Religious freedom

The harsh critiques about a proposed Muslim cultural center that will include a mosque close to the World Trade Center have little to do with legitimate concerns and everything to do with elections in November and 2012.

The harsh critiques about a proposed Muslim cultural center that will include a mosque close to the World Trade Center have little to do with legitimate concerns and everything to do with elections in November and 2012.

As a nation, we gain nothing from comments such as those by former Republican House speaker and potential presidential aspirant Newt Gingrich, who said building the center was "like putting a Nazi sign next to the Holocaust museum."

This is a tragic step backward from President George W. Bush's post-9/11 approach, when he made it clear that Americans must not blame all Muslims. Those who carried out the attacks were to blame. They based their actions on a radical interpretation of Islam, one which is dismissed as anti-Islamic worldwide.

This made sense. We rightly do not blame all Christians for the Oklahoma City bombing. Al-Qaida kills far more Muslims than Christians. And outside of its small fringe of lunatic supporters, al-Qaida lacks any real support from the world's 1.8 billion Muslims.

There is no evidence to back up the idea of this center as a "Victory Mosque." In fact, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, who heads the effort to build it, has a long history of working toward interfaith dialogue. He has advised Bush as well as President Barack Obama, and he previously has labeled terrorist attacks as attacks against Islam.

To use the memories of 9/11 victims for political gain is shameful. Religious freedom and tolerance make America great. Anything less diminishes us.