It’s a sad day for America,” says Mayor Mike. Not so and not now, but it was on Sept. 11, 2001. Building the mosque at Ground Zero will not heal the scars, it will only open old ones and cause them to fester forever. This isn’t a matter of religious freedom: no one argues that we are entitled to our beliefs; this is just an act of exceptional insensitivity, stupidity and chutzpah.
I don’t care what religion anyone belongs to, nor do most Americans. In fact, we’re pretty tolerant. Look, if we can accept Scientology, you gotta know we can accept anything. But the shear fact that this mosque will be only a spit and toss away from an area that has become, as a result of a heinous act, holy ground, is not only insensitive but intrinsically wrong.
I’m very sure no one would care if the mosque were built had 9-11 not occurred, but that ain’t the case. On Sept. 11, 2001, at about 8:45 am, terrorists, members of al-Queda, in the name of Allah, changed our city — and tolerance levels — forever.
It wasn’t practitioners of Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Zen, Zoroastrian, or Scientologists who perpetrated the act. As such, we would have no objection to a church, a temple or a synagogue.
The attacks against America were commanded, in a 1998 fatwa issued by al-Queda, in response to sanctions that America had placed on Iraq and in accordance with Allah’s order to all Muslims. “The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies, civilians and military — is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it…”
How do we know these Muslims are different? If not to rub it in our face and mock the tragedy, then why here and why now? If the owners of the building want the money so badly, the mayor, along with his billionaire buddies, should chip in and offer to buy it, donate it back to the city, and have a homeless shelter, a school, or affordable housing for New York’s many working families built. After all, if the mayor was able to get the gelt to experiment with his Opportunity NYC Family Reward project, why not this? Those institutions would be infinitely better suited to this community than a mosque.
If the city wants a reaffirmation of our resiliency and way of life, what better way to illustrate it than to provide education and housing for our citizens, right there in the sight of such tragedy.
Not for nuthin’, but if building a mosque at 51 Park Pl. is an affirmation of our freedoms, then it should be open season to host a Nazi boot-camp at a synagogue, hoist a Japanese flag over the Arizona or a Klu Klux Klan meeting in Al Sharpton’s office.
