is out of the question. Would it have made any difference if they'd been asked about an "Islamic Y with a prayer room two blocks from Ground Zero"? Probably not. The issue is too ripe for political exploitation. — In a classic Twitter post last month, Sarah Palin, "stabbed in the heart," asked "peaceful Muslims" to please "refudiate" the idea. — Newt Gingrich, who poses as an "intellectual" conservative, broke out the Nazi reference on Monday morning: "Nazis don't have the right to put up a sign next to the Holocaust Museum in Washington," he said on "Fox and Friends." — Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer likened the project to a commercial viewing tower at Gettysburg that the Park Service nixed and to a proposed Disney theme park at Manassas (Bull Run) Battlefield that was withdrawn because of public opposition. He apparently has no problem that five commercial buildings are being built at the actual Ground Zero. Liberals have gotten into the act, too.
President Barack Obama last Friday defended Muslims' rights to practice their religion and the developers' rights to build the center. This was on Friday. On Saturday, he backtracked, saying that this didn't actually mean he supported the project. Not for the president were the unambiguous words of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg: "Whatever you may think of the proposed mosque and community center, lost in the heat of the debate has been a basic question: Should government attempt to deny private citizens the right to build a house of worship on private property based on their particular religion? That may happen in other countries, but we should never allow it to happen here. This nation was founded on the principle that the government must never choose between religions or favor one over another. "The World Trade Center Site will forever hold a special place in our city, in our hearts. But we would be untrue to the best part of ourselves — and who we are as New Yorkers and Americans — if we said 'no' to a mosque in Lower Manhattan." It will be recalled that in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, there were proposals that the World Trade Center site should preserved as a park and memorial. But it was far too valuable a piece of real estate to leave empty. Besides, if we'd stopped commerce, then the terrorists would have won. But if we stop peaceful Muslims from gathering and practicing their religion where they want, the terrorists will have ... what? Won bigger, that's what. REPRINTED FROM THE ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS.COM
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