8/1/10
To the Muslim community of New York, New York, United States of America:
Congratulations! Yesterday the New York Times printed an article describing your plans to build a multi-faceted spiritual and community center in the heart of the Financial District, the brain center of our beloved city and of our vast, diverse country.
This new mosque, which will be an important center for multicultural education, growth, and community-building, is to be built nearby the World Trade Center, the site where [x] American Muslims tragically died along with their Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, and non-believer fellow-Americans, and citizens from every continent on Earth.
It will serve as a powerful bridge between the various cultures and backgrounds that adorn our nation’s diverse fabric. This will allow our city to enjoy the fruits of greater cooperation and trust, both in the economy, and the social/cultural community
It will be an important symbol that will help to soothe the inflammation felt by some Muslim citizens of our nation, who have been swept up in the torrent of misguided fear and animosity that has confronted them, evincing an ignorance of Islam, and generalizing from a tiny element of extremism. The mosque will help Muslims to understand that the people of the United States embrace their Muslim fellow citizens as brothers and sisters, every bit as American as the rest, and sharing the same hopes for peace, opportunity, growth, family life, and moral well-being.
Sincerely,
James Partridge
