Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

NYC Mosque: Right to Build

Last year, I wrote a viewpoint for The Hoya about honoring the memory of Sept. 11 (“Missing the Anniversary of 9/11,” Sept. 15, 2009, A3) and the need to recapture the sense of unity the country experienced in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy. Preventing a massive wave of anti-Muslim emotion following the terrorist attacks was the greatest achievement of George W. Bush’s presidency. Unfortunately, it seems that many in his party, and some spineless politicians on the left (I’m looking at you, Harry Reid), have forgotten the lesson from President Bush’s greatest moment in the wake of a plan to build Park51, a Muslim community center, near Ground Zero.

The reaction to the two-blocks-from-Ground-Zero-Muslim-community-center has been painful to observe. Very few dispute the fact that the project’s leaders have every constitutional right to build the community center, but many still strongly and vocally oppose the project. This reaction is frustrating. A large part of what’s great about America is that the rights of a citizen cannot be taken away just because it might offend the sensibilities of others.

uslims have the right to build a community center two blocks from Ground Zero despite the fact that some Americans are offended by these actions. Claiming that those behind the project should abstain from exercising their rights for propriety’s sake effectively strips them of those rights.

any family members who lost loved ones in the Sept. 11 attacks object to the Park51 project. The trauma of that Tuesday morning almost nine years ago is still a part of daily life for many and they don’t feel it proper to build a Muslim community center near Ground Zero. While their opposition is understandable, their objections do not make it appropriate to hold up the project. The terrorists who attacked the World Trade Center did so because of their belief in radical Islam and because of their hatred of the United States. Those behind Park51 are neither radical Islamists, nor do they harbor ill will toward America.

The imam behind the project, Feisal Abdul Rauf, is within the mainstream of Islam and preaches that Islam does not condone terrorism. Additionally, Rauf has advised the State Department on relations with the Muslim world and was overseas on a trip sponsored by the State Department when the controversy over Park51 developed. Since those behind the Muslim community center do not believe in radical Islam and bear no animosity toward the United States, it is no more appropriate to prevent them from building near Ground Zero than it would be to prevent any other type of construction near Ground Zero.

While it would be impossible to refute every objectionable claim about the proposed community center in one viewpoint, I want to examine what I find to be the most outrageous statement that has been made: Newt Gingrich’s declaration that the community center should not be constructed “so long as there are no churches or synagogues in Saudi Arabia” defies logic. One idea Gingrich and I would agree on is that America is a more free, fair and just country than Saudi Arabia. Thus, the idea that we should stoop to the level of denying rights to minority religious groups because the Saudis do so would take away what’s special about America.

The response to the proposed Muslim community center in Manhattan highlights just how intense emotions surrounding Sept. 11 remain. I question why Bush hasn’t addressed the mosque controversy in the same way he did anti-Muslim sentiments following the initial attacks. He should stand by the sentiment he expressed after meeting with Muslim leaders here in Washington, D.C., on Sept.17, 2001, when he said “the face of terror is not the true faith of Islam. That’s not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace.”

To ask those behind Park51 to move their community center out of lower Manhattan isn’t just wrong, it’s un-American. I agree with President Bush when he said, “those who feel like they can intimidate [Muslim] citizens . don’t represent the best of America, they represent the worst of humankind, and they should be ashamed of that kind of behavior.” Americans should support and affirm the rights of those behind the Islamic community center by supporting its construction rather than by feeding the radical Islamist narrative that America restricts the rights of its Muslim citizens.

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