A Ground Zero Mosque, By Any Other Name

“This is why only fools are heroes - because you never know when some lunatic will come along with a sadistic choice.”     The Green Goblin, Spiderman (2002)

The first Spiderman film was released just about the time the crews were finishing up the recovery at Ground Zero in 2002.

The Associated Press has ordered its reporters not to use the phrase “Ground Zero Mosque”. This missive wraps up a week of nothing but talk of the GZM. Someone posted a comment on Glenn Beck’s Facebook page that trading government land with these pirates is nothing short of giving in to their terrorism. They were right, too.

Some choice – allowing anti-American Muslims to erect a victory mosque two blocks from Ground Zero, in a building that suffered damage in the attacks thus reducing its property value, with their promise that they will begin construction on Sept. 11th of next year, the tenth anniversary of the attack.

Or, trading with them for U.S. government land upon which they can plant their flag, at the expense of the American taxpayer, since the new property will be vastly more valuable than the $4 million he paid for the old Burlington Coat Factory building.

And now, there’s a preacher in California who wants to mark September 11th as Burn the Koran Day. Oh dear.

Look, I know, we’re all bummed out by the treachery of Community Board One, the Landmarks Preservation Commission, and New York City Mayor Bloomberg. But as other pundits have pointed out, Liberals though they are, burning the Koran is a huge mistake. It makes us like them. If we’re going to act like them, then we’re wasting our time protesting the erection of this mosque on Park Place. We might as well join them, get down on our knees and stick our butts up in the air.

What’s more, burning their holy book will only give them an excuse for violence. They’ll go on a rampage, murdering innocent people anywhere they can find them. Look at how they behaved simply because a cartoonist drew a caricature of their prophet, Mohammed. We shouldn’t be afraid to stand up and peacefully defend our way of life. Instigating violence, on the other hand, bringing it upon ourselves deliberately, by such an obviously provocative act, isn’t courageous; it’s foolish and unnecessary.

If protesters really wanted to make a point, they’d go to a protest-a-mosque rally with their Bible (or Torah or Declaration of Independence) in one hand – and holding a dog’s leash with the other. If this is truly a holy war – and I believe it is – we must prove our faith stronger through faith, not violence. Faithful Christians don’t need the Muslims to build them a bridge to God – the As-Sirat, as they call it - a bridge which the Muslims have deemed themselves righteous to throw infidels from, in one way or another.

Jesus already did the hard work for them, faithful Christians tell me. There’s nothing they must, or even can, do to prove to God that they love Him and are worthy of eternal life, I’m told (I’m certainly no expert – I fear my ticket is already punched for that other place). That path is as easy or as hard as an individual wants to make it. To force allegiance to God through mortal fear and castigation is to cheat Him of His omnipotent right to judge the human heart on its own merits.

Therein lies the problem with Islam and in particular, a Ground Zero Victory Mosque. The owners’ determination to build there, in spite of protests and pleas, speaks to their true intentions and spirit. The Liberals and the propagandist Media are their willing allies. The funding, it seems now, will come not from the United States but from abroad.

Some righteous anger at the construction of this mosque in such a sensitive area is justified. But only good conduct on our part will justify that anger. We Americans are the injured parties. We don’t want to turn that charge over to their side by performing superfluous acts of violence. The hole in the ground two blocks from Park Place, the now-decrepit condition of that neighborhood, the many photographs of September 11th, the prominent display of the American flag, and the broken hearts of the 9/11 families will be more than sufficient evidence to point the finger of blame in the right direction.

Don’t expect them to feel guilty. But they shouldn’t expect us to bow down to them with our butts in the air, either, to prove how “tolerant” we are.