Does the divisive controversy over the Muslim community center near Ground Zero demonstrate how radical Christians and Muslims have taken over the public debate to such an extent, that they threaten the freedoms millions have fought and died for? Columnist Patrick Etschmayer writes for The News of Switzerland, that those opposing the Cordoba House are helping the terrorists obtain one of their most cherished objectives: stifling Western freedoms.
For The News, Patrick Etschmayer writes in part:
It would be a very bad idea, if it were actually true: There are plans to build a mosque at Ground Zero. Yes, you could say that this is the stupidest thing that could be done. Even if the builders had the right to do it.
But there are three hitches to the current dispute: For one thing, the controversial building won’t be located at Ground Zero, but two blocks away. Furthermore, it will not be a mosque, but a Muslim community center with a prayer room. But the construction of a restaurant, a stage, a fitness center, a pool, a basketball court and various other facilities are also planned, which would all disqualify the building from being a mosque. We’ve also heard the occasional argument that any building with an Islamic prayer room is a mosque … but then the Pentagon would be a mosque as well. An interesting idea.
The charge that the plan is in poor taste is extremely subjective and dangerous – especially for members of other (non-) religious minorities that have also joined the protest and are supporting the Christian Right in their efforts to bend the law. A “Ground Zero” Law, based on such subjective criteria, could eventually lead to prohibiting the building of a natural history museum near a church because the scientific thought it represents is offensive to believers.
The goal of the terrorists was to make the world less free and to force the West to restrict its own freedoms by generating fear and anger. This project, and the reactions to it, shows how extreme Islamists and Christians manage, in their mutual hatred, to put the moderate majority into a radical headlock, with the goal of stifling the freedom we once fought so hard to obtain.
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