I Don

COLUMN By HEMANT MEHTA

For HumanistNetworkNews.org
June 09, 2010

Pat Condell doesn't want to see a mosque built at Ground Zero.

… Building Mosques on conquered sacred ground is standard practice, its what Islam has always done to assert its supremacy and that is whats happening here. And of course they know how insulting it is, how offensive it is; are you kidding? Why do you think they chose this site as close as possible to ground zero? Or do you think that that was just an accident? And they also know that once its built it will be there forever as a permanent affront to all Americans–gloating in triumph and a major bridgehead in the ongoing stealth jihad. Thats how the Muslim world will see it and thats how they'll be encouraged to see it, and to be fair to them, thats exactly what it will be, confirming what they've always suspected: America is a soft country–a decadent country crippled by political correctness; confused and guilt ridden, with no backbone and no pride.

Sounds eloquent, but I'm not buying it.

People have every right to be angry at the Islamic fundamentalists who flew planes into those buildings. But the people who would use this Muslim center are not them. Let's not make the mistake of stereotyping all Muslims by the actions of a handful of them.

This isn't them rubbing salt in our wounds. This is us showing how much better we are than the Islamic societies who would never permit such a center to be built if the tables were turned.

We're forgiving.

We support freedom of religion.

We don't let the actions of a few speak for everybody else in a particular group.

Call it political correctness, but it's not something that scares me. Meanwhile, Condell seems to be having nightmares about it.

You can quote the Koran all you want, but just like Christians, Muslim-Americans don't take seriously the parts about killing in the name of a god. There's no need to overreact.

Don't get me wrong. I'm all for fighting Sharia law. I still think Muslims are as deluded as Christians when it comes to the god question. I'm not "happy" about the building of any religious worship houses. And my non-opposition to this particular mosque doesn't mean I support Islam in any way.

But I'm not freaked out by the mere existence of this building.

If you oppose it, fine. But oppose it on the grounds of where the money is coming from to pay for it. Not on the grounds of fear. And certainly not on the idea that the area around the World Trade Center is "sacred" when there is a church, a synagogue, a strip club and an adult video store all within a few blocks from Ground Zero.

Hemant Mehta is the Chair of the Secular Student Alliance (SSA) Board of Directors. He has worked with the Center for Inquiry and also is an SSA representative to the Secular Coalition for America. Hemant received national attention, including being featured on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, for his work as the "eBay Atheist." Hemant's blog can be read at FriendlyAtheist.com, and his book, I Sold My Soul on eBay, (WaterBrook Press) is now available on Amazon.com. He currently works as a high school math teacher in the suburbs of Chicago.