Okay, it's a bad day when very sane advice sounds completely opposed to the mainstream. But Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley should make rational people proud with his editorial on the NYC mosque situation published in today's Oregonian. Here's the key passage:
The presence of a mosque is only inappropriate near ground zero if we unfairly associate Muslim Americans with the atrocities of the foreign al-Qaida terrorists who attacked our nation.He then goes on to quote George W. Bush making the (wild and crazy!) statement that the destruction of the Twin Towers were "acts of violence against innocents violate the fundamental tenets of the Islamic faith, and it's important for my fellow Americans to understand that."Such an association is a profound error. Muslim Americans are our fellow citizens, not our enemies... Al-Qaida justifies its murder by painting America as a nation at war with Islam. Celebrating our freedom of religion and Muslim Americans' place in our communities is a blow to al-Qaida's ideology of hate and division. We strengthen America by distinguishing, clearly and unequivocally, between our al-Qaida enemy and our Muslim neighbors.
Anyway, good on ya, Jeff.
