A Mosque Near Ground Zero?

Yesterday as I was getting ready for class in the morning, I heard something on the news that made me stop dead in my tracks:


"A mosque will be built near ground zero." 


I guess talk of this has been going on for a few months now, but since I'm an out of the loop college student stuck in "the bubble," I confess that yesterday was the first time I heard of these plans. 


My initial thoughts were, "Are they #$%@in crazy!?!" Building a mosque near the site where thousands of Americans died? Where thousands died because of radical muslims who hated Western culture and non-followers of Mohammed? What a slap in the face for all of the New  Yorkers--especially those who lost loved ones during the September 11 attack. It's basically waving a surrender flag to the terrorists saying, "We give up. You win. Now you have a mosque as a permanent mark of territory for what you did to our country ten years ago."


Is American patriotism going down the tube? 


But then, in an attempt to argue against my own position, I came up with a counter-argument:


Maybe America is just trying to show the world how strong it is. Even if we are wronged by a certain culture, we still accept that culture and do not form stereotypes. By building the mosque we are following the principles of our Christian faith by granting forgiveness to those who have wronged us. After all, America is a country that accepts all backgrounds, cultures, and faiths. We would be going against our Constitution to ban this construction project.