Mosques

It's been about a month, and not much is going on - save a tempest in a teapot.

I'm concerned about how people are willing to sacrifice the 1st Amendment to the constitution at the altar of propriety. Do Muslims have the same rights as Christians and Jews to worship as they please? Our constitution says YES. But people are associating Islam with the attacks of 9/11. Is this right? NO. Yet it is happening anyway.

I'll admit to a prejudice against Arab culture. But that bias has been shared among many great Americans - George S. Patton for one. This allows us to separate our feelings about Arabs from the religion most practice. Americans often do not realize that a sizable number of Muslims are not Arab and do not see the world as severely as Arabs. Yet, we're tainting these peaceful Muslims who want to build a Mosque in Lower Manhattan with the same stain that we are using against Arabs. This is not right - people should always be judged as individuals - even if they belong to groups with whom we are not at ease....

So what do we do? I choose to live by the principle of our law - even if I am not happy with one of the results of that law. And I hope that more people choose to do so. I'd prefer that the mosque be built elsewhere - but there are many other problems with which I am more concerned....