Mosque in America....by Jamil Shawwa

I compiled this piece from comments, among other notes, that I wrote so far about the Mosque debate that is going on in New York City and in America right now. Islam has never been exposed in the United States the way it is right now, and I just love the exposure. Exposure creates on the long run understanding, debates and deliberations create acceptance to facts or opinions or at least they create an opportunity for inclusion rather than exclusion. This -so far- peaceful fight about building a mosque and an Islamic community center in New York City is healthy; it is bringing America more closer to religious tolerance, it is making the words of freedom of religion and freedom of speech not only mere words but actions. The Mosque issue is getting political; is it not every issue, it is also bringing up Obama’s background again, people are connecting Obama’s heritage from his father's side to his stance on the mosque. The president's family from his father side is Muslims- as he said- but he is not. Again, the debate is in part political and people from both sides of the isles will jump on this Mosque business and try to score some points, settle some accords, and satisfy the few that have this point or that. November and the midterm elections are coming, so let us watch and see. But regardless, we need to start looking at people not from the very narrow lens of whether they are like us or not but from the wide spectrum of who they are, what they stand for and what are their actions and behaviors. America needs to see Islam from the window of that it has more than one billion and a half billion followers who believe that Islam is a divine religion as Judaism and Christianity. America showed its' greatness and its' ability to evolve and be smart when it elected Obama as president. I think the Mosque issue is giving the Americans a fantastic opportunity to look closer at the relationship between religions and people. Religions, all of them, especially the divine ones, as believers believe, are words of God. Actions and interpretations of the religions or a religion are completely different from the religion itself. You have good and bad, criminals and decent, terrorists and those who believe in change through peaceful means, among all three divine religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. But America is embracing Islam and it is evolving. We will continue to have people who love and hate, like and dislike, so let it be, it is part of human life, but at the end- in America- practicality and pragmatism will prevail as a general rule when it comes with dealing with events and people regardless of their background. The interesting part of all this debate is not the mosque or the building or the people, but the location. The project to be completed would be in a building very close to the grounds of the 9/11 terrorists attacks. From the president, to Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York City rejecting the calls against building a Muslim community center near ground zero. Bloomberg also criticized Sara Palin for her tweet few weeks ago asking "peace-loving Muslims to reject the mosque". This Palin does not seize an opportunity to prove everyday to all of us as to why we prefer Jennies' to some human beings. The regular person in the street, everyone is getting into the mix and voicing an opinion. I like it! I like it when people talk and debate and discuss; it is so civilized. At the end of the day, America must stand by its' original principles of freedom of religion, and freedom of speech. Once we surrender this right, then we would be surrendering every right in the Bill of Rights that was written by the founding fathers, and we surrender our constitution and our liberties. The building of the Mosque in New York City got the needed approval. I mean, this is America; it is for all faiths and believes. Same position I would have taken if it was for a church or a synagogue or any place of worship. I would have used the same words and the same sentences if this happened to a synagogue or a church. As for some behaviors from some people calling the Mosque or the people who are running it as terrorists just because of their belief, it is unfortunately human and you find it in every country and every nation on earth. Different concepts and issues but same behavior. It is a free country and people can have and share different opinions.