The New York Times had a front page article on their website today regarding the resistance across the US to Muslims opening Mosque's. 

In the Times article Across Nation, Mosque Project Meets Opposition, Author Laurie Goodstein says "the gloves have come off" these disputes around the country, as locals from NYC to suburban settings around the country have risen up and gotten down right nasty in their opposition to a Mosque opening near them.  The idea here is that the opposition around the country isn't to the building of Mosques, but to Islam itself.

The NYC Mosque planned to be built near the remains of the World Trade Center, destroyed by Islamic extremists under the direction of Osama Bin Laden is a special case.  Not just because of the number of innocent people slaughtered, but because, like it or not, the perpetrators touted it as a Holy act of Jihad.  If the Muslim proponents of this Mosque were sincere about reconciliation and repair, they would give that site a wide berth and set up shop somewhere else.    Yes, the US Constitution freedom of religion tenets give them the right to build the Mosque there, but they do not have, nor have they earned the moral right to do so.  This in-your-face strategy in advancing Islam in the US breeds deep mistrust and natural suspicion.  No matter what spin the proponents of the 'ground zero' Mosque offer, the perception by many, including me, is that this Mosque is a  profoundly offensive monument to the killers, and not to those they murdered.   Like it or not, perception oft times is reality.  If these people really were interested in reconcilement and acceptance of Islam in the West, the one place they would never build a mosque is next door to a graveyard of innocents crafted by their brothers.  Therefore, the motivation of those trying to build this Mosque is highly, highly suspect.

If Muslims are trying to purge their ranks of Jihad extremists, it's not showing.  We see violent protests across the world when a caricature of Mohammad is published, and death threats leveled against the cartoonists, but Muslims haven't poured into the streets expressing outrage over the Islamic Taliban slaughtering humanitarian non-Muslim aid workers in Afghanistan.  This disparity between going nuts over a cartoon, and accepting slaughter of human beings as normal course of business violates the senses of many, if not most, non-Muslims.

This seeming tolerance for extremist Islam leaves me and many other Americans ill-at-ease. 

In the Times article, one woman was quoted “There’s no conflict with the U.S. Constitution in Shariah law. If there were, Muslims wouldn’t be living here.”   What a load of bull.  If the archaic penalty for mocking Mohammad is death, there sure as hell is a conflict.  Freedom of Speech, the seminal cornerstone of American liberty, is entirely at odds with Shariah law.

Muslims have a long way to go before convincing me or anyone else of their benevolent intent.  A long way to go.  In the meantime, we hope that not a single construction firm will bid out the work to build that abomination near the World Trade Center.