Mosque or no Mosque?

The latest matter of hot debate in American politics has been, of course, the plan to build a Muslim 'learning center' two blocks away from Ground-Zero, the site of the September 11 attacks in 2001.

The vast outcry and the resurgence of Islamophobia (which never really went away- just sort of went dormant for a few years) should make us as Americans ask ourselves... do we count Muslims - at least those born or naturalized here - as Americans? The rhetoric of the opposition seems to consist of "How can they put their building so close to where our buildings were brought down?" This, of course, is because it was a group of radical Muslims who made the infamous attack.

The opposition fails to realize that September 11 brought tragedy to Muslim-American, Christian-American and Jewish-American families alike. This is an issue in which it is neither reasonable nor ethical to look upon the events in a faith-versus-faith context. It should be look upon as it was- a terrorist attack made by Theocratic renegades from a far-away land- and not as a sabotage by a less-than-loyal minority.

It should also be noted that "terrorist" refers to a person who attempts to influence politics or other affairs by terrorizing people- by using fear tactics, not unlike the attacks on September 11. Terrorist does not denote a single allegiance, but rather reflects the subscription to a certain method of waging war. Keep this in mind when the person next to you insists that "those Muslims are all terrorists!"