Much ado about a mosque

   A group of Muslims has its heart set on a mosque in New York City.


   While mosques are a common sight in the Big Apple, the proposed site for this one happens to be a building destroyed by the undercarriage of one of the airliner-cum-missiles of September 11, 2001. The cause of the building’s ruin renders the claim that it’s close to Ground Zero inaccurate. It is Ground Zero.

   Not surprisingly, the group finds itself opposed. And they have protested the protesters. The gravamen of the muslims’ position is that the seventy percent of America which opposes the mosque are doing so only because it is a mosque.

   The have a point. In fact, I daresay that is the point. Opponents of the mosque who qualify their position by saying it has nothing to do with Islam are cowardly and disingenuous.

   It has everything to do with Islam. Not the decent, patriotic Americans who practice this faith, but those who harbor ill will and malign intent toward our country.

   And therein lies the problem. We can’t, with certainty, say which are which.

   This problem is compounded by those associated with the mosque. Their words and deeds belie their purported intent. If their purpose is healing and bridging ecumenical relations, why insist on upsetting the seventy percent who oppose it?

   We found ourselves on the horns of a similar dilemma during World War II. Most people of Japanese extraction were loyal and patriotic Americans. But there were also spies and saboteurs. We couldn’t tell which were which.

   Left with no alternative, we placed the burden of proof upon the Americans of Japanese extraction, and sequestered them in internment camps. Of course, they protested. But it was both their words and deeds that cleared up the confusion for us. They vociferously denounced the country of their origin, and enlisted en masse to fight it. And they were soon exonerated.

   You see how simple it can be?