Thread: Mosque Near Ground Zero--Good or Bad?

dramamine213 said To be perfectly honest, the US needs to get the fuck over 911 and move on. This constant bickering over anything involving 911 and Ground Zero by proxy is only driving people further apart when we're at a time were we should be getting along with our fellow man. There are much bigger things to worry about then a community center being built near an empty lot in NYC. Personally, I think they should build a community center and park over Ground Zero instead of treating it like some tourist attraction for the morbid or 'patriotic'. Click to expand... Actually, Dram, I have to disagree. 911 is something we should always remember, but not in the way that we have. It shouldn't be used as an excuse for starting wars or continuing to hold grudges, but serve as a reminder of what happens when we become too complacent. Should we get over it? No. But what we should do is look back at what happens when people are driven by hatred. Then we should take that lesson to heart. This means it's time to stop hating. Hatred only breeds more hatred, and that's what the terrorists responsible for the act wanted, to prove that we're hate mongers, so if we continue to begrudge the Muslim community for the actions of a few extremists, then we only prove that we are indeed infidels. Should the mosque be constructed? Sure. It's their right to have a place to worship, and personally as long as it maintains peaceful ties to the community, then I think it should be welcomed as a reminder that most of the Muslim community are in fact peaceful people, and this church could serve to help bridge a gap if people would look at it from a different perspective. Now, I admit freely, that as far as my political views go, I tend to be conservative. But I also am a man of understanding and open-mindedness. And one problem with the American people is that we have allowed ourselves to become so shaken by this, that even 9 years after the fact we still persecute the Muslim people as a whole for the actions of a few radicals, and we need to draw a line. It's time that we realize that not everyone in a turban is out to destroy us, and stop blaming them all for what a few extremists have done in the past. The idea of a park, or a community center, is actually a great idea, though. Turn the painful memory into something positive for everyone and show that we can heal the wounds and move on with our lives, though the scars may always be there to remind us. But that's a good thing, because we shouldn't forget. If we forget 911 then we forget the people lost that day, and they deserve better. But what we should do is forgive. Christians love to quote the bible to make their points, so does it not say to forgive one another? Yet why don't I hear them quoting that? In closing, my point is, you were partially right and partially wrong in my opinion in the way you put things. We shouldn't forget, but we should forgive and move on with our lives. Let the Muslims build a mosque. What's to stop the Christians from building a church nearby? Or the Jewish from building a synagogue? What's stopping these religions from co-existing with each other, and even embracing each other as brothers and sisters? Nothing that I can see short of our own prejudice, and that, my friend, is what we truly need to get over. -Rage