Building Mosque in the Community and How It Affects US
Friends,
The events of recent weeks regarding the Cordoba House Mosque and Community Center in Lower Manhattan is very distressing. The emotions and generalizations seem to imply a syllogism that is counter to our beliefs as Americans and as well as dangerous to us as people of faith. We must stand up and support the freedom of religious expression of all faiths in this country. We must fight against the dangerous tendency to categorize all peoples of the same faith as one. That is to say, we cannot abide by the assumption that all Muslims support terrorist activity and every mosque preaches hate. As Jews we know what it is like to be likened to stereotypes, held accountable for ideas that are said by fanatical Jewish groups that do not represent what we believe, and we know the sting and danger of bigotry and discrimination.