For a country so entrenched in the ideals of basic freedoms, it is ironic that so many Americans are outraged by plans to build a mosque near the site of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Was it not so long ago that the pilgrims escaped to the New World to avoid religious persecution? The Constitution of the United States reads, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Prohibiting the construction of this mosque based on its proximity to Ground Zero contradicts this basic freedom and casts a larger shadow of willful ignorance over the average American’s knowledge of Islam.

 There are many radical Islamists around the world, but associating every Islamic individual with extremism is dangerous and deeply offensive to those who practice their religion peacefully. The people that committed the atrocious attacks on Sept. 11 claimed to have done so in the name of their religion, but that may have had more to do with their living conditions and cultural values than the teachings of the Qu’ran.

It wasn’t so long ago that Christians were the ones killing in the name of God. Remember the Crusades? How about the Spanish Inquisition? The teachings of the Bible have remained largely unchanged, and yet we don’t hear a whole lot about Christian extremism today. Why? The answer lies in the progression of the United States and most western nations compared to that of countries in the Middle East.

So, is there something fundamentally wrong with Islam? No. What is wrong is the use of Islam to justify violence. Americans have to recognize this key difference. As of now, it seems that we are failing. Around the country, people have begun picketing outside of other proposed mosque sites with increasing frequency. These sites have nothing to do with the extremist sects that claimed responsibility for the Sept. 11 attacks, so what reasoning could justify the protests? The only correlation between these mosques and the mosque near ground zero is that they are mosques—nothing more.

So what’s the problem here? Are Americans angry that a mosque is being built near ground zero or that a mosque is being built at all? People argue that building the mosque would be insensitive to the families of the victims, but American Muslims were killed in the twin towers as well.

The people that committed the attacks embody religious intolerance. Allowing ourselves to do the same by rejecting this project would not be a step forward; it would be a regression. Showing the terrorists that we are divided on this issue will only add to their rhetoric against us. It would be very easy for terrorists to tell potential recruits, “look at these Americans: They say they have religious freedom, yet they will not allow this mosque to be built because they are anti-Islam.”

We can’t give the radicals that opportunity. We must overcome this division and rid ourselves of this ignorance. We must move forward from the tragedy at Ground Zero united, not divided.