Religion & American Law

With the tenth anniversary of 9/11 approaching, many controversies having to do with questions of religious involvement during the anniversary are surfacing and causing quite the stir in NYC. Governor Bloomberg decided not to include any clergy members or any formal prayer at the ceremony in hopes to keep the attention on the families who lost their loved ones. However, there has been a 9/11 controversy stirring all along. The controversy that is now officially a decade coming is the well-known “Ground Zero Mosque”. Personally, I hadn’t heard any news of the mosque since it was criticized years ago. In the CNN article, “‘Ground Zero Mosque’ moving forward”, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf explains that the controversial mosque has been moving forward this entire time despite rumors that it was on hold. Rauf founded an organization called the Cordoba Initiative which is dedicated to “improving understanding among people of all cultures and faiths.” The mosque that he has been dreaming of creating is the Cordoba House, an Islamic community center. Rauf states, “‘I’ve had this vision for years. The dream of establishing Cordoba House in New York is very much alive and we are actively pursuing the methods by which we can have such an institution.’” The problem some Americans have with this mosque is that it is two blocks from Ground Zero, the location of the Muslim attacks against our country causing 2,983 innocent people to die.

The main point of the article is Rauf trying to stress the importance of the non-Muslim Americans to create unity instead of hatred to American Muslims. Those who planned and carried out the attack against our country a decade ago are considered Muslim extremists, not the moderates who represent more of those that practice the religion, especially in America. “‘The battlefront that I see is not between Islam and the West or Muslims and America but between all of the moderates and all of the extremists. We have to band together to combat the extremists of all religions.” America is known to be a country made up of those who escaped religious persecution; however that doesn’t mean that we are an openly accepting country. I believe we are more closely represent a country of religious toleration, which is why Americans are more likely to get upset with this mosque since in our minds, it represents those who attacked us a decade ago.

Looking further into the mosque controversy I found a poll from roughly a year ago indicating that 68% of Americans oppose the ‘Ground Zero Mosque.’ The article states that, “The project intended to bring people together, has done more to tear them apart. But Rauf is optimistic about the future, in a nation that was built on the principle of religious freedom.” The percentage of Americans that oppose the center really came as a shock to me. I am sympathetic to those who do not wish for a mosque so close to Ground Zero, but this opposition reflects poorly on America’s forgiveness or even acceptance of those innocent American Muslims who do not represent those who were behind the attacks.