There has been a great deal of debate recently over whether or not a mosque should be built adjacent to the site of the destroyed Twin Towers in New York City. Some of the assertions have been downright foolish, others poorly informed. As Christians, and as citizens, we ought to at least be acquainted with the facts. The things that seem important in this issue are what I am writing about this time.

First, Islam is a religion, yes, but also a political and legal system. That fact seems to have eluded some and been ignored by others. One of the central features of Islam is striving for a world wide government under a single Muslim ruler with the basic law for all being the Islamic code known as shari’a. As Muslim demonstrators’ signs point out "democracy is anti-Islamic". Shari’a is a brutal and barbaric set of rules in which various persons are treated differently as a matter of course. Women are property of their fathers or husbands, notions of personal freedom are considered heresy, and non-Muslims are oppressed, suppressed, or murdered in the name of Allah.

Second, while there are passages in the Koran advocating peaceful relations with non-Muslims, those occur early in its pages. In later passages violence and warfare towards non-Muslims is commanded. This is important because Muslim interpretation of the Koran has the principle of supersession. That is, when passages are in conflict, later passages supersede or over-ride earlier passages and the later teaching is to be taken as the norm.

Third, Islam has been spread largely, though not exclusively, by military conquest and forced conversion (Jihad). After a conquest, a mosque was built as a monument to that victory. Often, churches or places of worship were taken over and converted to mosques to symbolize the supremacy of Islam. It was only at the Battle of Tours, (France) October 10, 732 that the Muslims who controlled Spain were turned back from Western Europe. Later, at the Battle of Vienna, September 11 & 12, 1683 (note the date!), the Muslims of the Ottoman Empire were turned back from taking the rest of Europe from the east. The proposed mosque in New York City will be built by an organization, the Cordoba House, whose name recalls the Muslim (Moorish) hegemony in Spain!

My personal opposition to this mosque grows out of the above facts, plus one I will mention later. Islam is not just a religion, it is a political movement that advocates the violent overthrow of our government and culture. This nation was founded on Judeo-Christian principles and has no obligation to allow monuments to disasters caused by its deadly enemies, whether religious or political, to be built on its soil. To do so will only encourage more violence and fearsome attacks from these same enemies.

Finally, there was a Greek Orthodox Church in the shadow of the Twin Towers that was destroyed when one of the towers collapsed upon it. The congregation is ready to rebuild, but its permits are tied up in the red tape of bureaucratic dithering and indecision in New York City government. Until that previously existing church has the go-ahead and has been rebuilt, any discussion, let alone construction, of other "religious" establishments is premature.

As followers of Jesus we are called to be wise as serpents but innocent as doves. It is the height of folly to cooperate with persons or organizations whose goal is to stamp out our God given rights and deny us the ability to worship and serve the living God.