Coffee Break with Liz and Kate

Let me begin this by saying I can’t imagine that any American could be more outraged than myself where the terror of Sept. 11, 2001 is concerned. (Although I suspect many of you share an equal amount of outrage.) I am still angry and devastated over the events that transpired nine years ago.

But I remember thinking as that day played out, we’d soon forget as a nation. And I believe many have.

Unless you’ve been on another planet, you also know that there are plans to build a mosque near Ground Zero. That it is their right to build said mosque is not in question. Freedom of religion sits squarely our Constitution, Amendment 1. (For the purposes of my rant, we won’t get into the fact that there are other laws to be considered, here. Or the fact that a Christian church was denied approval to build on that same site. )

And what about the name? The mosque, or more accurately,  Cordoba Islamic Center, should be enough to cause one to stop dead in their tracks and question the motives of those spurring this on.

Do I believe this “center”  is a way of bridging the divide between east and west, Christians and Muslims? Not for a single second. It does exactly the opposite. (Again, I won’t get into the Hamas connections, and questionable funding sources, et al.)

If it’s not already clear, I trust nothing about this project. Just my opinion. I believe it’s a slap in the face to the  3,000 who died that day, and to the soldiers that went to war. It’s a slap in the face to Tim and Marsha Hunt, Andrea Lieurance and Kim and Ted Tucker, whose sons were killed at the hands of radical Islam. It’s a slap in the face to my friends who were with them on those days in Iraq – and a slap in the face to all the others who’ve fought to bring freedom to parts of the world that are anything but free.

Reiterating, building a mosque is not a crime. They have the right to do it. But are the backers of this mosque doing what is right? I say no.

I also believe that the well-publicized Koran-burning, planned for 9/11, must be called to task as well. Do they have the right to go through with this? Yes. Whether it’s right is another question entirely.

Call me sentimental, if you want. Or call me an idiot. I really don’t care. I like books for myriad reasons, not the least of which would include the fact that by reading other opinions, we’re challenged to form our own. As a caller to a local talk radio show mentioned earlier today, hold your friends close, your enemies closer. Know how they operate. Nothing wrong with that. Read everything you can get your hands on and learn.

While I fully understand this Florida church’s outrage, I believe their event negates the message of our Judeo-Christian nation, promoting instead a tactic based on revenge. It diminishes the fact that Americans are exceptional.  The book burning will stoop to their level (without IEDs and suicide bombers, of course).  That’s not who we are. We are the exception.  Not better, just the exception to the rule. Burning books – the Koran – in no way rises to the level of  hatred radical Islam hold for us, but it still promotes the hatred that I thought we’d decided to turn away from.

If you want to show disdain for radical Islam, find other avenues. Remember who we are as Americans. If you fear that canceling the book burning shows a fear of radical Islam, think again. Lock arms against extremism and go about your daily life with faith in the good of mankind.

I have a feeling that I’m not unlike you guys. The thought of flipping these people off (well, that’s putting it mildly) is a tempting thought. But there is something within me that says that burning the Koran feeds the same hand of destruction that a mosque near Ground Zero feeds. Something deep inside me knows both are fundamentally wrong.  Having the right to do something doesn’t make it right. And at the end of the day, that’s all I really need to know.

-Liz

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