by Vicki Brown

Created on: June 19, 2010   Last Updated: June 20, 2010

We all have the image of the planes hitting the Twin Towers etched in our memory. It was a horrific scene. Like many Americans, I was glued to the TV all that day and for many days after. It was unbelievable. How could this happen?

Then the scene at the Pentagon added to the horror along with the valiant heroes who overtook the terrorists and, instead of flying into the Capitol Building, it plunged to earth leaving a huge hole in the ground. By the end of that day, we had a huge hole in all of our hearts.

Those who died in the Towers weren't all Americans. They came from countries all over the world. This was an attack on free people everywhere.

Maybe I'm naive but why does anyone object to a Mosque being built near Ground Zero? Our constitution guarantees our freedom to practice whatever religion or no religion that we choose. Islam is no different that Buddhism, Hinduism, Catholicism, or Protestantism. The terrorists may have proclaimed that they did this to honor Allah but Islam is a peaceful religion.

These men and the rest of Al-Quida and other Islamic terrorist groups are fanatics. Fanatics are always at the extreme end of whatever spectrum you are talking about. They don't represent the religion of Islam anymore than Rush Limbaugh represents Christianity. They use their religion to hang their fanaticism on. 

Religion has been at the center of many wars and conflicts. The Palestinians and the Jews for example. Ever hear of a little thing called The Spanish Inquisition? Or the Holocaust?

America is a melting pot. Of my four grandparents, one came to this country from Ireland as a war bride; one was the first of his family to be born in America; one had Welsh ancestors but lived on the farm that had been in his family for generations; and the last one had relatives who came from England shortly after the Mayflower.

I do not consider myself to be an Irish-American or a Welsh-American or an English-American, or a German-American. I am an American and by definition that means I welcome people who come here from anywhere. The entire membership of Islam did not fly those planes into the Twin Towers. Not every German hunted down Jews.

To oppose the building of this mosque punishes the innocent. We are a land of opportunity and freedom for ALL. We believe that a person is innocent until proven guilty.

I say build the Mosque and build a Synagogue and a Christian church as well. That represents what our troops are fighting for. So that all of us can worship as we choose. To protest this Mosque because of its location makes what our men and women in the military are doing a waste of time.

We are Americans. We are a tolerant people. We don't discriminate. And where we find discrimination it is our responsibility to fight for change not to encourage it.    

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