If the mosque site is not approved, it will be a surrender to Osama bin Laden in the first real battle in the war he wants to start between Christianity and Islam. He wants to have what's been called a "clash of civilizations."
But bin Laden is a rogue terrorist and murderer to real Muslims. There is no and will not be any "clash of civilizations" for the simple reason that Islam is considered by its adherents to be an extension of Judaism and Christianity. Muslims believe in one God, as do Jews and Christians. Muslims venerate all the prophets venerated by Jews and Christians; they add Muhammad and insist he is the last prophet.
The essence of all three religions is the same: the golden rule:
1. Jews - When asked to explain Judaism while standing on one foot, Rabbi Hillel said "Don't do unto others what you would not want them to do unto you."
2. Christians - The first commandment of Jusus was to love God, and his second was "Love thy neighbor as thyself."
3. Muslims - Muhammad said "None of you can be a believer unless he loves for his brother what he loves for himself."
Let's not judge all Muslims by the violence performed by some Muslims, just as we should not judge all Christians or Jews by the violence performed by some Christians or Jews. The best way we can fight terrorism is to welcome Muslims and work together with them to build a harmonious society. Fareed Zakaria, who returned a prize from the ADL because he feels so strongly about this, says about the Imam of the proposed mosque:
Zakaria says that the man behind the proposed Ground Zero Islamic community center, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, "has spent years trying to offer a liberal interpretation of Islam" and "argues that America is actually what an ideal Islamic society woud look like because it is peaceful, tolerant and pluralistic.
"His vision for Islam, in other words, is Osama Bin Laden's nightmare," Zakaria says.
9/11 tested America in a big way. We were attacked and we fought back. But by now, it should dawn on us that our approach is wrong. We're not getting anywhere. Worse, we're hurting ourselves. We fell into bin Laden's trap of endless war with Muslims. We're transgressing against our own principles of freedom of speech and freedom of religion.
We must have the mosque built and we must make it an integral part of the Ground Zero awakening. We must use it as a form of reconciliation among all religions. Let's celebrate the mosque as a fine expression of American freedom.
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