At issue is the bare fact a Mosque of Islamic nature is to be built at or very near the so-called “ground zero” of the former World Trade Center in New York City, New York, said WTC having been credited as an action of non-State-sponsored terrorism by a group representing a tiny segment of epigenetic extremists demanding appeasement by all Muslims and the world together.

Although not encouraged in today’s academia, media, and politics, as with anything else one must at least attempt to put the Mosque issue into some context so that its meaning can be better defined, rather than gossiped about.

To begin, what is a Mosque? It’s akin to a Temple or Church or special religious gathering place, in this case intended to be for celebrating the religion of Islam only by those the Mosque deems members. But as Judaism has Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform sects, and as Christianity has the Eastern Orthodox/Roman Catholic as oldest surviving sects with a number of unrelated Protestant groups, so Islam has the Twelvers of Mahmoud Amadinejad’s favor, Shi’ia, Sunni, Kurds, Wahabbi of 18^th century origin and Laden’s Taliban, plus al-Ashari, al-Hilli, and other theological schools of Islam overwriting sects of divergent or opposing views of Mohammed’s prophecies…further with assorted Jurists and Imams attempting philosophical fine points as to whether Islam is a way of life to be universally ordered for everyone, or just Muslims, or in fact is just a spiritual path not really “micro-managing” this life but like the Bible pointing to eternal life on a spiritual plane. Did I mention that Islam also has Arab, African, and Hindu-derived official State versions abroad?

In other words, one isn’t likely to see rotation of Islamic sects through one Mosque, unless that’s all any or all layers of government make available as the one, the only place any New York Muslim can even let it be known they’re a Muslim…like in Gurnee, Illinois, where one Mormon Temple alternates between Hispanic, Asian, and other groups of Mormons as multiple sites for one religion really aren’t “en vogue” today…in China, Cuba, the USA, and elsewhere, usually on grounds “superstition” defined by radical behaviorists has to be guarded against, or on claims too many places of worship might slow finding “bad apples” or would simply hurt tax bases by parking in their own lots and thus keeping shoppers away…because officials say so. In such a case, a “ground zero” Mosque would simply mean officials are no happier with even peaceful Islamic sects than they are with Jews, Christians, humanist ethical culturists, or any similar.

So if one plays reactionary and assumes the words “ground zero Mosque” can only mean praising the efforts of Islamic extremists to the exclusion of all other believers and atheists, although intriguing it can’t be suggested to construct an ecumenical center for all beliefs to counter extremism in every faith, it’s incompetent to say a Mosque will be built for use by only the harshest Muslims until, if ever, any official(s) anywhere actually intend it be used for such extremist preaching or respect such preaching on-site, if any.

It may be that if restricting Islamic expression to one place, something Taliban/Egyptian/Pakistani/Darfur/Somalian/Hamas/Hezbollah/Iranian and other leaders would have to spot, USA DHS NICC-type ops are exactly intending no more than such pick-up by foreign despots, in order to help make it seem anyone of any faith at all who objects to concentrating camps of their peaceful worshippers…or concentrating where proclamation/advertising of one’s own faith may be made “for security purposes” or “to guard against superstition over radical behaviorism/science”…therefore “sounds like an extremist” or “provokes Islam through claiming entitlement to more fill-in-the-blank outlets than Islam”. A lot of control freaks today (believing no reason in Heaven or in science makes anyone more individual than a talking monkey or cat) chafe at the simple religious belief a soul or mind capable of choice exists, or the ethical culturist belief autonomous facts can exist, after all, and find that questions are burdens to others while a still tongue makes for a happy (if excrutiatingly dull) life…unless needs change.

To reiterate, constructing a building known as a Mosque in and of itself means nothing…its construction has not yet been set in a formal context for intended use(s) by or through anyone at all; gossip and snap assumptions leave huge margins for self-defeating error; and only time will tell what a finished and open WTC Mosque finds for its true context.