Good grief
Says Reuters this morning:
(Reuters) - The Muslim center planned near the site of the World Trade Center attack could qualify for tax-free financing, a spokesman for City Comptroller John Liu said on Friday, and Liu is willing to consider approving the public subsidy.If this seems reasonable to you, try this thought experiment: It is December 1950, and a city official in Honolulu suggests that the taxpayers subsidize a Shinto shrine overlooking Pearl Harbor. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford
Labels: Ground Zero, mosque, ObamaNation
posted by Daniel Ford @ 11:24 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
You can't deem 'good' and 'bad' religions in a modern democratic society. You either practice tolerance for all religions, including their right to freedom of choice as to where they put their buildings, or you don't. Another thought experiment-if Timothy MvVeigh had remained a devout Catholic, rather than becoming an agnostic, should Catholic churches have been banned within a twenty mile radius of the Murrah Federal Building rubble?
That's a false choice, though one I frequently hear in my university town. See here for a more thoughtful discussion: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704147804575455503946170176.html
And don't forget that the Carmelite convent, which was set up near Auschwitz for the purpose of praying for the souls murdered there (which is not the case of the Cordoba mosque) was indeed removed by the Catholic church because it offended those grieving for the victims. Why do we expect less of Muslims?
Come to that, what would you say to a German culture center two blocks from the entrance to Auschwitz? It's not a question of whether these grotesqueries should be permitted; it's whether those who propose them have any sense of propriety at all. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford
I don't see how it is a 'false choice.' It's a thought experiment not dissimilar to the one you proposed. Contrary to the article you pointed me to, there is also no concept in contemporary Islam of a 'victory mosque.' A mosque is a place you pray, kinda like a church. Christianity has advanced some since the crusades, and Islam likewise. As other posters have also mentioned, is it more respectable to have strip clubs there?
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