September 11, 2010

9/11: Heroes, the Mosque, and Common Sense

Remember this day. What a day of tragedy, but what a day for heroes! When radical Islam extremists decided to attack the United States of America on September 11, 2001, we as a people rallied together. Black, White, any color. Christian, Jew, Muslim, or one of a different or no faith. For a season, we were all Americans first.


Let us rally together now in prayer for our nation and remember the sacrifices of those serving and the loss of family and friends. Let us preserve our freedoms- but do it with sensitivity and common sense. Build that mosque out of earshot of Ground Zero. The daily calls to prayer from the mosque's tower should not be heard there. Why remind a greiving nation- one divided- reminders of a painful day in a manner that could cause more division among us?

4 comments:

Massimo said...

Because there's something called freedom of religion. I think on the contrary that building a religious center will hopefully increase a better understanding of that culture. Our strength is in having developed over the years a system that gives all religion the same dignity. And 9/11 was not caused by Islam but by AlQuaeda. I think your deep religious beliefs are biasing you this time. And there's not just one common sense, believe me. That's why common sense is different from law.

In Italy where I live a lot of people are against building mosques just because, they say, "we are catholic". And what about the fact that the Italian Constitution says that all religion are equal? If it is so why should other religion have the right to be more protected than others? Why should the catholic church be allowed to build as many churches as it thinks but not other religions?

Religion all have the same right to exist.

I hope my insight is useful to you in reconsidering your position.

Mark said...

If the idea is truly to build bridges of understanding between faiths and peoples, the iman behind building the mosque there would reconsider out of respect for the pain of the people. To this outsider, it smells like pushing an agenda, be it good or not. But thanks for making me think!

Massimo said...

You welcome! Even though I'm not a religious person, I find your posts always interesting to read and a useful way to deepen my understand about a point of view I don't usually share.

My point of view stems from the fact that here in Italy it always looks like other faiths or non-religious people are out of respect because they pretend to have a place to gather too close to a catholic church (in Italy where churches are everywhere) or to a catholic sanctury or to a catholic sacred place or just because they want the same visibility catholics get.

Mark said...

My wife and I spent nine days in Italy a few years ago. We loved it! The people were kind, the scenery terrific, and the food wonderful!
You represent your country well! :)