Opposition against the proposed Cordoba Center, a mosque to be built near the site of Ground Zero in New York, has been growing. Yet there is a new voice giving support for this Islamic worship and cultural center — Barack Hussein Obama.
At a White House dinner celebrating the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Obama defended the new mosque. Below are a few quotes from the President:
“As a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country.”
“That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances,” he said. “This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable.”
“Our capacity to show not merely tolerance, but respect to those who are different from us…”
Freedom of religion is certainly one of the fundamental principles of this country. But for the President to claim that religious freedom is what this controversy is about, shows that he is either naive or else deliberately misrepresenting the issue.
No one is opposing the building of this mosque. No one is saying that Muslims cannot practice their religion (well, except for the parts that call for the destruction of the infidels). This is about respecting the lives and legacies of 3,000 Americans who were murdered without warning in a well-planned attack that was carried out by a group of heartless and godless Muslim terrorists.
IF the purpose of this mosque really is, as the developers claim, to be “a hub for interfaith interaction,” then Ground Zero is a terrible place to build. You cannot show such intolerance to the sensitivities of the victims’ families and the city of New York and expect to effectively reach out to them.
IF the purpose of the mosque is to memorialize a great victory in the jihad against the infidels of the West, then Ground Zero is the perfect place to build.
So, is this mosque a poorly placed center to reach out to Americans? Or is it being deliberately placed at Ground Zero in commemoration of the “martyrs” that flew planes into the Twin Towers and to spit in the face of those who lost loved ones on that fateful day? If you aren’t sure of the answer, consider that one of those behind this effort, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, believes that the United States was “an accessory to the crime” and that he refuses to label Hamas as a terrorist organization.
No, this is not about religious freedom. This is about honoring those who lost their lives in the attack on September 11, 2001. And now the President is bending over backwards to support the construction of an Islamic center at the site of an Islamic terrorist attack, all in the name of showing “respect to those who are different from us.” Wouldn’t it be nice, if he would instead be concerned with showing respect for the victims and families of the 3,000 Americans killed that day.
Charles Krauthammer wrote an excellent piece on this topic. I encourage you to check it out as well: Sacrilege at Ground Zero.
