This is a very popular and heated issue at the moment. I highly doubt anyone reading this has NOT heard of what's happening, but just a quick recap for you. The story was broken that there was going to be a mosque built at Ground Zero. Obviously people were outraged about this (see here for a CNN poll showing that 7 out of 10 Americans believe the Mosque is inappropriate, as well as a CBS poll with the same results), as they considered it a literal slap in the face to all those who lost someone on that fateful day. Then it was said that the mosque was not actually going to be built on the site, but two blocks away. I don't know that this changed the view of many people. Now some people are trying to say it's just a cultural center, but from what I've read it's a cultural center AND a mosque (and no, before you ask if that's only because all I read is Fox, it's actually from multiple CNN articles).
Personally, I totally disagree with the decision to build this mosque. It's just wrong. I am by no means an expert on the Islam religion. Nor am I an expert on terrorism, either Islamist or in general. But I have read quite a bit on the subject, I continue reading, and I do my best to keep on top of the news on international terror events.
First of all, according to traditional Islamic tradition, the world is divided into two parts. dar al-Islam, the land of Islam, and dar al-kufr, the land of the infidel. What we are currently dealing with is the Salafi movement. The Salafi movement is a religious revival attempt which preaches salafiyyah (from the word salaf, the ancient one, referring to the companions of Mohammad), the restoration of authentic Islam. It is a very strict, rigid form of the Islamic faith; the reason for such rigidity is that (according to Salafi belief) Muslims will soon "forget" the corrupt decline learned with the influx of Western culture. This salafiyyah is to be brought about by violent jihad, a word that roughly translates to 'striving' but is better known to Westerners as 'holy war'. And the vanguard of this movement is none other than al-Qaeda.
What was the point of that information? To give a little background on Islamic tradition and the radical Salafi movement. Now, living in dar al-kufr means that we are subject to offensive jihad (yes, there is both a defensive side and offensive side of jihad). While one could argue that the current jihad against the United States in defensive in nature (which would actually mean that ALL Muslims have a duty to participate, not just individuals who choose to), the point is that the Islamist radicals are involved in a holy war against the West, and the United States in particular.
That being said, let's take a look at our history. Who funds all of these mosques that are built in America? Some sort of international religious fund? Nope. Fund raising done by religious authorities? Guess again. The nation of Saudi Arabia. That's also who pays for the imams, or cleric, that come here. Now let's look back at where a large number of these imams currently reside. Behinds bars in American prisons. Why? For ties to terrorist groups such as Hezbullah. Those who aren't arrested simply escape the country for a few years, and come right back and pick up where they left off. This information was presented at a counterterrorism (I'm not releasing any classified information by saying these things) briefing which I attended at nearby Buckley AFB and as such, I do not have direct access to the citations and examples at this time, and my computer is choosing now as a time to overheat, so my research on the subject is going slow. I will update later with more information, but until now the best piece of information I can give you is found here. The last bit of historical information I want to share is that the first thing the Prophet Mohammad did after conquering a new city was to construct a victory mosque. Noticing any parallels?
By claiming this stance, I am not being racist, discriminatory or hateful against the Muslim religion. I am simply stating my concerns that we are allowed what can (and, you can bet, will) harbor a breeding ground for Islamist terrorists right here in our own backyard. These terrorists know the associations the imams keep (Hezbullah, Hamas, al-Qaeda, etc). Do you think they're not laughing in the face of the "Great Satan", a nation too concerned with political correctness to do anything about these issues? The average American citizen doesn't even KNOW about these people that are being allowed into our country, because the next episode of "The Kardashians" is far more important. This has nothing to do with separation of church and state or religious bigotry. It is a potentially severe national security risk, and something any American should be disgusted to see even being CONSIDERED by our officials in NYC, Washington, or anywhere else for that matter.
The lesson I think we can all take away from this general concept is if you wish to promote and/or carry out a violent agenda, simply give it a name and call it a religion,and there you go. Totally protected.
Before this post gets any longer, I'm going to close on that note. But I have a few political cartoons and an important cultural note to post in just a few moments.
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