It Isn't About "Freedom To Practice Religion," Obama

As we all know by now, President Obama felt compelled to weigh in on the building of a mosque near Ground Zero. And a number of people are responding to Obama's Friday Night Ramadan Dinner chat. I might say, no one has written more brilliantly than Larry Johnson at No Quarter. If you haven't read it already, I definitely recommend it.

But Larry is not the only one with something to say about Obama's proclamation. Here are just a few more statements being made this morning, compiled by AOL News:

[snip] Fitting Statement, But...
President Obama's remarks about the community center and mosque planned for the neighborhood of Ground Zero were a fitting restatement of fundamental American fealty to freedom of religion....That said, it must also be recognized -- and unfortunately Obama did not do so fully -- that the hallowed ground of 9/11 stirs the deepest of emotions. That's why, even as most of those polled saw the right to build, 64% still said the location was simply wrong for a mosque and Islamic-related facility...Those are legitimate sentiments, born not of bigotry but of reverence. They must be respected. -- Editorial, New York Daily News

Not Hedging a Bit
The foes of the Islamic center have been trying to drag Obama into this debate, and some have urged Obama to avoid wading into it. But now he has, and he isn't hedging a bit: He's saying that opposing the group's right to build the Islamic center is, in essence, un-American. I look forward to the response from the project's opponents. -- Greg Sargent, The Washington Post

Missing the Point
Like so much of the other stuff Obama says, this is an exercise in missing the point. The issue is not, legally, whether the Muslims can construct a mosque at Ground Zero -- that is, whether state action should prevent them from doing so as long as they operate in "accordance with local laws and ordinances." Of course not. That would be unconstitutional. But there's a lot of stuff that's legal that still isn't right. And so, when it comes to the mosque, the real question is whether it should be built, and at only this one particular site -- whether constructing it at Ground Zero is decent, and kind, and respectful of Americans' sensitivities. -- Carol Platt Liebau, Town Hall [snip]

I agree with Ms. Liebau - Obama is missing the point, as is Greg Sargent. This is not about freedom of religion - of course Muslims are free to practice their religion in the United States, as we all are (including the freedom not to practice religion). This is a canard, the purpose of which is a deliberate attempt to distort the real issue.

So, let's be clear here. This mosque is not just any mosque, but one headed up by Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf. A man who is currently on tour of the Middle East courtesy of our State Department, and our dime. A man who refuses to condemn Hamas. A man who says we are partly to blame for 9/11. A man State Department spokesweasel P.J. Crowley says won't be talking about religion, and won't be fund-raising when he goes to countries like the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia to pay for the mosque he wants to build near Ground Zero.

But here's the thing - Rauf has been offered other property on which to build his mosque by Gov. Patterson. He declined. He WANTS it to be in the shadow of Ground Zero. It begs the question: why?

This isn't about freedom of religion. It is about reverence, about sensitivity to one of the most horrible acts of war on our shores, committed by Muslim extremists. That is not a right wing talking point, that is reality, a fact. The Twin Towers were brought down by Muslim extremists who sought to do us harm. And they did.

Perhaps President Obama, and all of the liberals who are working so hard to be "politically correct" and paint those who desire to not have this mosque so close to Ground Zero as a bunch of intolerant, insensitive yahoos should take a look at the video below, and remember. Remember what happened that day, not just to New Yorkers, but at the Pentagon, in a field in Pennsylvania, to all Americans, and to the world. This isn't about freedom of religion. It is about this:



No, this is about reverence. It is about honoring the memories of all who were lost in this devastating attack at the hands of Muslim extremists. It is about sensitivity to those families and friends who lost loved ones, and to all Americans who lost a sense of safety that day. It is about all of us, whose lives were changed forever the day those planes were flown into the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and the field in Pennsylvania.

How dare anyone try and make this out to be anything other than that. It is not about freedom of religion, or the right of one group to practice that religion. It is about a modicum of grace. A modicum of respect. We would no more accept a KKK headquarters in Selma, or a Japanese WWII memorial at Pearl Harbor, or a German Cultural museum in the beaches of Normandy. No, we wouldn't, and we shouldn't accept this as a "freedom of religion" issue. It isn't.

Imam Fauk was offered another piece of real estate in the city of New York, which already has more than 100 mosques. He declined. He is determined to have it near Ground Zero.

And again I ask, why?