The New York City unhallowed ground and the "Ground Zero Mosque" that wasn't.

The more I think about this "controversy" concerning the Islamic Cultural Center, the attacks on September 11, 2001, and the opportunism of the GOP, the more pissed off I have become!

There so much bullshit piled up over this issue that it almost rivals in height the Twin Towers themselves.

First off the area around Ground Zero, should NOT be considered 'hallowed ground", period!  That is the terrible location where a group of cowards murdered thousands of innocent people who were doing nothing more than living their lives, and working at their jobs.  We should no more "set it apart for holy use" or "respect it greatly",  than we should consecrate the ground where a drive by shooting took place.

Yes we should feel a sense of sadness when we walk by Ground Zero, as well as anger at those who committed the murders, but we should not make it a shrine. Nor, in my opinion should we build a monument to immortalize the terrorist attack.  I know that many of you will disagree with me, but what kind of message does that send to other potential terrorists if we build a monument to the most destructive terrorist attack in American history?

And by the way not to get too far into conspiracy land, but personally I still have a LOT of questions surrounding the attacks on 9-11 and just who was, and who was not, responsible for them.  Yes I know that is a monstrous can of worms to be opening but, speaking just for myself, I would like there to be an entirely new, independent investigation into all of the questions surrounding that terrible day before we start calling any place "hallowed ground" or building memorials to it.

However if I, just for a moment, suspend my skeptical nature and accept the findings of the 9-11 commission as factual, that still means we have allowed our attackers to completely hijack this country for the last nine years, cost us billions of dollars to fund two unnecessary wars, spend even more billions to beef up our security in anticipation of further attacks, and create enough panic to inspire the American government to spy on its own citizens and use torture for the first time in this nations' history. And now we are going to proclaim blocks of New York real estate as "hallowed ground" and then build a monument to celebrate that successful attack? I am sorry but I find that incredibly insulting to the memories of the Americans who lost their lives on that fateful day.

Far better in my opinion to simply rebuild the twin towers, or a similar structure, and move on with our lives allowing those that sought to destroy our way of life, or damage our hopes for the future, to see that they did neither. But hey that is just me, feel free to disagree as you see fit.

Secondly there is no rational reason NOT to allow this group to build their community center in the old Burlington Coat Factory.  If the problem is that having certain types of businesses near Ground Zero "shames" the memory of the victims of 9-11 then how do New Yorkers justify the two strip clubs, trashy lingerie store, and bookie joint that are already doing a brisk business in that same area?

However if the problem is the idea that we must keep MUSLIMS from building anything near the so-called "hallowed ground" then it seems that certain people, and I won't name names,  have no freaking idea what it really means to live in a country which was founded on the very idea of religious freedom. (Unless of course there is another possible ulterior motive for their blatant intolerance and xenophobia.)

Thirdly, the President did NOT walk back his remarks about the cultural center! He addressed the matter with great intelligence and understanding on Friday, then after a bunch of knee jerk reactionaries and GOP operatives attacked him and claimed that he was actually in favor of building the cultural center near Ground Zero he felt the need to clarify his words on Saturday.

Obviously the President of the United States has to take into consideration the feelings, however unsupported by reason, of ALL of his constituents.  So Obama was simply clarifying that he supported the RIGHT to build the center wherever the business partners chose to, while also letting everybody know that he was not going to take sides on whether it was a compassionate choice to make, especially considering how inflamed some people's passions have become over the issue.

However I am NOT the President of the United States so let me give my opinion of the "wisdom" of the people attempting to build this community center.

What they are doing is EXACTLY the right thing to do. They have as much right to live, work, and worship in the area around Ground Zero, AS ANY OTHER RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY. The people on those planes were not Muslims, they were terrorists, because the minute they chose to kill themselves, and the innocent people with them, they had broken one of the most precious tenets of their religious faith and could no longer be considered true to the Islamic faith that they claimed to revere.

Therefore it is the right, or perhaps even the obligation, of those who are followers of the Quran to demonstrate their desire to model the true face of their religion by offering a place, so close to a location used to condemn their religious faith, where people of ALL religious backgrounds and ethnicities may come and learn about Islam. 

At its core Islam, much like Christianity, is a religion of peace, and don't its followers have the right to remind people of that fact?