The Mosque
Aug. 16th, 2010 06:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
archaesophiliaSo, I've been following the debate over the mosque being built near the (former) world trade center. It seems that everyone has forgotten that, whatever else they might have been, the people who destroyed the world trade center were terrorists. And it only serves their objectives if we continue to respond in a way that fundamentally undermines the principles on which this country was founded. I speak, of course, of freedom of religion, but am more concerned about the inability to accept those of all creeds equally.
When America stops saying "give me...(those) yearning to be free," and instead stipulates "except those, and you, and whomever," we lose who we fundamentally are. America has ever billed itself as the land of opportunity, of freedom, with the promise of a future you can make for yourself. But, lately, we've delivered less and less. The class divide is growing. African Americans, Hispanics, and now Muslims, find themselves under attack both direct and indirect. Some of it is blatant, such as the GOP's position on the mosque. Some is what we call "systemic violence."
It is worrying, indeed, to see Americans set themselves against Americans, rather than seeking reconciliation.
When America stops saying "give me...(those) yearning to be free," and instead stipulates "except those, and you, and whomever," we lose who we fundamentally are. America has ever billed itself as the land of opportunity, of freedom, with the promise of a future you can make for yourself. But, lately, we've delivered less and less. The class divide is growing. African Americans, Hispanics, and now Muslims, find themselves under attack both direct and indirect. Some of it is blatant, such as the GOP's position on the mosque. Some is what we call "systemic violence."
It is worrying, indeed, to see Americans set themselves against Americans, rather than seeking reconciliation.