These guys 'should' be allowed to build whatever they want wherever they want. If it doesn't get built it'd just go on to show that rules regarding freedom of religion can be easily bent in the US... HOWEVER, I think most of them (trying to build it) are being extremely insensitive. I'm an atheist and a social democrat, but I love communist aesthetics...but I'd be careful enough not to post Soviet banners around those who lost family members to the KGB, in spite of feeling free to admire them on my own space.
We've been through this before. It's not so much Soviet banners as it is Karl Marx, and you're not waving him in front of their face, more having a seminar on him and communist ideals at the local library.
Islamic community worldwide has been rather unapologetic regarding terrorists attacks. These sorts of attacks are (as horrible as it sounds) part of their culture to an extent. Muslim radicals don't only go around bombing europeans and americans to punish them for their foreign policies... they blow themselves up in Pakistan every week, they did so in Indonesia, they do so all over the middle east, and their targets are mostly innocent muslim people. Talk to a pakistani and you'll see that to them a suicide bomber is a casual thing that unfortunately happens from time to time - whereas we are all still traumatised about the 4 of them that managed to pull of such attacks in America.
To say that islam and suicide bombings are unrelated and that religion is being used as an excuse is just as inaccurate as claiming that all muslims represent a threat to national security.
When you say the Islamic community worldwide, you're talking about people in the Middle East, no? In case you haven't noticed, muslim groups in North America, Eastern Asia, and even many within the Middle East have condemned Islamic extremism and have tried their hardest to show the west the type of Islam that a majority of Muslims follow.
Again, separate the religion from politics. The Taliban are a political group. They're not invading Pakistan and killing people there because that's what muslims do. They're doing it because they want power in the region.
Mexicans and Colombians face vicious murders and gun battles every day, so is murder and bloodshed just part of Hispanic culture? Go to someone from Medellin, and they'll probably have a similar reaction to drug cartels as a Pakistani does to the Taliban. Which isn't shrugging it off as a casual thing, but saying it's terrible and that international help is needed immediately to stop violence. But, Americans don't go into Colombia and kill a score of civilians every week, if you're looking for a difference between the two.
Cooool said:
It was interesting, one of the editorials in The Toronto Star suggested the centre should be a "multi-faith" centre instead of a Mosque that is strictly geared towards Muslims. It actually sounds like a good idea, but I highly doubt one of the most intolerant religions would ever be able to have a centre that is shared with people of other backgrounds and faiths.
What, so Muslims aren't allowed to have their own places of worship anymore? Would you demand that Churches have Muslim, Jewish and Hindu services as well as Christian ones, and then call them intolerant for politely declining?
And IIRC, substantial parts of it are going to be geared towards the non-muslim community within Lower Manhattan. It's just that nobody's gonna be using it because they're unhappy that there are Muslims are in New York.