Mosque at Ground Zero @ Friction

I recently appeared as a Guest Author at FrictionOnline, a local blog about philanthropy. I've included the beginning with a link to the rest of it. Check it out! And enjoy.

It’s Mid-August two years into the four year term of a President, which means that across the country politicians are cleaning off ye olde axes and sharpening their pitchforks in anticipation of the mid-term elections, which the minority party always hopes to take away from the President, in an effort to curb some of his power.

However, right after Faisal Shazad’s 1993 Nissan Pathfinder was discovered to be smoking, and then found to be crudely rigged for an explosion, a property was to be cleared by a local community board for some renovations which would make it into a community center for the local Muslim population. This center would include a mosque. From there, Republicans have dubbed this house of worship (and it will hardly be so) as a “monument to terrorism” that is shameful, provocative, insensitive, irresponsible.

What those pundits don’t know is that not only are they simply showing off their complete and total ignorence of other cultures and arrogance to refuse to try to educate themselves about it, but they are also fighting one of the best counter-terror devices at our disposal. This says nothing of the rights of a private citizen to utilize his private property as a house of worship, not to mention renovate such a space, when their only grievances are that they ascribe to a faith some feel has tenets that aren’t kosher (pun totally intended).

Read the Rest At FrictionOnline.