Mosque at Ground Zero

So I'm sure a lot of you have heard about the recent disputes over here in the US about the attemps to build a mosque two blocks away from the ground zero sight where the 9/11 terrorists attacks occured. So I decided to start a topic on it about what your views on the matter is.

NY Times's Articles
Recent FOX article
[[err...just a quick note about these^^ Both the Times and Fox have been known to be very biased one way or the other so you have to be careful. so usually I read both and balance the sides out. Hehe]]

Personally, I'm completley against this and not because I have anything against the Muslim religion (or any religion for that matter). I see all religions as just different ways of worshipping God, but I find their attempts at building this center absolutley ridiculous.

Firstly, I think it is insensitive for familes who had people they loved killed in a terrorist group have a mosque built that close even if the builders had nothing to do with it. I think it's a bit of a slap in the face to Americans to build it that close to such a tragic place. And the people in charge of this obviously know this as well and their attempts to "compromise" aren't attempts at all in my opinions. If they were really doing this to "build religious harmony" they would not have picked this spot.

Secondly, this is one of the first recent happenings that has truly united a lot of our country. The majority of the US does not want this mosque built and it seems to me that the planners of this project are using our own laws against us as we really have no way of stopping this because legally they do have the rights even if the whole US says no.

Thirdly, they are obviously doing this specifically as a slap in the face (or so I think) because there are plenty of other places they could be building this mosque. They've even had several offers to buy the property from them for much more than they would need to pay if they promise to move the site. For example, Donald Trump (who I'm really not to fond of but respect this) offered to pay 25% more for the property!!

If they so desperatley need funds to build this, why not take the extra money and go build it the five blocks away???? I just think this is absolutley ridiculous and incredibly insulting. And people try to say that anyone opposing it is against religious harmony but that's definitley not true. I'd be fine with them building the mosque--just not two blocks away from ground zero.

Anyway, this is a topic I feel very strongly about but wanna hear your opinions too. xD

I disagree...I think it has nothing to do with a 'slap in the face.' Do you realize how hard it is for people to actually get land in other places? And even though people are offering to buy the land, I think it's just useless. Maybe there's another reason for wanting that property? You even said so yourself that you see religion as a different way of serving God, so maybe they have God telling them do it. You cant blame one group of people on another group of people. Besides if this was to give us a big slap in the face with what happened, they would plainly make it known. These people are AMERICANS, they have a right to build what they want. What if we went over to their land, bombed something that was important to them, and then decided to build a Wal-Mart over there for American soliders or something? No one would complain. And in the Bill of Rights...we do have the freedom of press, speech, religion and assembly. By telling them NO YOU CAN NOT USE THIS LAND takes away their Bill of Rights, which is unconstitutional. I think everyone is just upset with this because it happens to come out around the anniversity of the buildings. And for most people, it is a religious thing. Jewish, Blacks, and Christians are allowed to have places for themselves, yet Muslims cant? I think it's unfair that people are cruel towards the group of people because of other idiotic people. But this is just me, everyone can agree to disagree, but this is how I feel. Maybe it makes me stupid or just...whatever, but I feel that everyone is throwing this out of proportion.

I have to agree more with Kate. I have nothing against Muslims or the Muslim faith, I believe that people are entitled to chose whatever they want to chose when it comes to matters of God but I don't think that choosing the place they did is just... wrong. Just because you're allowed to do something legally doesn't make it right. It's not that hard to just move the darn place where you want to build it.

It's a sore spot for Americans and why wouldn't it be? Yes, some people are dumb about it and I am more than well aware that not all Muslims want to blow people up but really. Why would you do that? More than 2,000 people lost their lives so close to that spot because of people who wrongly thought that they'd be martyrs for that religion since they took things to an extreme.

And I think that people would definitely complain if we did something like what you suggested but the point is that we aren't doing that. This isn't just a matter of religious freedom, because we aren't saying that they can't practice. We aren't calling their religion out on being horrible, or saying that they shouldn't be allowed to worship God in their way. We're asking for some respect for the thousands of people who died there. I don't think it's too much to ask to find some other land somewhere else that's a further distance away.