You want to put that WHERE??

I'm disappointed in fellow Americans. Then again, when am I not? Our nation has gotten stupid. When did that happen? OK, anyhow, the thing that's on my mind right now is this mosque near the site of the World Trade Center 9/11 attacks, debate. I can't believe how people are reacting to it.

First of all, let's get it perfectly straight that there's no way this controversy would be happening if someone proposed to build a Buddhist temple, a church of any Christian faith, or a Synagogue of any Jewish denomination. Let's get it right out in the open that the only reason people are up in arms about this is because it's a facility of the Muslim faith that's been proposed.

While we're at it, let's get a few things out in the open about the way our country is, even today. It's not a good place to be Muslim. I'm not Muslim myself. In fact, I'm pretty much non-religious. I have friends of all faiths, though, including Muslim, and I have personally witnessed the type of harassment they endure on a daily basis just because of what a few extremist pieces of crap decided to go and do. Have any of you people ever read the Quran? I have. Islam is not a violent religion. You might be surprised how similar a lot of the principals are to Christianity and Judaism. All that is to say, anyone who is thinks they "learned all they needed to know about Islam on 9/11" (Yes, I saw that on a bumper sticker in Georgia. I was floored.) needs to think long and hard about how they, probably Christian since most Americans are, would like to be judged 24/7 by the actions of David Koresh, or if they're just a non-religious white person, maybe they would find it more palatable to think how they would feel if society judged them by the actions of Timothy McVeigh. That sounds ridiculous? Yeah, because it is. Even so, that's EXACTLY what Average America is doing to our own Muslim citizens every single day. That's not cool, and it's not the type of thing this country was founded on. Where's all that freedom of religion when it counts? The Puritans fled England for the New World because they were being persecuted, yet that's exactly what's been happening to Muslims in this country for the past 9 years.

Of course, all of the above relates to why it's total BS that people are getting all worked up about a mosque being built near the site of the World Trade Center attacks. Here's another, very secular, reason for you. It's a slippery slope. I've heard people saying, "Well, 600 feet away is practically right on top of it!" First of all, no it's not. Secondly, ok, let's go with this little train of thought for a minute, and see where it leads. Let's say it's determined that 600 feet is too close for a religious facility to be built. Let's say the powers that be, decide that 1000 feet away is more appropriate. In light of this, they sell the tract of land that the mosque is supposed to be built on, it becomes a Barnes and Noble book store, a Wal Mart, or something like that, and everyone's happy. Then they buy a new tract of land for the mosque. This tract of land is 1003 feet from the site of the former World Trade Center. Every land surveyor in the state substantiates that. You know what the people will say? "They're building it as close as they can to the World Trade Center site just to spite us!!!!" Sounds awfully familiar, doesn't it? This thing WILL become the quintessential slippery slope if Average America gets their way on this one.

To add my own two cents to it, I've been to Ground Zero. I have stood on the viewing platform in my Army uniform, and had the people of New York treat me as one of their own because I was serving for them. I think if people want to make the site of the former World Trade Center a monument for the rest of our days, and never use that space for anything else again, that is perfectly fine. However, the space around it is usable, and it's all zoned commercial. (Have you ever BEEN there?? It's in a very busy area!!) The way we let the terrorists win is by shying away from the thought of moving on, of rebuilding (even if not directly on that site), of certain things being near it. It happened. We'll never forget. Now we need to move on. We won't ever move on if we discriminate against entire religious groups based on what 19 assholes did nearly a decade ago.

I'm disappointed in you, fellow Americans. I thought we were better than this.