Ground Zero Mosque - Tolerance, Racism or Comedy?

I believe we call that island "earth." I am sorry, sir, but that account is taken.

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Dost thou prate, rogue?
-Cassio

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Real things always push back.
-William James

We have a show called Little Mosque on the Prairie about a mosque that's housed in an Anglican church. It's produced by the CBC, so it's practically guaranteed not to make any money.

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"It appears that many of you turn to Hebrew to escape the English...." -- Joseppi

If you replaced "mosque" with "jewish synagogue" is it still funny? Or replace "mosque" with "christian day care". Is it still funny?If the only source of humor is the fact that it is muslims being made fun of then I fail to see the humor.

Darn it. I should've known someone would've com up with an idea that good already.The pantheon of gods that put us here to fight over them are sipping beer and watching us whilst laughing their arses off even as we speak.We are the cast of "Theocracy Island".

I think where it falls flat is that there are already gay bars, lingerie stores, people selling pork, et cetera, in the general vicinity of practically every American mosque. And you never, ever, ever, hear any American Muslims complaining about it.They are being "tolerant". They're being so tolerant that you never notice them being tolerant and nor do they.Meanwhile, a real non-imaginary bunch of actual loonies are actually getting all worked up about the non-mosque which is not in any way being built on Ground Zero.When you see any American Muslims raising a similar howl about someone selling ribs, let me know.

Too late, already happened. In the relatively new city of Irvine* here in Orange County, Calif., they have a "church park" (or whatevery they call it, kind of like an industrial park) which houses several different churches. There are also a number of other locations in older more organically grown OC cities where multiple churches were built next to each other.[FOOTNOTE * : Irvine started as a planned community shortly before 1970, when the Irvine Ranch started opening its farm land for development.]

Would this "church park" contain Mosques and Synagogues? Hindu temples and Scientology "labs" (or whatever they call their places of Scientological activity?)Etc.Or is it just different Christian denominations?

Certainly. In fact if you look at Columbia, MD one of the key design ideas was to discourage individual denominational churches and to create Interfaith buildings that not only served differing faiths but could also be used throughout the year for other purposes as well.

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

Sort of an all-faiths community center with worship serves for every flavor of faith in the community? That sounds like a spectacular idea for promoting interfaith understanding and helping a sense of community override the separations of the faiths themselves.Perhaps the best way to integrate disparate cultures and discourage racism and other tribalistic nonsense has been to make "them" your neighbors; it's harder to dehumanize people you interact with daily. How's it been working in Columbia?

Now that is tolerance in action.Did it work/Is it working?Edited by Straggler, : No reason given.

So far it is working splendidly. Columbia, Md is only approaching fifty years old, getting into its second generation, but has consistently been named as one of the best places in the US to live.Jimmy Rouse has long been one of my heroes along with Charles and Joe Fraser when it comes to creating living environments.

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

From the very beginning that was Jimmy Rouses goal. The town included the concept of neighborhoods that would include a broad range of housing from subsidized to multi-million dollar estates. The neighborhoods are all connected by walking and bike paths, parks and green spaces abound, even the idea of workforce availability was considered and the town now is home to more jobs than the total population. Shopping areas were planned to be close enough so that people could reach them on foot or bike.

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Anyone so limited that they can only spell a word one way is severely handicapped!

I must admit to being surprised.Delighted. But surprised.There is hope for us who dwell on "Theocracy Island" after all.

It's been a while since I've driven past it, but I'm pretty sure there's a synagogoue along with Christian churches. The closest Hindu temple I know of is in Long Beach, but there's a Buddhist temple in an industrial area of Irvine. For that matter, what with the high real estate prices here, most new churches rent units in industrial parks. For example, there's a "Temple of the Goddess" in the same industrial park as one of my dance studios (that I go to, not own). Plus, congregations with different worship hours can rent another church's place to hold services.All in all, there's mostly a lot of tolerance and cooperation with each other. Except for the fundamentalist megachurches here, who sometimes seem more intolerant of each other than of others.I think I heard of peaceful outreach efforts by the local mosques. Though the university (UC, Irvine) here is where an Islamic student club had to be disbanded for disrupting a speech given by a former Israeli government official (an ambassador?) and I think one of the Americans turned Al Qaida was from around here.On a different note, a few years ago I heard the results of a poll in the US which listed the most hated/distrusted religious groups. The three most hated, in order from 3rd most hated to the most hated, are: Mormons, atheists, and Moslems. There's a big gap between Mormons and atheists and a much smaller gap between atheists and Moslems. Before 9-11, atheists were the most hated group.

...can I get one of these city planners for every city in America? Pretty please?How is public transportation? Are there available statistics on cultural, racial and income diversity?This is how you actually fight any type of tribalistic separation, from racism to religious discrimination to a simple failure to integrate with surrounding culture: force the issue so that "them" is included in "us" by making people live together. Civil rights in this country have improved largely as people were made to see persecuted minorities as people and fellow community members first, before whatever distinction formerly separated them.