Monday, August 23, 2010

We Don't Need No Stinking Mosque

Enough already! I’m sick of hearing about the proposed mosque and community center that will occupy a new 13-story building only two blocks from Ground Zero. Do people really have nothing better to do than to go protest for or against the building of this mosque? So what if they build it? The sky is not going to fall.

Sure it is disrespectful to those who lost loved ones in the 9/11 terrorist attack. I understand that. I also understand that it is disrespectful to Muslims to protest their building a mosque. There’s enough disrespect to go around.

But when it comes down to it, I do not think the mosque should be built there. And I think that not because of anything to do with 9/11; I just don’t think a mosque should be built anywhere, ever again. We don’t need any more stinking mosques.

And before you call me an Islamophobe, let me quickly add that I also don’t think we should build any more churches or cathedrals anywhere. I also don’t think any more synagogues should be built. What this country does not need is another place of worship.

Churches, cathedrals, synagogues, and mosques are some of the most beautiful, awe-inspiring works of architecture on the planet. And none of them add anything at all to the tax base. Unlike factories, stores, and people’s homes, places of worship do not have to pay into the tax stream. They get a pass because they are non-profit. I wish I were as non-profit as some of the churches out there. I could retire early, in style.

Throughout history some of the most awesome works of art, some of the most beautiful music, and some of the greatest architecture have been produced to honor a myth or a legend. And if that fact were relegated to history it would be sad enough, but it’s still happening in the twenty-first century. If we were ever actually visited by space aliens who were looking to develop a relationship with a race of beings in the process of development, they may very well pass us by when they find out that most of the population on earth still worships mythical creatures and wastes big bucks building monuments to them.

Every story in the bible is demonstrably false. Every story in the Koran is demonstrably false. And yet billions of dollars are spent every year in support of these myths as though they were fact. It’s astounding to everyone who has not already fallen for these myths.

There are Christians out there who realize that the bible stories are not literal. There are Christians out there who admit that they do not know the mind of God. They believe in God and they see Jesus as someone who was somehow in touch with God on a personal level. But mostly they see Jesus as a guiding influence to lead a decent life. These are the true Christians.

The fundamentalist Christians, as well as the fundamentalists of any religion, are the true danger to America. They are the deluded. They are the ones who indoctrinate our children into mindless cult-like sects. They are the ones who threaten science and education. They are the ones who want to take away the freedoms and liberties of anyone who does not subscribe to the same delusion that they do. If people have so much free time that they can go protest a meaningless mosque, they might do better to turn their ire toward the real threat to our nation – fundamentalism.

I would certainly join that kind of protest.

2 comments:

VetVoyeur said...

Amen.

Beth said...

I agree. I once had someone comment on a blog entry I wrote about how prayer doesn't work...she said that I scare her more than any politician.

WTF? Because I like to think rationally, and have seen no evidence whatsoever that prayer works? I'M the scary one? [shaking my head]