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FrozenBacon said:
You know, I went to Afghanistan to fight my part in this war on terror, specifically the Taliban. My job involved trying to get into the minds of these guys by tracking their day to day business and breaking out terrorist networks. I got to know some of them pretty well. From this I know some of the extremists who climb the ranks of the Taliban are some of the worst, most misguided Muslims ever and provide nothing positive to this world. I really am glad that I helped destroy some of their networks in Afghanistan and really hope that organization disappears so the people of Afghanistan can lead regular, slightly less f***** up lives.

For this, I wholeheartedly thank you.

FrozenBacon said:
Now with my distaste for the Taliban explained, I'll say that I do not give a damn about this mosque being built near ground zero. Japanese people visit and take pictures of pearl harbor all the time, should we ban them from seeing that? While what happened in NYC was a horrible thing, it is history and erecting a mosque near it changes nothing. The mosque will not build up some Taliban resistance in the US, or anywhere for that matter. I think the debate on this whole thing is silly, really. But then again I wasn't one to care much for politics. Half of the stuff dealing with politics are just touchy matters that in the end, do not even matter. More talk that does nothing but perhaps cater to the pointless feel good feeling in peoples' stomachs.

True, but I think this is more than a few political talking points. Whenever ANY religious institution opens up a new place of worship - I feel sick in my stomach. This goes double for Scientology and Islam. I admit, I don't know nearly enough about either "religion" - but something has such devout followers always makes me fearful (think Jim Jones). Also, the Afghan people will never be free as long as religion is guiding their way of life. Location is just something to add a little flavor to the discussion, but your point about Pearl harbor and the Japanese was spot on.

The Mosque is claiming that it will be like a YMCA or JCC, in accepting all people and all faiths - I have some doubts, but in fairness If you can open up a synagogue or a church you should be able to open up a mosque. Due to Islams history ( or better stereotype) of producing radicals in modern times - people, like me, are a little more hesitant than they should be about this thing.

In summary, Lose religion - gain freedom.
 
UrbanMasque said:
Due to Islams history ( or better stereotype) of producing radicals in modern times - people, like me, are a little more hesitant than they should be about this thing.

In summary, Lose religion - gain freedom.

Except for every Islamic terrorist, there is an equal number of Christian or Jewish terrorists. Almost every domestic terrorist attack in this nation was perpetrated by people born of the Christian faith. Timothy McVey was born Catholic, but later declared himself agnostic. Should other agnostics be persecuted because of one man's actions? Israel is becoming more and more a hardline theocratic fascist state, and whenever they "protect their land" they end up creating antisemitic attacks world wide as well as further distancing themselves from more secular Jews.

Also, its not that we should lose religion; its more that we should be reminded of the tenants of those religions and focus more on what those tenants want us to be, rather than blindly following one man's interpretation of those tenants.

Judaism is a religion based on understanding the world we live in and thus become closer with God.

Christianity is a religion based on having love for one another human being and thus become closer with God.

Islam is a religion based on peace amongst all people and thus become closer with God.

That is not to say that the vast majority of followers have forgotten these, but in of themselves, the religions are not to blame.
 
Really this has nothing to do with freedom of religion...To me anyways, or religious tolerance. It just has to do with something being done in relatively poor taste. If the Imam wanting it constructed was not the same Imam who had claimed America was "an accessory to the crimeâ€
 
Trippy - Timothy McVey didn't do what he did b/c of his religion he did it b/c he was a hate mongering militant white supremacist who'd gone off his rocker (who just happened to be a catholic). Christianity is more tolerable, for now, because suicide (for any reason) is frowned upon. Again, I'm still naive on the topic - but in Islam martyrs are held in high esteem and are thought to have taken their place next to god. correct? This is a very dangerous mentality. To give to followers living below the poverty line with no hope of climbing the social/economic structure.

-but thats beside the point-

Agreed Lethean. Very bad form and poor taste involving this decision, but again my personal feelings aside they have just as much of a right to set up here as they would anywhere else. God Bless America.
 
Lien said:

Yeahhhhhhh.............Those first two reason are two of the most cited reasons I hear for building the mosque, excuse me, mosque/community center; unfortunately, they're also two of the weakest.

Saying "Oh, its not on Ground Zero, its two blocks away from Ground Zero. Oh, its not a mosque, its a Muslim community center including a mosque." is not going to change ANYBODY'S mind.

Those two reasons (fuck it, they aren't even reasons, they're rebuttals) go hand in hand with "Oh, there's already a mosque even closer, so nobody should care about this new one" and "Oh, if you oppose it its just because you're a racist."
 
One of the best things about being Canadian is that we don't get FOX news, but still get to enjoy all their sitcoms. I do understand though that FOX news is very biased towards Republicans so I can see them making a big deal out of it. So I'm not siding with the dolts at FOX when I say I disagree with the Mosque. Like others have mentioned, I don't think the issue here is tolerance.

There's nothing wrong with the Japanese visiting Pearl Harbour but would you think it's right for the Japanese to buy a piece of land just 2 blocks away from the attack and then build something honouring the Emperor of Japan only 9 years after it happened? Yes, times were different back then but my point is that it feels disrespectful.


Maybe this Mosque should put more emphasis on being built in honour of the WTC victims. I'd like to see it's purpose meant to educate all Muslims that the warped teachings of the middle east is not the correct path to Islam. Then I would be more supportive.

I have friends who are Muslim and have told me that a lot of stuff written in the Koran is just plain wrong. Such as "spread the faith by the sword". This indicates that you must force others to believe your religion through intimidation and threats. Also the treatment of women is something that is easily misrepresented because it can be interpreted in many different ways.

And women shall have rights similar to the rights against them, according to what is equitable; but man have a degree over them (2:228)

Some say this means women have rights against them as in what is morally right or wrong. While the majority believe they must obey rights of oppression and respect those rights. What is undeniable is the fact that it says men have more rights than women.

Women of Islam are only respected if they are covered. The more they are covered, the more they are respected. The idea here is that if you go to a strip club, you don't have any respect for the stripper. And if you're at the beach and see a woman in a bikini, you began to think sexual thoughts. You don't respect her for her intelligence or personality, you just think she's hot and want to bang her.

While this is true, it doesn't mean a woman should have to cover her face/hair/entire body because we're missing the entire point of SELF-RESPECT. If a woman is walking on a beach in a bikini then she is confident in herself, self confidence doesn't always require the respect of others. She might be viewed as a sex object by other males on the beach, but she has respect for herself because she doesn't feel self-conscious of her own appearance. Obviously there is a difference between that and a stripper/porn star. But as far as women choosing how they want to dress in public says more about self confidence then it does about respect from the opposite sex.

Besides, the same can be side about a man. If a man is walking topless with a six pack and beautiful hair a woman will have sexual thoughts about him. But he shouldn't have to cover his torso and his hair just because women will see him as a sex object.

And every man feels sexual desires towards a woman he falls for, it's part of human nature. But there is a huge difference in seeing a sexy woman walk by and meeting someone you like for who they are on the inside.

This whole thing on Muslims comes from my discussions I've had with muslim friends who don't take their religion seriously and basically say they're muslim because that's their family background.

The Koran can be interpreted in other ways (as can the bible) and I feel that there are a lot of misguided muslims out there, even here in the Western world. I would very much like to see this new Mosque next to ground zero be a REMINDER of WHY we don't spread the faith by the sword and why acceptance of each other is the only path to enlightenment.
 
Well said Liquid.

I don't agree with all the hatred the middle east feels towards Americans. But muslims look at radical extremists the same way Christians look at the Nazi's who blamed the Jews for the death of Jesus. It's sickening and repuslive and is not the true meaning of the faith.

I'm not a serious Christian but I am still Christian and I think if a lot of these Christians who have a problem with the Mosque should go back and review their own religion because the bible teaches forgiveness.

To allow the Mosque and forgive Muslims for actions by radical extremists almost ten years ago just goes to show how we're "the bigger man" in all this. You think this sort of thing would happen in the Middle East? No, of course not. Because over there they're animals. Over here we are civilized and decent humans.

Also Fox news isn't progress, it just slows us down.
 
Ok... fine... let's do this...

WHEN can they build a mosque near ground zero? In 2 years? 10? 30? 50? 100? never?

Also, there's like 2 billions muslim in the world today, and guess what, they're all not terrorist, the vast (make that the very vast) majority don't agree with Al Qaida and believe they should be punished. The majority of Muslims in the world (and in new york) are not Arabs but Asians (the highest concentration of Muslims populate ,i.e number, in the world is in Indonesia, the second is in India and they're a minority there).
And for goodness sake, fine let's do this, even if it's not a YMCA or that there are other mosques near the site, let me clear this up...

IT'S NOT A TEMPLE OF AL QUAIDA!


Oh and the comment about the Japanese praising the emperor near Pearl harbor is an opinion similar to the members of the house of congress in 1942.


and isn't there a Starbucks near there too? someone told me that...
 
Its so sad really. Preventing this mosque from being built would mean Al Qaeda has succeeded in causing the USA to compromise the very foundation of our nation. The principles on which this country was built in fact.
Whats even sadder is that people can't see this.

Its depressing to watch the US slowly erode from afar.
 

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