[Campus Director's Note - this is a letter to the editor published in the Penn State University's "Daily Collegian" written by Samuel Settle, an activist student on campus.]

I was surprised when reading Monday’s column, “Mosque opponents are misguided,” to discover that the columnist is such a strong supporter of George W. Bush. The columnist praised Bush for his “wise words” on Islam. But where have those “wise words” gotten us? Almost a decade after the Sept. 11 attacks, Islamic terrorism is still rampant. From Major Hasan choosing to slaughter his own men to Minnesota teenagers running off to fight for Al-Shabaab in Somalia, Islam continues to threaten all non-Muslims. Why are we surprised by this? Doesn’t the Quran (Sura 9:5) command “Fight and kill the disbelievers wherever you find them?” Meanwhile, the non-Muslims have been so cowed by the constant — and invariably baseles –claims of intolerance that our own State Department refuses to use the word “jihad” to describe Islamic terror attacks.

The columnist claims that the rights of Muslims will be breached if the Ground Zero Mosque is not constructed. This is, of course, incorrect — the public has every right to protest this repugnant project, and I’ve yet to see a “right to construction” in the Constitution. But more importantly, we need to ask this question: “When did Islam become the victim?” Pundits everywhere demand that we respect Islam, but I see no evidence that Islam respects us.

Samuel Settle

junior – history and political science