I don’t understand why all the talk about the construction of an Islamic center near ground zero is being framed as though there is something to debate. There isn’t. The Free Exercise clause of the First Amendment prohibits any governmental entity from blocking the construction of this place of worship. There is no question; this is certain. Why, then, are people like Newt Gingrich coming out and making claims like this:
Nazis don’t have the right to put up a sign next to the Holocaust Museum in Washington. We would never accept the Japanese putting up a site next to Pearl Harbor. There’s no reason for us to accept a mosque next to the World Trade Center.
Newt Gingrich is a very intelligent man. He holds a doctorate in European history. He knows more than your average bear about the way our government functions. What would compel a man of such stature to make a statement that is so blatantly false? Newt Gingrich knows that he isn’t fooling you and me. But I suspect Newt Gingrich also knows that he is absolutely fooling a large number of American citizens who aren’t well enough informed to see through his mischaracterizing the issue. Let’s go to the play-by-play to break this one down.
Nazis don’t have the right to put up a sign next to the Holocaust Museum in Washington.
Where to begin? What Nazis are we talking about? Is Newt contemplating a scenario in which a zombie horde of Third Reich Nazis rise from their graves to terrorize the world once more, albeit more humanely by picketing a museum? Or does he mean American neo-Nazis? I suppose one could make a captive audience argument in the latter case, but I do believe such citizens would have the right speak in a public forum such as a sidewalk next to the museum.
We would never accept the Japanese putting up a site next to Pearl Harbor.
Second verse, same as the first. Who are “the Japanese?” Would we allow the Japanese government to unilaterally erect some sort of Steve Urkel-esque “Oops! Did I do that?” monument on American soil? I doubt it. Would we allow the Toyota corporation to do so? Well, the last thing I heard from the Supreme Court was that corporations are just super-sized versions of regular people like you and me, so I suppose we would. Now for the kicker.
There’s no reason for us to accept a mosque next to the World Trade Center.
Ah, the classic bait-and-switch. First we have the Nazis, then their Axis companion the Japanese, and just to make sure we all remember that “we are at war,” he ends with the unnamed shadowy Islamic threat that attacked us on our soil. Newt’s argument never really got off the ground to begin with, but it still manages to somehow crash and burn from an altitude of zero feet. There is no foreign government to blame here. I’m pretty sure the whole dilemma of 21st century warfare is the asymmetric nature of stateless actors. But that also misses the point. Unlike the first two examples, there is no ambiguity as to who we’re dealing with. The people who want to build the Islamic center are American citizens. They are us. They are We, The People. And they have every right to worship anywhere they damn well please.
So if the debate isn’t about the legality of the ground zero mosque, then what is it about? If this is a normative debate about the propriety of an Islamic place of worship near a culturally sensitive location like ground zero, what is the dissenters’ proposed course of action? Certainly they have a right to express their personal disapproval of the construction. The First Amendment protects that, too. But pretending that the dissenters have any sort of rebuttal should those in New York ignore their rebuffs and proceed with the establishment of an Islamic center is disingenuous at best, and it is more likely dangerous. What would the opposition encourage in the alternative? A modern-day American Kristallnacht to show our solidarity in opposing the very ideals upon which this nation was founded? For God’s sake—for our sake— I hope not.
This loser ‘Merkin who burned the Koran at the WTC is such a scuzzbucket. I pray that Muslims appreciate that he does not epitomize Americans, but I realize that their emotions will be extremely hurt by his despicable action.
Any American who loves the constitution and the freedom it guarantees must show support for the right of Muslims to construct their center in New York City near the World Trade Center memorial site. They’re not building it at Ground Zero, it is several blocks away. Is the entire metropolis off limits to them? It sounds silly to me. Freedom of religious for all Americans, not only for Chrisitians and Jews.