Thoughts from CCfBer Sarah Coffman on the “Ground Zero Mosque” controversy:

Islam/Muslim/The Koran doesn’t equal 9/11 or terrorism. Throughout history, people have also used The Bible to wage war and commit atrocities. Their actions have nothing to do with Christianity or The Bible or God or Jesus and the same is true for those who are Muslim. This building down near Ground Zero is not a mosque, it is a community center that happens to also have a prayer room at the back.

One of the biggest complaints about the Trade Center Towers (other than them being ugly tall rectangles) was that they used the space in that part of the city poorly. There wasn’t public space. Those who don’t live here, don’t understand how important public space is to the people of New York–it’s something they feel very passionately about. When the groundwork was being laid for the rebuilding of Ground Zero, this is something that was corrected. If you’ve seen the drawings, you’ll see how the space is very different from the original. They want people to go down there–to inhabit that part of town–for it to be a neighborhood and not just business.

Being raised Christian in middle-class suburban Texas, these things were all very foreign to me before I moved to New York. I might have known a handful of Muslims in my life, and Pflugerville was just a little bit different than Brooklyn. The way this story is being blown out and played in the media is pretty ridiculous. I mean, if I had never lived up here, I might think the same as people outside the city. It seems very cut and dry.

The thing is, up here, we have a pretty high number of Muslims. They own houses and cars and have jobs and kids, just like you. We also have a lot of Jewish folks. And black people. And Puerto Ricans. And Dominicans. There are so many races and religions up here, that I couldn’t even begin to name them all. Up here, it’s not 85% white christians, like where I grew up. Everywhere you turn, there are places of worship, but they aren’t all Baptist or Lutheran.

And their prayer times are no joke. When it’s time for prayers, they will drop down and pray. I’ve even seen this happen in stores using pieces of cardboard as their prayer mats. It’s not unusual to see stores put a sign out that says they’re closed for prayer. This community center is for everybody, it just happens to provide a room in the back for Muslims to pray. That’s a big part of their faith. To say that they can’t have a community center near Ground Zero endangers the freedom of all religions. 99.95% of Muslims didn’t think 9/11 was awesome.

Muslims are New York City as much as Christians and Atheists and lovers of Buddha are New York City. It’s just something to think about.

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