Don't Stop Believing

To this day, I still remember where I was when I first heard about the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.  I was a senior in high school and, like most mornings, was headed to the speech and debate room between classes.  It had been a normal day up until that point, but in a matter of minutes, the course of our lives and our country would forever be changed.

In the midst of the controversy following the attack that day, I recall what my economics teacher told our class.  He said that the worst thing we could do is let this attack change us.  The point of terrorism is to cause fear, to disrupt your daily life, to try to make you let go of the values you hold dear.  If we reacted vengefully, demanding an eye for an eye, than they would have changed us; they would have won.

Today, we as Americans are once again challenged as to how much we truly believe in the freedoms we trumpet.  This challenge comes in the form of current plans to build an Islamic community center and mosque a few blocks from Ground Zero.

The opposition from the far right has been both extreme and understandable.  Many feel that allowing the construction of a Muslim place of worship so close to the site where 3,000 Americans lost their lives is disrespectful.  They argue that the area around Ground Zero should be considered sacred ground.

A recent photographic exhibition by Daryl Lang shows fast food restaurants, a pub, and a gentlemen's club all in closer proximity to Ground Zero than the proposed community center.  Not to mention the various street merchants selling stolen and knockoff merchandise.  Additionally, the building they plan to renovate for the center was formerly a Burlington Coat factory.  While I'm always a fan of a good suit, I'm fairly certain that shirts and ties have not achieved deification.  So much for sacred ground.

We cannot blame an entire religion, centuries old with over a billion members, for the actions of a few.  Doing so would be the same as assuming all Christians hate the military because Rev. Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church have made a practice of protesting military funerals.  If we're going to prevent the construction of the community center, we should also ban all churches and other Christian ministries from military bases and the area surrounding them.  It's the same situation, except they're brown and wear turbans.

These Muslims are not the same extremists who blew up the buildings.  They advocate for women's rights and favor peaceful relations with others through discourse and discussion.  In fact, calling the center Cordoba House is in reference to Cordoba, Spain, where Christians, Jews, and Muslims have and continue to live side by side without problems.

In this country, we have long recognized that freedom means nothing if it doesn't apply to everyone.  I believe we are still a country that holds these truths to be self evident that all men, regardless of who they pray to, are considered equal.

We do nothing to honor the memories of those lost on 9/11 by opposing the construction of Cordoba House.  If we let the attack change us to a people intolerant of others who differ from us, then what have we done to their memories?

Let them build Cordoba House.  While it may not be the easiest route, it is the right thing to do.  Or, in the words of the Apostle Paul, "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."