It’s completely within the law for a mosque to be built near ground zero. No matter what your opinion is, having the federal government prohibit its construction goes against private property rights and sets a very dangerous precedent. Therefore, I’m just passively opposed to the building of the mosque on a purely emotional stance.
I’m happy to have people exercising their First Amendment rights and openly displaying their beliefs, especially on their own land. If you want to buy property so you can display a huge statue of Baphomet eating a baby, be my guest. But this mosque situation is a little different. It’s an offensive reminder of that tragic day nearly one decade ago.
You can believe the attacks on Sept. 11 were merely a failure of the bureaucratic nature of our national security system. You can believe they were unintended consequences of secret CIA operations abroad. Hell, while we’re at it, you can believe Baphomet caused them. But the fact is that the attacks were coordinated by a militant Islamic group.
Yes, I can blame Al-Qaida for the Sept. 11 attacks without blaming Islam. I can also blame the Nazi regime for the Holocaust without blaming Germany. Yet somehow I feel that, if a museum dedicated to the history of Germany were to be built only two blocks away from Auschwitz, a little bit of an uproar would ensue.
The Washington Post, summarizing President Barack Obama’s remarks at the White House Ramadan dinner, wrote that he “forcefully joins debate, saying opposing project near ground zero is at odds with American values.” To say that a personal expression of opposition to the mosque being built is essentially un-American – well, that declaration in itself is un-American.
Has it been forgotten that the First Amendment also protects the freedom of speech and of the press? The insurance of domestic tranquility is dependent on the people’s ability to express their concerns to the government and public without fear of denunciation. The root of liberty consists of a collection of small conflicts – not a massive agreement on everything that happens in our world. It takes intelligence to realize that the mosque can be built in its proposed location, but it takes wisdom to know that it should not be. I’m happy to see that a meeting between the developers of the mosque and New York Gov. David Paterson is expected in the near future. The entire situation will be made much easier with at least mildly transparent negotiations, a sign to citizens that the developers are not stubborn people.
But the developers must know that nothing good can come of this mosque being constructed so close to the location of one of America’s darkest moments. If they think there will be no backlash or public protesting, as seen this Sunday in New York City, they need to take a step back and assess the situation from a different perspective.
Reach Brian at brian.p.anderson@asu.edu
