Sadly, ever since 9/11, Islam has been a controversial topic among Americans who have difficulty distinguishing the extremists from the moderates. Exhibit A would take us to where it started: an attempt to build a mosque near the Ground Zero site has generated a huge firestorm of controversy, to the point where President Obama felt compelled to weigh in on the matter. But is it the right thing to do? Should a mosque be built there?

To answer that question, we’ll use the American logical method in solving controversies: blaming people and hoping conclusions are drawn from it. Sure enough, there’s plenty of blame to go around.

The most obvious, first target we’ll use is the conservatives passionately opposing the building. In the name of “the families of 9/11” they have finally found an acceptable outlet for their Islamophobia to shine through:

Source: RedState.com

Most conservatives’ reason for opposing the mosque is that it poses an affront to 9/11, as if it were built as an insult.

In that case, we should also forbid the building of any churches near Spain due to the Spanish Inquisition. It’s clearly an affront to the victims that symbols of Christianity that was responsible for all the deaths there are being built.

Yeah. Doesn’t make much sense to me either.

The problem with this line of thinking is that you’re associating the 9/11 attacks with the second most widely followed religion instead of a organization of nutjobs- the 1.5 billion or so peaceful Muslims would like to have a word with you about that. What they’re doing is taking a few extreme attributes of some people and applying it to 20% of the world’s population, a practice commonly referred to as stereotyping. Needless to say, it’s not the best rationale for opposing the construction of a religious center.

But having said that, I think the planners of the mosque are not entirely free of blame either. They could have picked many other locations, but had to choose this one to make a statement about 9/11.  To get a bit philosophical, we as members of society should be considerate towards one another. Trying to build something that you know will be emotionally stressful to others to make a point would go against that. As is the case with gun rights and being a pain in the you-know-what, just because you have the right to do something doesn’t mean you always should do it. In this case, some consideration for the feelings of the 9/11 victims would have helped- even if those feelings are rooted in some measure of bigotry.

So in light of mistakes by both sides, should the mosque be built?

It can be a potent, positive symbol for the US, especially in the Middle East where the population is skeptical of their intentions in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. It’s a way of declaring that we are not there as part of another round of Crusades, that we are not there to threaten their way of life. It can also showcase the diversity within America that many anti-Americans forget about. The mosque can be a good idea because it can be a monument to America’s greatest talent.

Marketing.


Update (8/18): Turns out some prominent conservatives support the mosque. While 70% of Americans polled opposed the building of the mosque, it must be noted like most church leaders (except for, of course, Billy Graham's church organization) support it. It leads me to agree that opposition is mostly based on political motives. I apologize for any implications that Christians lead the opposition movement, as well as any TVs broken due to anger over my article.