I should probably start out this post by say how much I hate the fact that the media has labeled an Islamic community center the “Ground Zero Mosque”. There are a few major things wrong with that. First and foremost, it isn’t at Ground Zero. It’s a few blocks away. You can’t even see ground zero from this location. Would the out-of-business Burlington Coat Factory that is currently at that location be referred to as the “Ground Zero Burlington Coat Factory”? I doubt it. Aside from that, it isn’t a Mosque. It’s a community center. It’s purpose is the same as any JCC (Jewish Community Center) or YMCA and just like a JCC or YMCA, it will also have an area for worship. So, lets call this what it really should be called: “The Lower Manhattan Islamic Community Center”.

I guess what pisses me off about this more than anything else is the fact that this is even a national controversy. In opposing a peaceful, moderate, and fully westernized Islamic center, it’s opponents are demonstrating the exact bigotry that led the September 11th attackers to attack the United States in the first place. The rise in anti-Islamic bigotry in this country is precisely what the extremist terrorist groups want. It allows them to more easily radicalize and recruit otherwise peaceful and moderate Muslims. This country was based on freedom of religion and it scares me that we are going in a direction that condones the losses of those rights for certain ethnic or religious groups. A similar type of hatred, bigotry, and scapegoating is what has led to virtually every genocide in history.

If someone can post a legitimate argument as to why this shouldn’t be built and explain its opposition as anything other than bigotry, please by all means inform me. But until then, I will continue to see the opponents of the Lower Manhattan Islamic Community Center as racist.