Tolerance?
"Do you think it is appropriate to construct a mosque near Ground Zero?"
I'm thinkin' it'll sure encourage something.**********
FROM THE COMMENTS:
"Perhaps a new poll for the Islamic world: 'Do you think it is appropriate to construct a church near the Kaaba'?"
"You know -- help the healing."
11 comments:
Encourage "something"?
Encourage what by who?
Anony 1152
You never received much encouragement, did ya?
Syncro
A.) Encourage the idea to the jihadists that the government of the five boroughs of NYC has surrendered through political correctness to Islam and will not defend the city.
B.) Encourage Islamists to run in NYC council elections, because they will have concluded that NYC has surrendered through political correctness to Islam and will not defend the city's freedoms (limited as freedom is in NYC).
C.) Encourage Islamists to invite to the WTC mosque imams commanding the destruction of the "Freedom Tower".
The shortlist, "1152".
For the muslims to even suggest building a mosque on or near that site is an insult of the highest degree. islam is tolerated for now, by the civilized world, but that is all it is.
To defile that land by building a mosque in honour of a god that called for the destruction of the twin towers, and caused all that death, is unconscionable.
The thought of those barbaric islamic leaders in the Middle East smirking and gloating about their handy work, and having an islamist trade mark monument being built for it, makes me want to puke.
I can't imagine the anger and disgust the victim's of allah and their families will feel.
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"anon1152 says... Encourage what by who?"
that depends on who you are, doesn't it? think of this as a cultural inkblot test.
for instance... what do you imagine a mosque at ground zero says... to faisal the wanna-bomber and all his pals?
and if president mcdreamy can abolish the phrase "war on terror" for fear of offending folks... where exactly does this little construction project fall on the "cultural sensitivity" scale?
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Haven't there been hundreds of deaths in Mecca during the Hajj?
Perhaps a new poll for the Islamic world: "Do you think it is appropriate to construct a church near the Kaaba?"
You know, the help the healing...
Thank you all. I just wanted to see something more explicit on the record.
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Syncrodox: I received far too much encouragement. How else could I have become so obnoxious?
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JA Goneaux: Perhaps it would be more insulting to construct a polytheistic temple near the Kaaba...
But I don't think it's a good idea to start justifying our actions by analogy with the actions of the Saudi Government. Just a suggestion.
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Honey Pot: I know that plain text lacks the subtleties of normal speech, so I know I may be missing something here, but...
The word "Allah" simply means "God" in Arabic. Or so I'm told. The Muslims do worship "the God of Abraham". Of course, if you believe the Old Testament, the God of Abraham isn't always a nice guy. He comes off as volatile, unpredictable, emotionally unstable...
But you are speaking as if there is a God [or Gods] and he [or one of them] is behind 9/11. And I mean responsible in a technical-planning-specific-instructing sense, not the problem-of-theodicy sense. Again, if you consider the Old Testament an accurate historical record... it wouldn't be out of character. But I have my doubts about the Old Testament's accuracy. Perhaps Neo the atheist could help me here.
Of course he may think you are referring metaphorically to Muslims and what they believe God's instructions to be.
That assumes an agreement between Muslims on God's instructions that, frankly, doesn't exist. No more than any such agreement exists between all Christians.
I think it's dangerous to start implicating a billion people in the actions of a few. Would it be any more legitimate for me to implicate all Christians in the actions of a few Christians who do terrible things? Or all Atheists in the actions of Atheists who do terrible things? It doesn't make sense to me. (It's like saying that the Muslims who lived and worked in NYC who died on 9/11 committed suicide just as much as the homicidal/suicidal terrorists.
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"anon1152 says... I have my doubts about the Old Testament's accuracy. Perhaps Neo the atheist could help me here."
christianity, like most religions is largely a ripoff of the rites that preceded it.
as for actual historical precedent... without a sound knowledge of aramaic... i wouldn't even wanna get my toes wet here.
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"further to above, anon1152 says... That assumes an agreement between Muslims on God's instructions that, frankly, doesn't exist."
hmmm... so maybe it's just the uneducated raggedy-ass dupes of radical imams that we really have to worry about?
somehow... i just don't think so.
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I didn't mean that there are as many interpretations of God's instructions as there are individual Muslims. But there are many Imams, and many more (hundreds of millions) of Muslims with very different views on what God's instructions are. There may be more conflict between Muslims than between Muslims and others.
(That's an empirical question, with an empirical answer, that I'm not ready to investigate right now. But consider the recent civil war in Iraq, the Iran-Iraq war, the Iraq-Kuwait war...)
For the record: I'm not saying that the number of crazy/violent people is insignificant. But I think the majority of Muslims have more in common with the majority of Christians (or perhaps even Atheists) than either group has with "the extremists".
For example: I've heard that a growing minority of students in Catholic schools in France are Muslim (in part because the hijab can't be worn in public schools -- that is, just the headscarf... sorta the same thing that nuns wear...).
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"anon1152 says... There may be more conflict between Muslims than between Muslims and others."
hey, 52... you're preachin' to the choir.
thing is... just because your neighbours & co-workers aren't jihadis... it doesn't rule out a goodly number of other folk.
maybe if the purported "silent majority" actually started speaking up a little... perhaps condemn the fanatics among them?
'cos i'm not hearing it so far, bro.
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