Race in America

I have researched about the current controversy which is surrounding the building of the Islamic mosque in New York City. I have an opinion about the whole situation, I didn't want the mosque to be built quite that close to ground zero, but it could be built. Then I watched a news video from ABC news online about the controversy and it has come to my attention that there are many ways to look at the situation. In this video it was said by a woman named Lisa Miller, "Politicians are using the controversy to their advantage. The main issues are that there is sacred ground, 9/11 families still mourning, the religion of Islam, terrorism. All of these things combined are the perfect way for a politician to further their agenda." I thought about this and my opinion changed. I think that she is right and this is just to gain publicity for some people. Here in America we have the right to freedom of religion.

Once the freedom of religion was brought up in the video another man was spoken to and he goes by the name of Rabbi Matthew D. Gewirtz. During the online news video he stated, "We need to have our basic right for religious beliefs. These beliefs cannot intertwine with violence or hatred though." Gewirtz also stated that he is concerned that hatred does exist and added that another mosque dispute is occurring further west. This controversy is starting for the same reason this one is, the mosque wants to expand but many people do not agree with this. This might be due to the fact that America might be "racist", in a sense, towards the religion of Islam. I think this because of the fact that if a Church wanted to be built two blocks away from ground zero there would be no problems. In fact there would be no protests or disputes over the matter. This doesn't just go for ground zero either. If a Church wanted to be expanded on the west coast there also wouldn't be any protests or words of hate being thrown around. This makes me question Americas' morality.

There are many issues that have surfaced in this national debate. Including the ones with the politicians using the publicity on the news, and the hatred leaving the ground zero site in New York City and occurring all the way in the Western United States. This has raised much dispute and it is wondered by many what will be done. If the people who want the mosque to be moved "win" then this might go against our ways of our belief in our freedom of religion. If they don't move the mosque then this will continue to grow, in my opinion, into a much bigger problem. So basically this is a no win situation.

This controversy has grown even bigger and continued to move throughout the nation. A man by the name of Pastor Terry Jones has sparked so much controversy because he wants 09/11/10 to be an international burn a Koran day. People who worship and read from the Koran have been outraged and I don't blame them. It is said that he is considered the enemy of Islam and Jones has even been sent numerous death threats but yet he is continuing with his plans. He is on the news almost everyday and is gaining global recognition. Maybe what Miller is saying is true. Some people can be said to be using the controversy for their own personal hidden agenda. Maybe Terry Jones has a hidden agenda and will be making big money down the road because of what he is doing now. He could be using this global publicity for personal reasons. We don't know if this is true or not and this is the problem. If it is then what do we do? Well one thing we can do is punish him. That would be first and foremost. After this is done we can take responsibility for what he has done to this country and apologize to the people it has offended and this would just be the start.

The outrage that Jones has caused has reached out all the way to the war that the United States is fighting over seas. General David Petraus had this to say, "This puts our soldiers at jeopardy." Now there have been reports of physical harm put upon the soldiers already because of Jones. There have already been attacks. Reports were given that stones were thrown at a military vehicle. If this is happening before the deed has even been followed through with then who is to say what people will do once just one Koran gets burned. Jones claims that Islam is of the devil but who is the real one? Jones also stated that is Jesus were here he would do the same thing that he is doing because once again he states that Islam is of the devil. How is just one man supposed to know what a whole people think together? I have never heard of Jesus being cruel to other people and especially of their differences whether they are religion or skin color. He thought of mankind as a whole and not as one man alone to face to world by himself.

Now that these two problems are occurring within religion there is the issue of immigration. It is thought of to be a major problem just with the Mexican/American border but what about when immigrants of the Islamic religion are trying to get into the country illegally? What would we do then? We would probably try to send them away and say that we consider them terrorists. Now there is a common thread tying all of these stories together and that is the thread of religion. Religion seems to tie everything together and it does. Almost every thing on Earth can be connected to religion. This thread that intertwines the mosque near ground zero, the burning of the Korans' by Pastor Terry Jones, and the immigration laws here will always remain. We as a whole people just have to figure out how to un-tangle it together.