Ground Zero Mosque Controversy

10/05/10 12:49 PM

Posts to follow were generated by a September 1 UHP Cafe discussion with Rolin Mainuddin, associate professor of political science and Middle East expert

Law of the Land -- Chris Knuckles

10/05/10 12:46 PM

Marhuba!  Kif itza/i?   I can only imagine that I will have trouble writing 250 words about the reading of the past week, and whatever my thoughts are of that juxtaposed with those of Wednesday’s discussion.   I make such a claim because I honestly believe that our Constitution and its amendments speak for themselves.  The people that are urging, I can only assume (sorry, Winston Churchill), the government to step in and take action against the building of this “community center” have a really tough case to make.  This is because of the First Amendment of the Constitution, that which not only prohibits the establishment of a national religion but also of the prohibition of “free exercise”.     This, along...

Nothing Wrong with Muslim Community Center -- Noredia Akwara

10/05/10 12:42 PM

This past Wednesday during the UHP Cafe, the converstion of the community center backed by the Muslim community was brought into conversation. Initially when I heard of the building plan and issues arising around the plans for building to take place, I personally didn't think there was a major issue neither did the people who I initially spoke with about the subject. We agreed that they just happened to be the first to secure the permits to go ahead with this project. In my personal opinion, I don't believe there is anything wrong with community center being built, no matter what religious group wants to do so. In my experience with people of the Muslim faith, I have never had a bad experience and that all I have met have been well intentional people with a strong faith...

Tension Involved in Building A Mosque -- Ericka Allen

10/05/10 12:40 PM

It was hard for me to decide my stance on the issue of building a community center two blocks away from Ground Zero. I still do not fully see the controversy because I am sure that there are a vast amount of reasons people are in favor and against this building. People have many reasons why they do not want the building to be put up, as I am sure others have reasons why it should be built. As of now, I believe there is no problem with the community center going up because the reasons I have heard people are objecting to this action is due to ignorance. This ignorance is something we, Americans, all struggle with from day to day. Racial profiling is wrong, but we usually only see it as a problem when we are the ones being profiled. It is true that we have become more accepting...

No Controversy -- Brierra Kyer

10/05/10 12:38 PM

This week's discussion concerning the building of the Muslim Community Center two blocks down from Ground Zero raised many different opinions from many different types of people. But overall we have to interpretate the situation the correct way, putting all feelings that we may have aside. Regardless of how people feel about the terrorist attacks that happened on September 11,2001, or how people feel about he worshippers of the muslim religion, you have to think about our rights as Americans. As Americans we have certain rights entitled to us, and those rights include freedom of religion. The simple fact that this community center is Muslim based should have no effect on its right to be built two blocks from Ground Zero. If i was a community center that was Christian based this...