The debate going on in New York city about whether a Muslim mosque should be built near Ground Zero is getting ugly. Even Sarah Palin is getting in on the act.
Yesterday Palin commented about the Mosque on Facebook calling the planned Muslim mosque and community center:
An Intolerable Mistake on Hallowed Ground.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who’s defending the building of the mosque, called for religious tolerance yesterday.
No matter where you stand on the mosque, any time there is this much vitriolic dialogue against one group on a national stage one thing is inevitable. A backlash in the place people spend most of their time. This fury can not mode well for Muslims in the workplace, a group that has seen discrimination rise since Sept. 11, 2001.
Religious bias charges overall with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission have nearly doubled since that fateful day that saw thousands of Americans killed. And such discrimination is a continued concern for the federal government. Religious bias charges increased to 3,386 in 2009, the highest number in the last decade. National origin charges have also been on the rise, at over 11,000 last year.
I’ve written about a variety of bias claims, including one against McDonald’s for allegedly not allowing a Muslim worker to wear a headscarf, and there have been a host of cases of employers not allowing Muslim workers to pray.
I do have my reservations about having employees wear their religion on their sleeves at work, but there is increasingly a double standard in the country when it comes to Muslims.
What happened to religious freedom? Some of you may be thinking, “Eve, you’re making a leap thinking bias in the workplace against Muslims will rise because of this nasty, televised fight to stop a mosque.” Well, like it or not, we bring all our baggage to work every morning. That’s just how it is.
I’ll leave you with this quote from Kahlil Gibran, a Lebanese American poet, on religious tolerance:
“God made Truth with many doors to welcome every believer who knocks on them.”
August 4th, 2010 at 10:10 am
This country allows for freedom of worship. At the same time, whilst aware of public perceptions of the events of 9/11 and the associated perceptions of radical Islam, I feel it fair to say that the decision to build a mosque on the site was not the wisest course of action. Still, if they purchased the building, the laws of this land allow for them to use it for their form of worship. That should be the end of the story.
I believe one of the reasons calls for “religious tolerance” are not well accepted in this nation is because a foundational Christian belief is that the Christ is the only way to God per Yeshua’s (Jesus’) own proclaimation, “I am the door; if anyone enteres through me, he shall be saved…” (Christian Scriptures, John 10.9). While some churches move toward an ecumenical position, the historic Church has long held that there is only one way to God (through the Christ). Sadly, throughout history, many have used that exclusive claim as the basis for wars, inquests, and all sorts of attrocities, rather than living out the message the Christ proclaimed. To me, that’s the only way to prove the truth of the claim of exclusivity–that people who profess the faith actually do their best to live the faith (and not simply live according to the prevailing religious subculture of the day).
August 4th, 2010 at 10:46 am
The mosque is not on the site, it’s a block or so away. And you are right HikingStick, there is a sense of “us against them” in this whole fight that makes me worry. People think it’s ok to make decisions based on anger and passion over the deaths of innocent Americans. We are angry, we still mourn all those people, but that doesn’t mean we can throw all the rules of this land out in the garbage.
August 6th, 2010 at 10:05 am
The Islamic people must have zero couth to even what to go ahead and build something so offensive to Americans. There are many Mosques in NY already and this one is in poor taste. People in NY don’t want it, It’s funding has been lied about and it’s just rubbing our faces in 9-11. Why can’t they respect that and build it some where else? In Britian they tried to build a mega mosque next to the Olympic games and people fought it and won.
The thing is that Islam is something that must be studied to be fully understood. It is not a religion, it is a way of life/ cult that is not suitable for our country. Freedom and Islam can not coexist in a Democratic society. They will never follow our constitution and laws and will want Sharia courts and laws. A country divided against itself fails. They need to conform or leave. We are a civilized country and they refuse to live by our rules. Their rules violate our constitution, banking laws and domestic violence laws. We have come too far as a nation for womens rights to allow it in our beautiful free country.
August 6th, 2010 at 11:25 pm
It should be noted mosques have historically been built on conquered territory and there can be no doubt that the intention of this mosque is to mark Ground Zero as conquered territory in the name of Islam. Building a mosque at this site would be a sign to the Islamic world that we are no match for their moral superiority.
The zealots who wish to kill us are not interested in religious tolerance. In this case, as in so many others, tolerance is not defined as co-existence, but that an opposing view is equally right, true and correct.
August 7th, 2010 at 9:14 am
You make an interesting point about symbolism Victor. But the histories of many religions are tainted by much that is abhorrent to us today. One well-known example are the Crusades.
I’m not a religious person, but I’m often told religion is about love and understanding despite our histories. If I’m wrong, so be it. If I’m onto something, then a mosque near the downed World Trade towers would be an important example of religious faith. No?
August 8th, 2010 at 6:03 pm
I don’t think it is the Christians that are the problem at all. Christians have religious tolerance for other faiths. It is the faith of Islam that has no tolerance for anything other then Islam. Christians and Jews and Atheists all live and work together in this country just fine without anyone wanting to kill a person for having their own beliefs. Christians don’t blow buildings up to gain virgins in heaven. Jews don’t fly jets into buildings because they are mad at our country. Christians and non Christians abide by the laws of this country or pay the consequences. Islamics want us to change our laws to suit Allah like they do in the Middle East. They already have us censoring the M word on tv because they find it offensive. It’s also censored on Facebook. BTW-Censorship is against our constitution!
We are not going to bend over backwards for Muslims and their disgraceful treatment of women and people that are non Muslim. It is not ok to beat your wife in the US, Honor kill your teenage daughters, Kill gay people, cut your wifes head off, practice polygamy, etc. That will not be accepted in the US. The United States is a civilized country. We allow children to be adopted in the US,- They don’t. We eat pork and drink alcohol smoke cigarettes and gamble so get used to it.
Blend in or leave. This is the stance Australia has taken with their Muslim population.
They will never fit in with our free society because of their belief that their religious laws are the last word on everything. It’s like oil and vinegar. Why do they come here if they hate what we stand for? Are we supposed to change our laws to suit Islam and go back to the middle ages? We have something called “The Separation Of Church And State” in the US. Islam is so religiously enmeshed in Sharia that it would be impossible to separate the two. They won’t use our banks or our schools or our text books because they say The Holocaust never happened and they don’t like interest. How will they ever assimilate into our society? Will they will keep blowing us up like they do over in the other countries they live in.
It’s a bad fit and the Mosque is not going to help. I see more honor killings down the road as their children grow up in a western society based on freedom.
Sometimes cultures collide and it cannot be fixed. I can’t blame them for wanting to come here but if they do they need to abide by our laws. If that is possible?
August 8th, 2010 at 6:52 pm
We are a nation of people that don’t fit in. That’s what makes us so great.
I think we all can learn from Charles….
Charles Wolf, who lost his wife Katherine on 9/11, told the BBC that –
“The Muslims are not responsible for 9/11. There have been extremists in all religions.
“Denying them the ability to build a mosque… would be like London denying the Roman Catholic Church the opportunity to build a church during the years of the IRA bombings.”
August 9th, 2010 at 6:40 pm
We may not all fit in but we must all abide by the laws of The United States Of America. So we are comparing the Muslim terrorists and the IRA Terrorists “rights”?
Why should terror organizations have any rights? We blew up Waco and we will do the same thing to any religious community that does not follow our laws. Islam does not mix with freedom and the US stands for freedom so it won’t work. We will not have Sharia courts so a lot of Muslim men had better learn that women in the US are equal to men.
It is like you are saying, “I’m a terrorist in the US and I’m being discriminated against. I should have the right to set up a terrorist cell, oops, Mosque anywhere I want to”. I should be able to have my own laws and courts and banks. It doesn’t work that way.
I sometimes think earlier administrations were smart for using detainee camps during war time for the ethnic people. For their own safety of course. In this case it would be for US safety.
August 14th, 2010 at 3:24 pm
I call extremely bad taste on this! I live in a high Islamic community and it’s a problem here too. A lot of them do want to turn the US into Iran or Iraq. In our case Yemen since that is where most of them are from. The Yemen community has gotten their own personal cemetery in our town. It’s only the beginning. It can be tense from time to time, but American laws apply to ALL citizens. Not just to those who are white or black, but ALL. And I think that the city shouldn’t allow them to build it so close to 9-11. Bad taste is bad taste, doesn’t matter the religion. I’d let them build one farther away.