Why aren't the people who claim to be so exorcised about the pain the "mosque" may cause 911 victims

[Empowerer]

as concerned about the pain that they are causing to Muslim Americans?

I can't imagine how horrible and painful it must be for millions of Muslim Americans to have political leaders and many fellow Americans so viciously and callously attack them as un-American, purely because of the religion they practice.

Why is there hardly any focus on how THESE Americans feel in the discussions about sensitivity? Does one have to be a white Christian to deserve any concern?

[Aramchek]

1. because they're to busy defending their soft bigotry

it's amazing watching people bend themselves into pretzels trying to explain how the mosque is legal but "just ain't right".

they just can't face the fact that they, themselves, are a little prejudiced.

[dkf]

2. Because sensitivity to the bereaved trumps all others.

That is how we as a society are taught to behave.

[Aramchek]

3. you seem to have no sensitivity to bereaved Muslims. too focused on your own wants.

[dkf]

4. The majority were non Muslims. Do the least harm.

[Empowerer]

6. So the majority rules when it comes to religious freedom?

Wow.

What if the majority of the bereaved decided they didn't want Muslims to live, work or even be seen in lower Manhattan since their presence there would be painful to them? Would you insist that Muslims stay out of the area?

If not, where do you draw the line?

[Aramchek]

9. no harm is done by building this Center.

There may be outrage from those who blame Islam for everything.

But the majority of real Americans support upholding the Constitution over coddling the prejudices of a few.

[dkf]

10. I don't agree. I think it is simply too much to take for some families and too much to ask.

You all don't care if they get hurt because you just call them bigots. That is how you get around the bounds of normally accepted decency towards families of the deceased.

[Empowerer]

11. What about the feelings of ordinary Muslim Americans who have done nothing to anybody?

Their feelings must be subordinated to some of the 911 families? Why?

How does an Islamic cultural center violate "normally accepted decency toward families of the deceased?" What if a majority of the families happened to be blatant anti-semites or racists? Would their victimhood give them the right to insist that Jews and blacks could not use their private property as they chose anywhere near Ground Zero?

[dkf]

13. Ordinary Muslims didn't all lose family members in a tragic way.

If there was a mass holocaust of ten thousand Muslim Americans in the reaction to 9/11 then I'd be okay putting a mosque in memorial to them as victims of 9/11 too.

To me it is all about who incurred the worst injustice.

[Empowerer]

21. Your posts and opinions are crystal clear demonstrations of why constitutional rights are not put to

a vote.

Minority rights, thank God, are not dictated by the will of the majority. Otherwise, only the popular, most powerful, loudenst and most sympathetic would always prevail while the rights of everyone else would be trampled into the dust.

[Aramchek]

12. how does this hurt families, unless they blame all of Islam for 9/11?

and if they do blame all of Islam,
how does it help them to reinforce this bigoted position by catering to it?

Why should we allow the ignorance of a few to damage the Constitutionally guaranteed rights of a Nation?

I would be willing to bet that there are hundreds of 9/11 families who have no problem with this Center.

But we only get to hear from the ones who don't like Muslims.

[polmaven]

19. One problem I find with that statement

is the fact that Muslims did not attack America on 9/11/01. Al Quaeda did. Muslims are not to blame for the death and destruction.

[Empowerer]

5. Really?

Since when?

And you DO realize, don't you, that Muslim Americans are among the 911 bereaved?

And how far does this deference for the bereaved go? How wide is the perimeter around Ground Zero that the bereaved get to control. What if one lost a relative but doesn't live near Ground Zero. Can they insist that Muslim Americans no practice their religion near wherever they happen to live because proximity to Muslims would cause them pain? Can African Americans insist that no churches be built anywhere near the site of any lynching because the Ku Klux Klan claims to be a Christian organization?

[dkf]

8. I think Glenn Beck ought to move his rally from MLKs I Have A dream site.

And if African Americans don't want a church near a Ku Klux Klan lynching then I'm okay with that too. I just don't see the point of offending people unless it is necessary. Being able to sit on a bus seat that has no significance beyond it's being a bus seat doesn't count.

[Jefferson23]

14. What a perverted use of the meaning of sensitivity in this case.

Perhaps you were taught to behave that way, but society isn't allowed to use their grief to trump rights under the Constitution.

Their fears and prejudices are what they need to confront, and stop scapegoating millions of Americans could help them heal.

[dkf]

15. Under the constitution you don't need to be sensitive to anyone.

The constitution is all about your right to exercise your insensitivity.

[Jefferson23]

16. The laws are to be upheld as stated in the Constitution.

Exercising your rights under the Constitution affords protection from those perverting the meaning of sensitive in this case.


Don't build here, it's too close, don't remind me you're a Muslim. Don't remind me of my fears, which I can best avoid if I don't have to see this community center.

Don't ask me to THINK and deal with the reality of why we were attacked. Not enough Muslims died that day, so their loss
is not as great as mine. Move your Center because it violates my thought process, which conflicts with how I have packaged
up and deal with grief. It is OK for me to lay claim to these fears and prejudices and act on them because my grief trumps
your religious freedoms.



If they change where this building is going to be built, they will be feeding into the baseless fears and prejudices period.

[dkf]

17. Exercising their constitutional rights are detrimental to their reputation.

The PR sucks. Not good for a religion that is trying to win over hearts and minds. Win the war lose the battle.

[Jefferson23]

20. I believe you have that completely backward. The people asking

for them to step aside, move back, become invisible and willing to trample the rights of innocent people to validate their fears and prejudices
is what is detrimental.


It is the reputation of our country that will take a hit if the innocent become victims of baseless fears. The conversation and onus has been
on the American Muslims for NINE years now to prove they are worthy of living here and practicing their religion without being suspected
of terrorism and guilt for 9/11.

[Bitwit1234]

7. AND why in the devil aren't they more outraged

about the fact that the republicans obstructed a bill to provide health service to the men and women who responded to help when the Twin Towers were attacked. After that obstruction of the health care bill has nothing whatsoever to do with being a Muslim they voted NO NO NO NO on a bill to help AMERICANS.

[damntexdem]

18. Because they're using the 9/11 victims in a disgusting way.

And they care nothing for the pain THEY are causing 9/11 victims.

[Jeneral2885]

22. Somuch for a free country

Perhaps American cultural assimilation should take a look at SEA countries like Malaysia and Singapore where the building of any religious building does not cause any "pain" through out the ages. Those countries have faced ethnic conflicts and learnt to resolved it.