That the US should practise what it preaches

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Should there be a mosque built, two blocks from the site of the 9/11 attacks?

That's a question dividing America.

I'm not going to explain it myself. It's not hard to find a news website. I'll just go straight to opinion.

The whole furore seems like a lynch mob. Mark Williams, of the (radical) Right-wing Tea Party movement, wrote that the mosque would become a place "for the worship of the terrorists' monkey-god." Others deliberately confuse the terrorists with all Muslims. For instance, former Republican Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, stated in an interview that "Nazis don't have the right to put up a sign next to the Holocaust Museum in Washington." He should know better: he would never be unreasonable enough to say that all Germans were or are Nazis. However, he seems happy to imply that all Muslims are terrorists. Does this mean that all Catholics -- because of the IRA -- are terrorists?

Obama has drawn flak for metaphorically stepping out on the street to confront the lynch mob and state that the mosque should be allowed -- after all, the freedom to practice one's religion is enshrined in the US Constitution, as well as other (some would say more important) documents, such as the UDHR.

What is important is that Islam did not attack America on that day. A small group of radical religious extremists (particular religion = somewhat irrelevant), who were reacting primarily (IMO) to the US presence in Saudi Arabia, did. Innocent Muslim US citizens died in the 9/11 attacks. Muslims were outraged just as much as anybody else. Islam is a peaceful religion, and killing others -- and suicide -- is a sin.

Most, if not all, religions have atrocities attributed to them. The same could be said of most ideologies.

In terms of the actual structure, it is a proposed $100 million Islamic community centre, complete with mosque. It is also going to be used -- appropriately post-9/11 -- as a centre for inter-faith dialogue, to combat misunderstandings on both sides. (As an aside, today I read that 20% of US citizens think that Obama is a Muslim.)

There are already two mosques within a certain distance of Ground Zero (I forget how far, exactly).

Finally, Newt Gingrich has also stated that there should be no mosque next Ground Zero "so long as there are no churches or synagogues in Saudi Arabia." What a stupid thing to say. It is precisely the US's (theoretical) willingness to tolerate difference that distinguishes it from theocratic states which are consistently criticised, such as Iran and Saudi Arabia. Gingrich wants to make America like that? Don't stoop to that level. Uphold the freedom to religion: support the mosque.