Sticking to my principles, I think it should definitely be legal for them to build a mosque there, or anywhere else that's zoned appropriately. But emotionally, it's adding insult to injury, and will only worsen Americans' perceptions of the Islamic world -- not only did Muslims kill people in 2001, but they were also obnoxious jerks in 2010. :rolleyes:
Plus, I'm uncomfortable with the name "Cordoba House" -- the original Cordoba was the capital of Muslim-conquered Spain (al-Andalus). It gives it a kind of "victory over the infidels" flavor which I resent.
Rac, thank you for your service. And your perspective. It's valuable. Let me run this by you:
One argument I've heard lately is that, when you think about it, Islam is really an ideology, not a religion. The ideology has religious components, true, but it also governs criminal and civil law and all sorts of aspects of society. (Including which hand is clean and which is unclean. Which was probably a big sanitary improvement at the time, but still...) In Islam, in the Koran, there is no separation of church and state. The church is the state is the church, and all is subject to Allah.
I know that there are many, many Muslims who just kind of ignore that part (just as there are many Christians who ignore the "God hates divorce" part of the Bible, for instance). But the Muslims who *do* believe it are, shall we say, deadly serious about it.
PJ
