Ground Zero Mosque

[Joe Guy]

This doesn't sound like a good idea to me...

Source

Large Mosque Going Up Near Ground Zero

CBNNews.com
Saturday, May 08, 2010

Two Muslim organizations are moving forward with plans to build a giant mosque near Ground Zero.

A 13-story building damaged by debris on 9/11 will be refurbished to become The "Cordoba House" mosque.

However, families of some of those killed in the World Trade Center attacks don't approve, calling the plan "despicable."

"I don't like it," said Evelyn Pettigano, who lost a sister in the attacks. "I'm not prejudiced. It's too close to the area where our family members were murdered."

Members of the American Society for Muslim Advancement and the Cordoba Initiative came up with the plan. They said the project is meant to improve relations between the West and Muslims.

"We want to create a platform by which the voices of the mainstream and silent majority of Muslims will be amplified. A center of this scale and magnitude will do that," ASMA executive director Daisy Khan said. "We feel it's an obligation as Muslims and Americans to be part of the rebuilding of downtown Manhattan."

The damaged building is a former Burlington Coat Factory store.

[Sue U]

On the contrary, it sounds like an excellent idea to me.

"We feel it's an obligation as Muslims and Americans to be part of the rebuilding of downtown Manhattan."

It is, and ALL New Yorkers -- and all Americans -- should be welcomed into being part of that process.

Why does it not sound like a good idea to you?

[Big RR]

I agree Sue. Indeed, it appears it's being done to promote understanding and help contribute to the rebuilding.

[Joe Guy]

Why does it not sound like a good idea to you?

It doesn't matter whether or not the intent of putting the Mosque at that location is to make any kind of statement. It will be interpreted in divisive ways by Muslims and family members of the many victims of the 9/11 attack.

I also believe that Bin Laden would love the idea.

There would be no problem with a Mosque being built a few blocks away from Ground Zero. There probably are already a few.

The building cite choice is a bad one. It is obvious from the outrage to it and the defense of it that building the mosque in that area will cause problems.

It will do nothing to bring "harmony" to the Muslims and "Westerners".

[Gob]

I agree with BigRR's and Kristina's sentiments, but with Joe's forecast...

[Big RR]

It is obvious from the outrage to it and the defense of it that building the mosque in that area will cause problems

Perhaps, but should we really let the outrage jerks call the shots?

[Gob]

It is a dilemma. The squeaky wheel is the one that gets the most grease eh?

But, shouldn't there be some recognition that it was a religious idealism which was behind the destruction of the two towers, and that promoting that religion at the ground zero site is antagonistic to some, and not just a small minority...

[Econoline]

But the religion being promoted by this mosque and the organizations involved in planning it is NOT the religion of the terrorists who attacked the U.S. that day. They belonged to a tiny splinter of a fragment of an offshoot of one of the world's largest religions. Their "religion" had about as much to do with mainstream Islam as the Westboro Baptist Church has to do with mainstream Chrisianity.

[Big RR]

Well, I know it always bothers me when I see a chrisian church near an abortion clinic that was bombed.

[Gob]

Me to.

In fact it always bothers me to see religious institutions, they should all be converted into pubs by now. Wales is leading the way in this.

[Big RR]

Well during prohibition in the US churches were the only place you could legally get a drink; it was ccommunion wine, but it was still alcoholic.

[Gob]

One way of getting the punters in!

[Gob]

Some critics have been more extreme in their views. Mark Williams, a leader of the right-wing Tea Party movement, provoked controversy with an incendiary post on his blog.

Mr Williams, the chairman of the Tea Party Express, wrote: “The monument would consist of a mosque for the worship of the terrorists’ monkey-god.” Urged to apologise, he said: “I owe an apology to millions of Hindus who worship Lord Hanuman, an actual monkey god.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 134546.ece

[loCAtek]

Just depends how you market it;

Near Ground Zero, a Mosque Moves In and Meets the Neighbors


By Aaron Rutkoff

Ground Zero is going to get a new neighbor: a mosque.

The project is driven in part by the needs of a growing Muslim population in Lower Manhattan. The nearest existing Islamic prayer space, the Tribeca Mosque, has been holding three evening prayer services on Fridays to keep up with demand.

“New immigrants coming to the area — you see a lot of people coming to Canal Street, a lot of street vendors and laborers,” says Daisy Kahn, executive director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement. “But also a lot of people in the financial community coming to prayers as well.”

When Kahn’s organization found a vacant property on Park Place, the former site of a Burlington Coat Factory that had been damaged by airplane debris on September 11, 2001, the potent symbolism of the site also became a compelling rationale for the project. “We decided we wanted to look at the legacy of 9/11 and do something positive,” she explained in an interview. Her group represents moderate Muslims who want “to reverse to trend of extremism and the kind of ideology that the extremists are spreading.”

Tonight Kahn’s group, which is working in partnership with the Cordoba Initiative, will brief Community Board 1 on the mosque plans and listen to feedback from the public. According to Kahn, the project does not need any zoning variance or other approvals from the board. After the public discussion, the group will focus on raising the $100 million needed for the project. She said the mosque could be open in three years.

The project, called the Cordoba House, will take the 92nd Street Y as its model — only with a prayer space at its core. The finished center will include performance space, community-event rooms, fitness facilities and classrooms. “Everyone that I’ve spoken to so far has says there is a shortage of community space in Lower Manhattan,” Kahn says.

So far Kahn reports no significant opposition to Cordoba House, but the public forum at CB1 might feature some mixed feelings over the prospect of placing a mosque so close to the World Trade Center site. “I am sure that there will be some people who are a little concerned,” she admits.

“People often say, ‘Where are the moderate Muslim voices?’ A building like this, with this scale, will be an amplifier for that often silent majority,” Kahn says. “What most people don’t know is that the people who are driving this forward are very integrated into the community downtown. We are nothing to be feared.”

UPDATE AT 8:50 P.M.: After the public discussion, Community Board 1 passed an unanimous resolution in favor of the mosque.

To put some perspective on it, this the 92nd Street Y;



It seems the ASMA are trying for something completely unassuming. It's not even going to look like a mosque, it will simply house one.

[Miles]

But the religion being promoted by this mosque and the organizations involved in planning it is NOT the religion of the terrorists who attacked the U.S. that day. They belonged to a tiny splinter of a fragment of an offshoot of one of the world's largest religions. Their "religion" had about as much to do with mainstream Islam as the Westboro Baptist Church has to do with mainstream Chrisianity.

While true it is not something the majority, in my opinion, care about. Fear is much more powerful than a desire for information. 911 instilled a deep fear in many Americans. A fear that will not just disapear with the building of a symbol of what they consider to be the root of that fear.

[loCAtek]

Protest will be held ...for all the wrong reasons.

This may actually increase support for the mosque. Which are you more afraid of: peaceful Muslims or frantic right-wingers?