Muslim Mosque Near 9/11 Site Is Wrong

This column is actually two weeks past the time it should have been written for various reasons, however let me share with you today my feelings on the building of a proposed Islamic center and mosque near ground zero in New York City.

Since President Obama’s prepared speech in late August at a White House Dinner honoring a Muslim holiday the issue of the Islamic Mosque near the 9/11 site has become a hot topic. Polls say that seventy percent of the American people oppose the building of a mosque on this site.

To make things even worse Speaker Pelosi called for an investigation of those who oppose it and Obama and New York City Mayor Bloomberg have been lecturing the American people on freedom of religion, the Founding Fathers and the law of private property. None of us need self righteous lectures on these matters from politicians.

This is not an issue of Iman Rouf’s right to build because we know that he and his shadowy backers have the legal right to build the mosque on this site. It is simply a matter of sensitivity and respect not legalities.

Pope John Paul II was faced with a similar issue a good while back when the religious prayer Order of Carmelite Nuns built a convent outside the Auschwitz crematoria to pray for the souls of Jewish Holocaust victims. When the controversy developed the Pope ordered the Nuns to stop by saying, “This is not your place. It belongs to others.”

Those who don’t recognize the mosque building site as a finger in the eye to what happened on 9/11 when 2,752 people were killed when Muslim extremists flew planes into the twin towers of the World Trade Center are not paying attention and are naïve.

For ages Muslims have built mosques on or near the sites of their major military victories. There are several in Spain, a mosque was built over the site of Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem, the Sophia Cathedral was destroyed and a mosque erected there by conquering Muslims.

German Security just recently shut down an Al Quds mosque in Hamburg which served as a meeting place for the 9/11 attackers due to security reasons. It was still being used for such activities according to German Intelligence.

It would be rather foolish to ignore the deep effect of Muslim Sharia law on adherents of Muslim Sharia law which totals some 80 million people by conservative estimates. Ten years ago the late Islamic King Hassan II of Morocco affirmed the primacy of Sharia law in Muslim countries. He denied the possibility of secular law under Islam basically saying that there is no separation of church and state nor is there freedom of religion.

According to a story by the Associated Press Donald Trump has offered to buy out one of the major investors in the real estate partnership that controls the site near ground zero where the Muslim group wants to build a 13 story Islamic center. According to the article Trump said he would pay the real estate investor 25 percent more that he paid for the property. Trump said he was making the offer because it would end a very serious, inflammatory and highly divisive situation. Thank you Mr. Trump for making the offer.

When 70 percent of Americans take a different view on an issue supported by our President, or an issue proposed by our law makers who do not listen to the opinions of the citizens, we would hope this would cause them to forfeit their right to hold office when election time comes.