It pains me to even appear to defend Sarah Palin but I think your implied analogy here is questionable. I want Muslims of good will to live in freedom, peace and prosperity in the United States. But I think one could assert that and still question the propriety of building a mosque on the WTC site. Three thousand people were murdered by people who claimed Islam as their ideology. I think we should have and are having all kinds of conversations about the degree to which terrorists do or don't represent mainstream Muslim ideology but to build a monument to that ideology at the scene of a mass murder seems wrong. Analogously, I don't think all German people are responsible for the Holocaust but I don't think a German cultural/historical center would be an appropriate addition to the Holocaust Memorial.
interestingly, I think a German cultural/historical center would be an EXCELLENT addition to the Holocaust Memorial.
1) There's an actual mosque one block west of the proposed site. 2) This is a cultural center, not a mosque, that has a prayer room. It's the equivalent of a chapel at the airport. 3) Israel was attacked and conquered by christian crusaders for decades. Would you suggest that there should be no churches in Israel? 4) Isn't a place where fundamentalists killed people a GOOD place to discuss how they didn't represent the millions of peaceful muslims living in the world, including the dozen or so who were killed at their jobs on 9/11?
If we feel that American Muslims exercising their good faith is a "stab at the heart" of anyone, then the terrorists have turned us against one another, and they win.
This is not the first time I've seen Palin do Al Qaeda's work for them. They want us to betray our principles in the wake of fear; her public facade would starve if not for that fear.
It turns out that I misunderstood the facts here. I thought that an Islamic cultural center was being incorporated into the WTC Memorial. I just read Bloomberg's speech and I now get that the plan is to build one on private property *near* the memorial. That's a totally different thing. Freedom of religion and private property are core American values. Someone might opine that building the cultural center there isn't a great idea but there's nothing anyone can or should do to stop it. I have no problem with it.
I should have practiced 'restraint of keyboard' and researched this more thoroughly before I commented. I apologize.
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1) There's an actual mosque one block west of the proposed site.
2) This is a cultural center, not a mosque, that has a prayer room. It's the equivalent of a chapel at the airport.
3) Israel was attacked and conquered by christian crusaders for decades. Would you suggest that there should be no churches in Israel?
4) Isn't a place where fundamentalists killed people a GOOD place to discuss how they didn't represent the millions of peaceful muslims living in the world, including the dozen or so who were killed at their jobs on 9/11?
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If we feel that American Muslims exercising their good faith is a "stab at the heart" of anyone, then the terrorists have turned us against one another, and they win.
This is not the first time I've seen Palin do Al Qaeda's work for them. They want us to betray our principles in the wake of fear; her public facade would starve if not for that fear.
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I should have practiced 'restraint of keyboard' and researched this more thoroughly before I commented. I apologize.
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