A mosque near Ground Zero?

Do you think Muslims would agree with the building of a church at a place where thousands of people died in an American attack?

Personally, I do not think so. I’m not racist at all and I support equality among human beings, whether they are Catholics, Protestants or Muslims. However, when a Catholic goes to a Muslim country, he/she has to wear modest clothing. Moreover, he/she has to leave his/her shoes outside people's houses. They do not mind if you are a Muslim or not. On the contrary, when Muslims come to Belgium, we let them wear the veil if it is what they want, even though they are not in a Muslim country. In fact, I think that Western countries are more open-minded and much more tolerant than Arabic or Eastern countries.

Nevertheless, to build a mosque near Ground Zero would be disrespectful. All Muslims are not terrorists, of course, but Ground Zero should be exclusively reserved for the victims’ families and friends. In my opinion, the problem is not the building of that kind of religious site, but the place itself. Muslims can build all mosques they want, in all sites they like, but not this one: Ground Zero should only be dedicated to the memory of the 09/11 attacks.

I think that the building of a church would be a mistake as well. The victims from the World Trade Center attacks were from everywhere. They were Muslim Tunisians, Catholic French, Hindu Vietnamese, Protestant Americans, but there were also plenty of people from other nationalities or belonging to other religions. That is why I would prefer the building of a multicultural site, or even better, a center in which everybody could engage in private prayer.

The Belgians' values

I have chosen to discuss Belgian patriotism and the notion of equality. First of all, I think that the Belgians love their country a lot. They are very proud of being Belgian, and really like to be famous worldwide for their chips, chocolate, waffles and mussels. From an architectural point of view, they show the same pride: they are proud of many places, such as the Manneken Pis of Brussels, the station of Antwerpen, and the canals of Brugge. This is my own opinion, but I think I am right because we can easily see patriotism in the streets, during festive events such as the Doudou (which takes place every year, in June, in Mons) or the carnival of Binche. We can also notice the Belgians’ patriotism when there are governmental problems in the country. For example, Flemish political parties have recently tried to divide the country in two. As a consequence, a large majority of the Belgians protested and fought together for a united country.

As far as equality in Belgium is concerned, I think that we are all more or less equal. Even if there are social differences (for example there are rich people and poor ones, illeterate people, tramps and migrant), men, women, gays, heterosexuals, foreigners, and native Belgians are all considered as equal in Belgium. Indeed, men and women have the same rights (men are not more privileged than women anymore, as it was in the past, women have the same chance to get a job and they can vote), immigrants and native Belgians enjoy the same help from the State in case of unemployment, blacks and whites get generally along well (Belgium is not at all racist in view of the number of established foreigners). Also, gays also enjoy the same opportunities as the heterosexuals. For example, they can get married and have children.