By Varan Satchithanandan ’12, Staff Writer

There has been much heated debate on the subject of building an Islamic community center a few blocks away from Ground Zero. The arguments against the mosque have no merit. While the main reasoning is that the planned mosque is insensitive to the victims of 9/11, more radical opponents have claimed that the center will be a base for Al-Qaeda.  Both of these arguments ignore the difference between the terrorist group known as Al –Qaeda and law-abiding Muslims. While Al-Qaeda was responsible for the attacks, there is still an entire population of upstanding citizens.  In addition, the Imam proposing the center is an American cleric well known to promote interfaith understanding.

Still some have claimed that the old name for the center, Cordoba House, is insulting – Cordoba being the name of the church turned into a mosque when Muslims conquered Spain. Yet another misinterpretation – the American Imam says Cordoba reminds us all of a time in the Dark Ages when Muslims, Jews, and Christians thrived together in a center of learning.

Many critics continue to insist that since there are no churches or synagogues in Saudi Arabia, there should be no mosque in New York.  America has its own values and standards and does not need to be held to those of other countries.

The First Amendment to the Constitution further supports the mosque’s cause. America was built on the foundation of separation of church and state. Freedom of religion is guaranteed to citizens of this country, and to refuse the existence and development of this Islamic center would be to refuse Americans that freedom.  Let us uphold our best traditions of freedom, tolerance and goodwill by letting all Americans worship wherever they choose.

Read: Where Freedom of Religion Runs Against Sensitivity