+601 As a fellow sane American in this country who is an open-minded Christian and despises racism, I beg every single Muslim person on this planet not to jump to conclusions that we're all racist hicks here in America because of the few people that think it's perfectly acceptable to burn Qur'ans on a national day of mourning. amirite?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I have one point at which we do not intersect, and yet we both wish for the same outcome.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

It's stupid. They yell at us for being "Islamaphobic" when a small precent of the population is like that, but it's perfectly okay for them to call us racists anti-Muslims etc.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

The news in other countries always airs things to their favor. In America, the news shows things to be the Middle East's fault...in the Middle East they show things to be America's fault. I don't know if I explained myself clearly.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

It's not even on ground zero, it's two blocks away!

by Anonymous 13 years ago

*only* two blocks. Legally, they can build there. Morally, it's wrong. If it was just 5 blocks farther, no one would care. Plus, Rauf is pretty suspicious. He's connected to people who try to force sharia.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

it's morally wrong? i can't see how building a place of worship is the vacinity of a place where something happened is morally wrong. Yes, it was a tragedy, but it don't mean a whole religion of people shouldn't be able to live their lives

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Morally it's wrong? How so? The people building this mosque were not those aboard that flight on that fateful day. They're not the same people, they're just from the same religion, which means virtually nothing, because those people on that flight 9 years ago did NOT stand for any of Islam's principles.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

@(#551992): You can't truly understand unless you lost someone in 9/11 or know someone who lost someone in 9/11. Why can't they build it a few blocks farther away?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Because this is America. Because we have the First Amendment and freedom of religion. Because if we denied them the right to build their holy place of worship, that would ultimately destroy America's freedom. I'm very sorry if you lost someone that day, or know someone who did, but we have no say in this, and what happens, happens.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

It's not about rights at all, no one denies them the right. it's about building good relationships between Muslims & Christians, Americans, etc. This is obviously not contributing to peace, so why not put it a little farther away??

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I feel for you, for that you lost someone, but please don't play that card. That's like the black card, or the little person card.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I didn't lose someone, thank goodness, but my friend did. She was devastated.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Two bloxks? Actually, that's 33 meters. That's incredibly close. I am Muslim, yeat its way too sensitive a topic and occuring to be within sight. What's bad is that people think the religion as a whole is terrorisim. People have a right to be sad and a bit shaken, but not to be bias. Plus if it were Americans, people would just say "they needed mental help." TWO BLOCKS IS SOOOOOOO CLOSE!

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Preach. Blame the sin AND blame the sinner. But for the love of all things delicious, DO NOT blame the random people who have nothing to do with anything but happen to belong to the same religion.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Not saying you support him but this Rauf guy, the one backing this up, is NOT a random person. He actually said that American policies caused the 911 attack & that it is a matter of National Security that we allow this mosque be built. Yeah, sounds like a threat to me.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

i wasn't referring to 'Rauf' - (who, by the way, i have no idea is) when i say random people. i was referring to the general Muslim community. I don't see what all this fuss is about? By saying that building a mosque near the sight is disrespectful and what not, you're allowing the terrorists to almost achieve something. By making it an issue, pretty much the whole world is being divided. Which is what the 'terrorists' want(ed), whoever you believe the terrorists to believe. As a Muslim, i believe that the people that have killed thousands or millions of innocent people can never truly call themselves Muslim. i'm not sure about them, but i was taught of respecting everybody. Regardless of their religion and where in the world i meet them. Personally, i find it ludicrous that people find building a mosque a threat. Muslims died in the 9/11 attacks too, along with christians, jews, atheists etc.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

From a Muslim point of view, I thank you all for understanding. I understand these absurd people do not represent your country; you're not all like that. Just like we're not all ignorant terrorists spending our whole lives scheming against Christians. The Qu'uran is so scared in our religion. And you can only imagine the anger over the thought of burning it. So please forgive that. Holding grudges and tension between people of certain countries is to no one's benefit. These people could've been from anywhere and any religion. I just hope people understand that.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

That totally makes sense. Chrisitians would be pissed if some group of people were saying they were gonna burn the Bible

by Anonymous 13 years ago

But they do...I mean haven't you heard of countries in like Asia where the Bible is outlawed & Christians are persecuted? Or more obviously back a little while ago when all those people in Iraq were burning USA flags

by Anonymous 13 years ago

they were burning the us flags because the american government came and made conditions pretty bad with the war. they were just expressing their anger at the government.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Exactly. Islam is a huge religion, roughly 1 billion people are Muslims. So saying terrorism and religion are synonymous basically rules 1/6 of our planet's population to be terrorists. Not only does that not make sense, but that would be terribly unfair to those innocent Muslims that had absolutely nothing to do with this entire situation.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

That pastor is a disgrace to the country.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

ok look im an Arab Muslim who lived my whole life in the US (SoCal to be exact) I never did anything to anyone, all I do is play basketball and ps2 w/ my friends, chill at the mall, go to Chick-fil-A, drink too much A&W cream soda, I watched Rugrats, Doug, CatDog, DExter's Labratory, I used to collect pokemon cards etc. And please no ignorant idiot say "oh you must be a very liberal/westernized muslim", as if they even know any Muslims . Cuz I don't do drugs, smoke, have pre-marital sex, I pray, read Qur'an, fast for Ramadan, try not to lie, curse, try to respect my parents, etc. That's what a Muslim is. I don't think about "infidels" or "jeeeeehad". No one even frikkin says "infidel". I have never heard anyone The ppl who say that probably think black people greet each other with "Yo yo yo homie dawg". Right now I'm outside the US for college, I really miss my friends so much, but I don't wanna risk getting hate-crime'd, so please don't ruin the America I lived in my whole lif

by Anonymous 13 years ago

As far as the mosque issue goes, I think that it's ridiculous that people are getting mad for it being two blocks away. It's not like it's right next to it. It's TWO blocks away. How many blocks away will it take for them to finaly have the freedom of religion that they need? Truth is, some Americans just fit people into stereotypes that they can't get out of. The religion of Islam is typically peaceful. Feel free to tell me your opinions. Peace.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

It's not just the one in New York people are getting upset about either. I read an article about someone burning all the building supplies on the site of a future mosque in Tennessee (Not 100% sure about the location, I read this a few days ago).

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Well about 5 blocks would be good, because that's about where THERE ALREADY IS A MOSQUE. 2 blocks is not far at all, and at this other mosque you can see where the Twin Towers used to be. Which is close enough.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

And it's not even about freedom of religion, it's about building peaceful relations. No one doubted their freedom EVER. It's just about if this is a good idea or not.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Well by freedom of religion I meant being free to say which religion you are without been thought of poorly. I guess I should've worded that better!

by Anonymous 13 years ago

(The Arab 'Situation') Hahaha I know! I go to mosque and NEVER hear anything about infidels or Jihad, and we always have Christians and Jews and so many other people just come in and we give them food and talk and laugh. It's just a peaceful environment.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Its funny that this is the most civilized, intelligent discussion over the matter. But people need to realize that there is a difference between the whole of Islam and the Al Queda. You can't interchange those terms. What Americans do is blame the others who are different as a whole. But when there is someone who is an American and enjoys the same pastimes or might look similar, then we say it is that person themselves who are crazy. I, being half-Turkish and residing in NYC my whole life, believe a Mosque is okay, just two blocks is very, very close and I would be sensitive. Some people are commenting "TWO blocks away" but TWO blocks is only 30 meters. That is actually very close, and if you had people who died and you weren't educated in the incident and religion and people, you would be upset!

by Anonymous 13 years ago

(AnonymousFromageB...): I'm Turkish too! High five!

by Anonymous 13 years ago

(AnonymousFromageB...): You say Americans blame others as a whole, but really you're stereotyping Americans just the same. There are plenty of ignorant people but pay attention to the intelligent people, for example, many people on this page (and understandable not everyone here is American.) I do agree with your comment though.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

If you want Muslims to stop blaming the entire Christian population for that stupid pastor's doings, then tell your Christian friends to stop blaming the entire Muslim population for a tragedy that happened 9 years ago And those who are saying that two blocks away is too close, if only it was two more blocks or five more blocks away-we all know that even if it was a mile away people who still be whining about it. This has nothing to do about the sensitivity of the families who lost loved ones in 9-11. You forget over 300 Muslims died that day too. That, and the fact that there are ongoing protests across the U.S against the building of Masjids. If you were Muslim you would see this as discrimination and insensitivity towards those Muslims who are innocent, and who did lose loved ones on 9-11. Sometimes the ignorance I see and hear in this country makes me a ashamed to be classified under the same nationality. People allowed the media to manipulate their minds and decisions. It's sad

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Guess what, there IS a mosque within a mile and NO ONE is 'whining' about it. There are two in New York City. And I don't know a single Christian who blames all Muslis for 911, by the way.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

No one is whining about it because it was built prior to the 9/11 attacks.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

But it couldn't still be used for an 'al Quaeda' headquarters, just like the new one supposedly will be?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Exactly. I think building the centre is perfectly fine -- those seeking to are people of this country who were hurt and effected by 911 along with everybody else here, and they should NOT be any different.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

"the more the merrier!"

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Good news everyone! (I'm the OP, btw. yet another post I made anonymously was homepaged -_-) but anyhoo, apparently the priest is cancelling it! Or considering. Yess!!!

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Really?! Oh, and I wanted to say that I'll never be that ignorant to believe that all Christians want to burn the Quran. Thanks for posting this.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

That still doesn't justify anything, I'm glad that douche bag *considered* cancelling the ritual, but it's the thought that counts. The fact that he even proposed that idea is so cruel..

by Anonymous 13 years ago

You're right about that, but it's good that he may not do it at all, that'll make it about 10 times as bad

by Anonymous 13 years ago

He seems kinda psycho, to be honest. Look at that moustache of his D: As a Muslim, though, I'm glad you made that post. Its lovely :') As for the Mosque being built on Ground Zero thing - not AGAIN.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Why thank you =) he does look psycho.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

BURN A QU'RAN ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF 9/11 IS CANCELLED. But thanks to that horrible Reverend's idea, people will probably do it nonetheless. :(

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Did we forget what we learned in grammar school social studies? THIS IS AMERICA! And the MAIN reason that people came to this great country was for freedom of religion! that is what our country is based on! It seems a bit ridiculous that this is even a debate.

by Anonymous 13 years ago