Chowraha

My Friend's Note Guess it's about time I acknowledge this... Share Yesterday at 2:45pm ...since I've received a few questions about my feelings on this issue. Here's a link to a note written by the one and only Sarah Palin, where she writes about how wrong it is that a mosque even be THOUGHT about in the same city as Ground Zero. As a victim of 9/11, I want to speak out against these sentiments. I personally don't have any problem even conceiving the thought of erecting a mosque near Ground Zero. The unfortunate truth is that 9/11 was a crime committed by EXTREMISTS who happened to be associated with Islam (which is actually a quite interesting religion, for those who know little or nothing about it). Islam does not mean terrorism, and it continues to sadden me that many (not all) Americans and September 11th victims alike seem to associate it with such a disgusting act. If the extremists were Christians, or from a world which we could sympathize with more,...

The original post can be found on (xxx) An Intolerable Mistake on Hallowed Ground Share Today at 11:47am Earlier today, Mayor Bloomberg responded to my comments about the planned mosque at Ground Zero by suggesting that a decision not to allow the building of a mosque at that sacred place would somehow violate American principles of tolerance and openness. No one is disputing that America stands for – and should stand for – religious tolerance. It is a foundation of our republic. This is not an issue of religious tolerance but of common moral sense. To build a mosque at Ground Zero is a stab in the heart of the families of the innocent victims of those horrific attacks. Just days after 9/11, the spiritual leader of the organization that wants to build the mosque, Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf, suggested that blame be placed on the innocents when he stated that the “United States’ policies were an accessory to the crime that happened” and that “in the most direct sense, Osama bin Laden...

***The following article regarding the mosque being built near Ground Zero was originally written by Robert Wright and published in NYTimes*** Just to show you how naïve I am: When I first heard about the plan to build a mosque and community center two blocks from the site of the 9/11 attacks, I didn’t envision any real opposition to it. Sure, I can understand how some people traumatized by 9/11 — firefighters who survived it, or people whose loved ones didn’t — might not like the idea. But I’d have thought that opinion leaders of all ideological stripes could reach consensus by applying a basic rule of thumb: Just ask, “What would Osama bin Laden want?” and then do the opposite. Bin Laden would love to be able to say that in America you can build a church or synagogue anywhere you want, but not a mosque. That fits perfectly with his recruiting pitch — that America has declared war on Islam. And bin Laden would thrill to the claim that a mosque near ground zero dishonors the victims...