TO THE EDITOR:
Much has been made about the Park51 Project, an Islamic community center, including a mosque, two blocks from Ground Zero. I support the Constitutional rights bestowed upon Americans and understand that supporters of the mosque enjoy the same religious freedoms that we all do, granting them the right to build a mosque. However, I must simply ask “Should they build it?”
As a N.Y. State Assemblyman who represented several of those who perished on 9/11 and continue to represent the families and loved ones of many of those victims, I believe the decision to build the mosque at this location demonstrates tremendous insensitivity.
If one of the goals is to demonstrate that not all Muslims are extremists, then developers taking the position that they will not even consider discussing alternative locations, despite opposition by a majority of Americans, they have made their task more difficult.
Just as the Constitution offers a preacher in Florida the right to burn the Quran, most likely Americans agree that such actions shouldn’t be taken and will only cause more religious discord. The developers of the Ground Zero mosque should make a distinction between what they “can” and “should” do. I, for one, hope that they choose the latter. Instilling virtues of tolerance and equality among Americans is of the utmost importance, but sympathy for those who are still coping with the losses on 9/11 is equally so.
Phil Boyle
Class of ’83
