Mosque at Ground Zero

On September 11, 2001 America was attacked by radical Islamic fundamentalists who believed that America's foreign policy and preaching of the views of Christianity deserved to be punished for going against Muhammad and the Koran. America's government and the people of America were now considered infidels by this radical enemy. After four hijacked planes killed over 3,000 people on that fateful end of summer day, America was thrust into a war it may not have fully understood.

Now, almost ten years later but the wounds still fresh as the day they were created, a group of Muslims has set in motion a proposed mosque at the site of Ground Zero in New York City, where over 1,000 families have yet to see the remains of any kind of their lost loved ones. This is a debate that ten years ago would have been so one sided America would not have let a Muslim near ground zero. Today, as tensions have suppressed it seems that their are still some level headed Americans out there. Of course some will never back down from their stance that this is wrong in building a place to pray right where family members were killed but unfortunately these people need to be taken out of the equation.

Now, do not misjudge me on this article. I am a resident of an affluent suburb of New York City, in a republican dominated county, with Republican parents, and generally Republican values. But in this case, we as a people need to look back to our roots and look ten years into our past and look into the future to understand the implications and rewards of allowing a mosque to be constructed near the Ground Zero site. Which before the reasoning gets out, it must be stated that the proposed mosque is not situated directly on Ground Zero, rather a few blocks north.

Reason number one why the mosque should be built. The First Amendment. America was founded on the ideals of freedom of and freedom from religion. Our earliest ancestors ventured over to the New World to escape persecution because of their religious beliefs. America is a nation that preaches separation of church and state and more often that not abides by its most fundamental quality. Disallowing a mosque to be built, even near the site of Ground Zero is breaking Federal law and disestablishing the First Amendment.

Reason number two why the mosque should be built. Americans were not the only people to die on that fateful day. Yes Americans were the predominant culture to be erased that Tuesday morning, but others were taken from this world too, including Muslims. Yes most of you right now are thinking "Of course, they were the hijackers," but in fact around 30 Muslims who were not the hijackers died that morning as well. Now if a church was set to be built near Ground Zero, as a spiritual place to remember the victims of that day, no hullabaloo who come of that. But because it is a mosque and because the people who attacked us on that very spot worshiped in a mosque, it is seemingly the worst thing that we can allow to happen. We need to accept as a culture that peaceful Muslims do exist and want to bring together our two worlds and end this fighting. Allowing this peaceful group of Muslims to worship where they so choose without being persecuted is a small step in the right direction.