The Mosque At Ground Zero, The Day After

I may not have been here to write this today if it wasn’t for Abdi: a young Kenyan ranger, who happens to be Muslim.

In 2002, I was arrogantly stalking a young bull elephant in pursuit of the perfect video. I was also ignorantly unaware of the bull’s angry best friend that was coming out of the thick brush to blindside me. Abdi had my six. He drew the bull’s attention away from me, and kept him at a distance as we made our way back safely to the vehicle.

I tell you this story so that you will understand that when I say that I am not anti-Muslim, what I mean is this: If my Islamic friend Abdi needed help, no matter where he is in the world, I would credit card an airline ticket and get my butt over there, pronto.

I would also run to the drugstore in a heartbeat for my buddy, Hamed, if his little girl was sick and he needed me to pick up some Children’s Tylenol.

I also hold great respect and appreciation for the Muslim American servicemen and women who have put their lives on the line for me and my family in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I also lost my buddy, Frankie, in the first tower on 911.

I am not anti-Muslim. I am absolutely anti-Sharia Law.

I say we should seriously consider building the Mosque at Ground Zero, and we start building the day after construction is completed on the first Christian Church and first Jewish Temple in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

While it is a cause for optimism that the Vatican and Christian missionaries are holding negotiations and making inroads in Saudi Arabia, the celebrations of non-Muslim holidays are still forbidden. The punishment for wearing crucifixes and other religious symbols is severe.

The day that a Filipino migrant worker can sport a cross necklace and walk down the street in Riyadh singing “Faith Of Our Fathers” and then sit down to lunch in a public restaurant with her co-ed, Indian and Sri Lankan Bible-carrying co-workers will be a great day.

Not many of us in the US remember Paulos Faraj Rahho. He was the Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Mosul, who was murdered in 2008.

But I would bet my bottom dollar that this whole nation would hear about any hate crime committed against a Mullah or an Imam on American soil. A hundred dollars says that Attorney General Holder would have more prosecutors on that case than Carter has liver pills.

I say we fully support our fellow Americans of the Muslim faith, who have pledged allegiance to this country. We should stand shoulder to shoulder with those preaching from the pulpits of Mosques across this nation, that Constitutional Law, not Sharia Law will forever be the law of the land.

I believe that America is exceptional. The fact that so many mosques have been built in the USA while Christians and Jews are persecuted and discriminated against under Sharia Law speaks for itself.

So I say yes. We should seriously consider building the Mosque at Ground Zero, the day after we have finished the Church and the Temple in Riyadh… which, unfortunately, probably won’t be until the day after Hell freezes over.