That depends on what “at” means, I guess

The Mosque at Ground Zero! Eek!

What exactly does “at” mean in this context?  It means, it turns out, a few blocks away, a minute or two to walk, a tenth of a mile … hardly some horrific evil religious tower, towering like a tower over the fallen towers!

In fact, have you ever been in downtown Manhattan? Does a 13 story building actually tower over anything?

Here’s a map, to put it in context.

And, just to make things clear, we’re not talking about a mosque. We’re talking about a cultural center, an Islamic equivalent to the YMCA, with a gym and a pool and a library and (yes) a prayer room.  And we’re talking about something being built blocks away — something that will be, itself, overshadowed by the buildings erected at the Ground Zero site.

The arguments against Cordoba House seem to boil down to:

1. People who conflate the terrorists of 9/11 with all Muslims are (now that their noses have been ground into it) upset that there are, in fact, Muslims in NYC, and that they want to build a cultural center.
2. Even though the folks involved have purchased the property, and have gone through all the appropriate permitting and work with neighborhood government, the sacred American principles of “private property,” “religious freedom,” and “local control” ought to be tossed out (at the instigation of groups that usually idolize private property, religious freedom, and local control).
3. It’s a great way to gather donations for the Right!

It’s that last one that bugs the holy hell out of me, because this controversy is really being ginned up, not so much by folks who are still nursing emotional wounds from 9/11, but by folks who see those victims as leverage for political gain and publicity and donations.  The cynicism (and slipshod logic) of the opponents of the Cordoba Center is breathtaking, and aggravating.

Almost as aggravating as the argument that, well, Saudi Arabia doesn’t allow Christian churches to be built, so we shouldn’t allow an Islamic center to be built.  Really?  We should model our religious and civil freedoms on Saudi Arabia?

As Matt Sledge points out at the HuffPo (in a piece whence I got the map above):

There’s one more catch for the opponents of the so-called Ground Zero mosque: by the same logical leap you can call the Cordoba Center a “mosque,” you can also call Ground Zero as it already exists a giant, open-air mosque. Muslim prayers are already taking place right on the edge of the construction site, and not for world domination. Families are going there to pray — for the souls of the dozens of innocent Muslim victims who died on September 11.

Jesus wept, too.