KRYSTAL ASHEY, Springfield Central High: There is absolutely nothing wrong with a mosque being built at Ground Zero.

It is actually a community center where other activities will be going on. Ground Zero includes a decently sized-area. One that includes the former Twin Towers site. The center would be blocks away.

SHARVARI JOHARI, MacDuffie: I think by not building the mosque, 9/11 becomes a Muslim issue and not an al Qaida issue. You can't alienate a huge group of people because of the actions of a tiny, tiny percentage of it. Muslims as a group do not hate America and want to bomb us.

It is al Qaida. It is the extremists and not everyone in the Middle East who feels that way. Alienating people gives them encouragement to turn away.

I understand people feeling offended by building the center but maybe it could be seen as a way of Americans being accepting of everyone. This is what this country was built on.

MARIAH KURTZ, Westfield High: The government can't do much about the center because it is legal to build it there.

It might not have a positive outcome because many Americans don’t want it there. It might be safer for it not to be build there as extremists could destroy the property.

It is not a matter of whether it should or should not be there as it is an issue of safety.



GRACE SLAWSKI, West Springfield: The Constitution and Bill of Rights are clear. There is religious freedom in America. The building isn't a question. It is more of an ethical dilemma based on fear of religion and considerations over the integrity of Ground Zero.

I was reading a Washington Post article recently where the author said that, if anything, the United States should send support to Pakistan because of the flooding. It seems that since 9/11 and the wars, we are known as a country of religious freedom except for Muslims. This is the stereotype.

The American government should be encouraging the building of the mosque center because it would help get rid of that stereotype.



ABIGAIL ASSELIN, Agawam High: It seems like the Muslims are being discriminated against. You wouldn't impose the same restrictions on Christians or Jews of any other type of religion.

What happened to being innocent until being proven guilty?

These people have done nothing wrong and there is no way of knowing otherwise so by right they should be allowed to build the mosque even at Ground Zero. Americans should not be characterizing Muslims by the acts of extremists from the Middle East.

There is no sense in punishing an entire group of people for the mistakes of people unrelated to them even if from the same culture or religion.

We accepted 9/11 happened and went to war with Iraq and the extremists. The mosque should be a symbol that we have become a better nation for it.



HANNAH MIGEED, Cathedral: When has bullying or ostracizing someone ever worked? It is going to flare even more hatred by acting like these people are terrorists.

It is the 21st century where we should be tolerant of people no matter their religion, sex, race, age or sexual orientation. It is blocks away from Ground Zero. We have to remember 9/11 but not act like it is going to happen every single day.



RYAN MIGEED, Cathedral: As I see it, there are three issues. First, the Founding Fathers gave every citizen the right to worship whatever and whomever they wanted to.

The second is the freedom to purchase your own land and as a capitalist nation we believe what you buy, you own.

Thirdly, the politicians who say the mosque is shaming Ground Zero are the same ones who voted against funding for the 9/11 emergency responders, the heroes who saved American lives and who now suffer from various respiratory disorders.



JOE KASS, Holyoke Catholic: I agree as there are countless documents that basically say you have the freedom to do what you want as long as you are not hurting anyone and are following the laws.

There are other mosques in New York and some close to Ground Zero. It is too much to say that you are creating a terrorists threat by building a building as maybe it is just what they say it is – a community center.



ERIN HEBERT, Holyoke High: I completely support building the mosque in New York City. New York is an amazingly diverse city. Why should so many cultures be allowed to practice their faiths there except for one? As Joe said, there are other mosques there.

Why should the building of one be so controversial? If we continue to ignore the obvious hatred toward Muslims in this country, the issue will not be resolved.



GRACE: We have all grown up understanding tolerance and acceptance are key for society today but there are some in the country who feel we are fighting a religious war in the Middle East and one in our homeland.



MARIAH: It is not so much a matter of whether it is legal to build this mosque as it is whether it is acceptable, especially for people who knew people killed or hurt in 9/11. They see it as disrespectful and that the mosque should be built elsewhere.



SHARVARI: Plenty of Muslims have done wrong; plenty of Christians have done wrong, plenty of Jews have done wrong, plenty of Hindus have done wrong. It is not right to discriminate against a tiny group of people based on the actions of a terrorist group. There are 1.3 billion Muslims in the world.

How many people in al Qaida? Muslims came here for religious freedom. As a person who is not Christian,

I am a little scared. If someone who is Hindu does something wrong, am I going to be persecuted and kicked out of the country for something I didn’t do. We need to stress this isn’t a Musllim thing. This is an al Qaida thing.