@Foofie,
Foofie, I agree with you that NYers were probably more traumatized by 9/11 than people from elsewhere. The 3000 or so victims, who died that day, lived in the NY metropolitan area. So, thousands and thousands and thousands of family members and friends and co-workers, were thrown into a deep state of mourning, in addition to the shock and horror we all felt. All those people wearing buttons with pictures of lost loved ones, condolence books in all the libraries, people wandering around lower Manhattan holding pictures of loved ones they searched for in vain, the daily newspapers filled with pictures of the dead, profoundly affected everyone in the NY area. And this profound grieving, and all those funerals and memorial services, went on for months and months, throughout the NY metropolitan area. There was a pall of grief over the entire area. The rest of the country did not live through that. I agree with you, it was different in NY, and NJ, and Connecticut. Those victims lived there.
But some of those grieving families and friends were American Muslims. They lost their Muslim loved ones at the WTC too that day. And their tears were just as real as everyone else's. And most American Muslims were not cheering and rejoicing, they were just as horrified and shocked and outraged by what happened that day as everyone else, possibly more so, because it was allegedly done under the guise of their religion.
I am sure that some people do feel offended that a new mosque will be built in the general area of the WTC site. But the offended feelings of some does not trump the more important issue of religious freedom in this country. People who are offended by the very sight of a mosque, because of 9/11, cannot let their emotions destroy other people's constitutional rights. Anti-semitic communities used to forbid the building of synagogues within their boundaries because Jews offended their sensibilities. That was wrong, just as blocking construction of a mosque in lower Manhattan, or anywhere in the U.S., is wrong. If we start eroding our religious freedoms because of 9/11, the terrorists will have won, they will have helped to damage the fabric of our democracy. And if we prevent the building of mosques, we give Muslims all over the world a reason to view us as their enemy. That helps to create more radicals and more terrorists.
The one issue I have heard raised, that gives me pause for thought, has to do with where the Cordoba group will find the money to finance this project. They do not currently have the cash to put up that building. Because of legitimate concerns about foreign financing entering into the picture, possibly from sources with anti-American feelings, the financial backing of this project must be absolutely transparent and available to the government. This is not an existing mosque, like the Masjid Manhattan Mosque, with an existing congregation of followers. This is an entirely new enterprise. If the financing doesn't satisfy security concerns, that becomes an important matter. But just to object to a mosque being built, because it is a mosque, is an inconsequential objection when compared to the civil rights of those who wish to build the mosque.
So, while I respect your emotional antipathy to the building of this mosque, I feel that it is not enough of a substantive objection to actually block construction of that mosque.
