Wednesday, July 28, 2010

About that "Ground Zero Mosque"

The debate rages over the planned Islamic Center and mosque "at Ground Zero". I put that bit in quotes simply because the actual location - 45 Park Place - is a couple of blocks up Broadway from the site of the former World Trade Center. So it's not actually at Ground Zero.

Opponents say it's "insensitive" to permit construction of the center, and maybe they're right. But who cares? Since when is sensitivity a prerequisite for legal use of property? I'm a believer in property rights, and if the present owners of 45 Park Place wish to build an Islamic Center there, that's their right.

Some opponents also say this is a giant "fuck you" from New York's Muslim community to America, and maybe they're right, too. But so-called conservatives who ranted - correctly - about the Supreme Court's Kelo decision then turn around and say they want eminent domain invoked to prevent construction of this building are being hypocritical in the extreme.

We're not at war with Islam, the religion. We're at war with Islamism, the political-military movement. I know that to many (both Muslim and "infidel") the two are inseparable, but unless we're willing to discard the notion of religious freedom, we should just shut up about this.

7 comments:

Brian Lehman said...

You just said in a few short paragraphs my basic feelings on the subject. Thanks.

Charles said...

It's triumphalist. Cordoba House? Come on...

Eric said...

I've little doubt that it IS triumphalist, or at least mockery in the form of the giant "FU" I mentioned.

But my inner libertarian chafes at the idea of telling a property owner what he can or can't do with his property.

Charles said...

I would usually agree with that, except in this instance - Islamism is not a movement to be engaged, it is an enemy to be defeated.

Charles said...

Meet the Ground Zero Mosque imam’s Muslim Brotherhood friends

Eric said...

Very little happens here on a large scale with regards to Islam without the involvement and support of overseas Islamic benefactors, and most (if not all) of those benefactors are hostile to the US.

I don't like the idea of this thing going up, but I don't see any legal basis for preventing it.

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