Fri Feb 10 2012
The current flap over the proposed Islamic Community Center in lower Manhattan is disappointing on a number of levels. It has brought out the worst kind jingoistic hysteria by the right wing and its mad media mouthpieces, hypocrisy from those who claim to support property rights and individual freedom but now wish to impose their bigotry on a religious community, and rank opportunism by politicians of every stripe who are capitalizing on the issue for political gain.
More disappointing, however, is that too many Americans seem not to realize that the only truly American response to the murderous hatred and ignorance of the Sept. 11 terrorists is for us to be better than they: To demonstrate by our actions that we mean it when we say we tolerate all faiths and respect the right to worship how, where, and whom we choose; that we support the rule of law; that we will address religious extremism in the knowledge that the vast majority of the practitioners of all faiths are peace loving; and that the Bill of Rights is worth more than the paper on which it is written.
To oppose an Islamic community center near where madmen committed mass murder in the name of Allah is like opposing a YMCA where Scott Roeder murdered physician George Tiller in the name of Christ.
The greatest disappointment of this non-issue is that when Americans scream religious intolerance we play directly into the terrorists' hands.
Will Underwood, Kent
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