New York City Mosque

E-Mail to Congress:

Two related issues have been raised in the last several days concerning the proposed New York City mosque. Isn't it a New York City problem, which New Yorkers should decide? What about freedom of religion?

When Muslim terrorists destroyed the New York City World Trade Center, they were not particularly antagonistic against New Yorkers or the Trade Center. Muslim terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center as a symbol of their antagonism against the US. They said so. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor to begin World War II, we did not regard it as a Pearl Harbor problem. It was a US problem, and the World Trade Center attack by Muslim terrorists is no less a US problem.

With respect to "freedom of religion", the First Amendment to the Constitution says, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; [etc. on speech, press, assembly, and petition]. To my knowledge, Congress has made no such law. In spite of this, the Federal Administration has for many years maintained a program of reducing within the citizenry a respect for and involvement in religion. This is within the Administration's bounds, because there is no law prohibiting this action and conversion of the citizenry to dependency on government, rather than religion, boosts the power of government. More recently, we have added a Muslim inclined President, who whenever possible promotes Islam. A recent example of this has been the Imam traveling to the Middle East under the auspices of the State Department. However, this is fundamentally different problem. The claimed issue is whether we should support building of the Muslim Mosque based on "freedom of religion". Considering the above First Amendment quote that freedom of religion is not involved in this situation. It cannot be used as an excuse to foster building the mosque.

The actual facts on the religious aspect is that Pres. Obama continues to encourage the development of Islam in the US for religious and ideological reasons. He obtains considerable Democratic support, because Democrats believe that the more powerful Muslims we have in our society, the more Democratic votes there will be to maintain Democratic power.