The Mosque Debate: The Numbers that Incite the Ignorance We See

I found a blog post online by Kay  Steiger called Young People Support Construction of 'Ground Zero' Mosque, and the article analyzed some studies conducted by Pew Research. As the title states, one study found that 62% of people ages 18-29 support the construction of the Ground Zero mosque. Sixty-three percent of those over age 65, however, oppose the construction of the Ground Zero mosque. Steiger also said,

"The poll reports that groups least supportive of the construction of the facility are Republicans, the older demographic, and the less educated."

I'm not surprised one bit that these groups are the least supportive of a Ground Zero mosque, but I wonder what factors influence the way they feel the most. Most devout Christians tend to vote with the Republican party, as the party has a dominant pro-life view on abortion. Some Christians also tend to to think that every other religion out there is full of falsities about God. I remember going to church functions with some of my friends as a teenager, and I was always told how their religion is the only religion that has it right. Why would they support something that goes against what they've always been told?  They've never gone beyond what's familiar to them to even try to learn.

The older demographic I'm sure remembers the Civil Rights Movement, and maybe even Jewish anti-semitism. While we have made great strides in combating these problems, some people never shed their racist ways of thinking. These problems exist today, and racist ways of thinking can always be shifted to other groups of people. Is Islamophobia the new form of racism? Even though Victor Ghalib Begg's Article, The Only Acceptable Racism Today: Islamophobia, is nearly three years old, Begg does a great job at describing Islamophobia and drawing similarities from past forms of racism. His article is especially relevant in light of the mosque debate. He states,

"Islamophobes are similar to anti-Semites and racists – their resentment is deliberate, designed to create fear, capitalizing on ‘ignorance of the other’."

The keyword here is ignorance. As people tend to fear what they do not know, they fear a religion based on what they saw on September 11. Little do they know that this religion itself was not behind these attacks, but extremist views were. Those who spread Islamophobia, I think, are fearful themselves, and they, too, are undereducated. If they took the time to learn about this religion or interact with Muslim Americans, they would realize that Islam is a peaceful religion at its core, and that Muslim Americans are indeed Americans. They like the same things we like, they go to the same places we go, and they feel the same things we feel. Were they too affected by the events on September 11? Absolutely. I understand how not being educated leads to a racist way of thinking, but it is no excuse anymore.

Take my 18 year old cousin, for instance. Even though she's in college now, she has a friend from high school who is a Muslim American. When I asked her if her friend's religion affected their friendship at all, she replied,

"Did these factors ever cross my mind when we were friends? Not at all. The fact was that we got along, and that was enough for me."

My cousin has it right. If we never look past the things we don't fully understand, how can we ever learn and grow as people? Isn't getting along with somebody enough for friendship when it comes down to it? It doesn't matter what we don't know initially; it's the common ground we establish based on similar interests. It's something so simple, but it's amazing how "simple" can become so cloudy with racist sentiments and ignorance.