Laying to rest the Ground Zero temple

Flurries of discussion on the proposed Islamic Temple near ground zero are sweeping through families, radio, and cyberspace, prompting me to lay the issue to rest with a series of brilliant remarks.

First, as a proponent of freedom and protector of property rights, I hope that the mosque builders are given the same freedoms to use their private land as they choose as much as any other landowner in that neighborhood is given. This is my political position, and I'm guessing that America's future will be stronger if Obama and Bloomberg stick to their guns on this point.

Next, consider the following points:

1. By many reports, a majority of Americans are in favor of prohibiting the planned mosque.
2. Most of those Americans opposed to the mosque would view the mosque as some kind of monument to terrorism.
3. Building the mosque will make those who oppose it even more angry and prejudiced towards Muslims. America learns at its own pace.
   
4. Building the mosque may quell some of the hate that much of the Middle East feels towards America, but this effect is insignificant compared to the hate generated by ongoing American military operations in the Middle East.
5. Americans who already understand that not all Muslims are terrorists will not be made more convinced of this fact by the presence of a Muslim temple.

These points, and especially point 3, lead me to think that is disingenuous at best for the Muslim leaders to using the Temple to win greater acceptance by society.

Another way to look at the situation is to imagine that a muslim mosque is a gay marriage. The marriage, however dignified it may be, stokes anger among its opponents. Does this mean that the gays who want to marry could hasten the coming of a broad societal acceptance of gay marriage by waiting to do gay marriage?

For both marriages and mosques, I think that the answer depends on the extent to which the act (conducting a marriage, building a mosque) is at heart a symbolic act versus a sustained way of being. If a gay couple can achieve most of the benefits of marriage with an informal commitment understood among a circle of friends rather than a bold public proclamation, they may well be doing more good for their cause. If Manhatten Muslims can find a way to worship together without building a highly visible monument to their religion in hostile territory, they might come out stronger in the end.