Mosque built at Ground Zero

[trillium13 84]

A mosque rises over Ground Zero. And fed-up New Yorkers are crying, "No!"

A chorus of critics -- from neighbors to those who lost loved ones on 9/11 to me -- feel as if they've received a swift kick in the teeth.

Plans are under way for a Muslim house of worship, topped by a 13-story cultural center with a swimming pool, in a building damaged by the fuselage of a jet flown by extremists into the World Trade Center.

The opening date shall live in infamy: Sept. 11, 2011. The 10th anniversary of the day a hole was punched in the city's heart.

How the devil did this happen?

Plans to bring what one critic calls a "monster mosque" to the site of the old Burlington Coat Factory building, at a cost expected to top $100 million, moved along for months without a peep. All of a sudden, even members of the community board that stupidly green-lighted the mosque this month are tearing their hair out.

Paul Sipos, member of Community Board 1, said a mosque is a fine idea -- someplace else.

"If the Japanese decided to open a cultural center across from Pearl Harbor, that would be insensitive," Sipos told me. "If the Germans opened a Bach choral society across from Auschwitz, even after all these years, that would be an insensitive setting. I have absolutely nothing against Islam. I just think: Why there?"

Why, indeed.

A rally against the mosque is planned for June 6, D-Day, by the human-rights group Stop Islamicization of America. Executive director Pamela Geller said, "What could be more insulting and humiliating than a monster mosque in the shadow of the World Trade Center buildings that were brought down by an Islamic jihad attack? Any decent American, Muslim or otherwise, wouldn't dream of such an insult. It's a stab in the eye of America."

Called Cordoba House, the mosque and center is the brainchild of the American Society for Muslim Advancement. Executive director Daisy Khan insists it's staying put.

"For us, it's a symbol, a platform that will give voice to the silent majority of Muslims who suffer at the hands of extremists. A center will show that Muslims will be part of rebuilding lower Manhattan," said Khan, adding that Cordoba will be open to everyone.

"We were pleased to see that the community welcomed us as an asset to lower Manhattan," she added. "The community board approved it."

Not so fast.

The Financial District Committee of Community Board 1 seems to have gotten ensnared in a public-relations ploy by mosque-makers. At a May 5 meeting, the committee gave the project an enthusiastic thumbs-up. But boards have zero say over religious institutions.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/mosque_madness_at_ground_zero_OQ34EB0MWS0lXuAnQau5uL#ixzz0o05tbpEW

[thongd4me 69]

Just have them put a Christmas tree & menorah in the front yard and they're good to go

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Post containing an inappropriate response for violence has been removed.

This is going to be a very sensitive topic for many people. Please try to frame your responses carefully without resorting to obscenities, racist and intolerant comments, violence, and other inappropriate remarks that violate TOS.

I've also removed a 2nd post that includes page 2 of the article, not because there are problems with the comments made but because a second, unrelated article has been included at the end of the first article and it's inclusion is confusing. I'm returning the relevant post below with the second article removed (if the OP wishes to repost the 2nd article as its own thread, that is fine, although I think it was included in error):

Paul and Vanessa: Disgusting to even think about doing this like this....

LUCKILY looks like it won't happen.

Page 2 of the article:

Board chair Julie Menin, blind-sided by the move, predicts "this will be overturned by the full board" later this month.

But the damage is done.

Wounds that have yet to heal are now opening, as mosque opponents are branded, unfairly, as bigots.

"The worst tendency is the knee-jerk, emotional, angry, hateful response to acts of violence and war," said Donna Marsh O'Connor, who lost daughter Vanessa on 9/11 and supports the mosque. "I think it's racist tendencies."

Many more feel like Bill Doyle -- doubly maimed as he's forced to defend himself against charges of prejudice.

"I'm not a bigot. What I'm frightful about is, it's almost going to be another protest zone. A meeting place for radicals," said Doyle, whose son, Joseph, was murdered on 9/11.

"It's a slap in our face!" said Nelly Braginsky, who lost son Alexander.

Unclear is how the mosque will raise the $100 million-plus it needs.

"We would be seeking funding from anyone who would help," Khan told me. "Seeking maybe some bonds or something like that." At the May 5 community board meeting, she displayed a sign with names like "Rockefeller Brothers Fund" and "Ford Foundation," which observers believed meant money is coming from those organizations. But Khan says those groups merely gave money in the past, and no funding is yet in place.

There are many questions about the Ground Zero mosque. But just one answer.

Move it away.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

I've also removed a 2nd post that includes page 2 of the article, not because there are problems with the comments made but because a second, unrelated article has been included at the end of the first article and it's inclusion is confusing. I'm returning the relevant post below with the second article removed (if the OP wishes to repost the 2nd article as its own thread, that is fine, although I think it was included in error):

lol yeah... I copied the page and didn't even pay attention to her off-topic parts under the same article title.

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

lol yeah... I copied the page and didn't even pay attention to her off-topic parts under the same article title.

It's not like you to copy and paste something from the web verbatim without reading it first and then analyzing it to include one iota of original thought. It's not like to to pollute the OT with article after article not out of a sense of duty to inform but out of a twisted sense of attention seeking. It's not like you to bray on, all night and day in untold numbers of specious, scurrilous and offensive threads that are designed to so shock the conscience that people leave the forum in droves rather than read this juvenile blather. That's not like you at all.

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

So what are the chances planning permission will be denied? If this went to a residents vote, there is no way it would fly.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Wear an American flag shirt on Cinco de Mayo = $15

Open a Mosque at ground zero 9/11/11 = $100,000,000

Raging about one but not the other = free

Political Correctness..... priceless

[Darnell 8,478]

Ah - is 'quiet' no more.

I have this deep 'gut' feeling that further development will be halted, and any monies paid by that Islamic Organization, into any government offices for permitting, etc, will be returned, as well as any 'purchase' monies, from whomever the #### they purchased it from.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Murdoch's lovely spin of the facts...

......

Cordoba House project calls for a 15-story community center including a mosque, performance art center, gym, swimming pool and other public spaces.

The project is a collaboration between the American Society for Muslim Advancement and the Cordoba Initiative, both of which work to improve relations with followers of the religion.

The two groups presented their vision to part of the Community Board of lower Manhattan on Wednesday night.

Ro Sheffe, a board member who attended the meeting, said the project did not need to get the board's approval.

"They own the land, and their plans don't have any zoning changes," Sheffe said. "They came to us for our opinions and to let us know their plans. It was purely voluntary on their part."

The 12 members who were at the meeting voted unanimously to support the project. Community board members are appointed by the borough president and serve as advisers to the borough president and the mayor's office.

Daisy Khan, executive director of the Muslim society, described her vision of a center led by Muslims, but serving the community as a whole.

"It will have a real community feel, to celebrate the pluralism in the United States, as well as in the Islamic religion," Khan said. "It will also serve as a major platform for amplifying the silent voice of the majority of Muslims who have nothing to do with extremist ideologies. It will counter the extremist momentum."

http://www.cnn.com/2...sque/index.html

.........

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said through a spokesman that Imam Feisal told him of the project last September at a celebration to observe the end of Ramadan. As for whether Mr. Bloomberg supported it, the spokesman, Andrew Brent, said, "If it's legal, the building owners have a right to do what they want."

The mayor's director of the Office of Immigrant Affairs, Fatima Shama, went further. "We as New York Muslims have as much of a commitment to rebuilding New York as anybody," Ms. Shama said. Imam Feisal's wife, Daisy Khan, serves on an advisory team for the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, and Lynn Rasic, a spokeswoman for the memorial, said, "The idea of a cultural center that strengthens ties between Muslims and people of all faiths and backgrounds is positive."

Those who have worked with him say if anyone could pull off what many regard to be a delicate project, it would be Imam Feisal, whom they described as having built a career preaching tolerance and interfaith understanding.

"He subscribes to my credo: 'Live and let live,' " said Rabbi Arthur Schneier, spiritual leader of Park East Synagogue on East 67th Street.

As a Sufi, Imam Feisal follows a path of Islam focused more on spiritual wisdom than on strict ritual, and as a bridge builder, he is sometimes focused more on cultivating relations with those outside his faith than within it.

http://www.nytimes.c...n/09mosque.html

[Danno 1,228]

<<<<

"It will have a real community feel, to celebrate the pluralism in the United States, as well as in the Islamic religion," Khan said. "It will also serve as a major platform for amplifying the silent voice of the majority of Muslims who have nothing to do with extremist ideologies. It will counter the extremist momentum."

>>>>

.........

Who'd a thought... Moderate Islamists need a spot at ground zero to preach moderation.

And if they don't get it?

Edited May 16, 2010 by Danno

[Donna A 4]

I'm sure if it goes as planned someone will come along and burn it to the ground or something bad will happen that they will regret putting it there.

[ready4ONE 5,400]

It seems a tacky and unfortunate location, unless they are rabidly anti-extremist.

[Sofiyya 1,687]

Innocent Muslims died at ground zero, too. Any decent American would concede that excluding Muslims from rebuilding the site on land they own is giving in to the kind of division that terrorists seek to create. People like this Geller woman are operating out of the kind of hate and ingorance that shouldn't be encouraged.

[thongd4me 69]

Daisy Khan, executive director of the Muslim society, described her vision of a center led by Muslims, but serving the community as a whole.

I'm a member of the Vanderbilt YMCA in Manhattan.

It serves men & women of all religious & racial backgrounds

(even though it's called the "Young Men's Christian Association").

There are actually no activities related to observing or enforcing Christian beliefs

amongst it's members or guests.

So I guess it would be something like that...???

[Nagishkaw 510]

The parcel of land should be sold back to the original owners, First Nation, for some trinkets and shiney things.