“Ground Zero Mosque” debate misses the point

Last December, a story surfaced on the Cordoba Project – now better known as the "Ground Zero Mosque." It's almost hard to believe how little attention the story received at that time. Now it seems we can't escape it. Its humble start came with an article in the New York Times about Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and a group of investors that decided to purchase an abandoned Burlington Coat Factory and turn it into an Islamic community center with a mosque. The trouble, of course, is that the center is located only a few blocks from Ground Zero in New York City.

As the public started to pick up on the story, politicians realized there was fear and hatred to capitalize on. Newt Gingrich said it was the start of an Islamic Revolution that would "destroy our civilization." Sarah Palin, in her usual eloquence, wrote on Twitter, "Peace-seeking Muslims, pls understand, Ground Zero mosque is UNNECESSARY provocation; it stabs hearts." Ilario Pantano, a congressional candidate in North Carolina, went as far as to call it a "religious, ideological and territorial conquest."

To preface this article, let me make it clear that these people are crazy. This is clearly a separation of church and state issue. Any effort to prevent the mosque from being built is misguided and unconstitutional. As Americans, we're allotted certain rights. Among them is to do as we please with our property; this should be no exception. A New York firefighter and the ironically-named American Center for Law and Justice have already filed suit to prevent the construction of the mosque. It is a frivolous suit with no merit that should be quickly thrown out.

Yet through all this political maneuvering and fear-mongering, we have missed the heart of the issue. Muslims certainly have the right to build a mosque, but is the construction of this mosque something that is desirable? I say no.

This stance has little to do with location. I oppose mosques being built near Ground Zero the same way I oppose mosques being built in Des Moines. In fact, I don't want to see any new mosques built. Does this make me bigoted? An Islamophobe? No. It makes me intolerant. Intolerant of a religion that embraces violence and misogyny.

I refuse to support the erection of a worship center to a religion that rioted after a political cartoon depicting their prophet was published, leaving 100 dead. I refuse to support a religion with a holy book that teaches to "(f)ight and kill the disbelievers wherever you find them, take them captive, harass them, lie in wait and ambush them using every stratagem of war." I refuse to support a religion whose followers have committed over 15,000 terrorist attacks since Sept. 11, 2001.

Critics will claim these are the extremists, that most Muslims are peaceful moderates. I don't doubt that … but where are they? Where are they when a woman is lashed in Saudi Arabia for being raped? Where are they in Sudan when a woman is put in jail for naming a teddy bear "Mohammad"? Where are they when a Bangladeshi women's rights advocate has a bounty put on her head? They must be busy condemning South Park.

Former Dutch politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali wrote a New York Times op-ed entitled "Islam's Silent Moderates" asking these same questions. It was a little more personal for her. After the movie she wrote on women in Islam was released, the director was killed on the street as he biked to work. His mangled corpse was left with a note threatening her life as well.

Maybe one day Islam's moderates will rise up. Maybe these atrocities will become a thing of the past. I can't wait for that day, but let's be honest; it won't be staying true to Islam. As Sam Harris explained it, "when Allah commands his followers to slay infidels wherever they find them, until Islam reigns supreme (Quran 2:191-193; 4:76; 8:39; 9:123; 47:4; 66:9)—only to emphasize that such violent conquest is obligatory, as unpleasant as that might seem (2:216), and that death in jihad is actually the best thing that can happen to a person, given the rewards that martyrs receive in Paradise (3:140-171; 4:74; 47:5-6) - He means just that."