In his fiercest defense yet of the mosque proposed near Ground Zero, Mayor Bloomberg declared yesterday that it must be allowed to proceed because the government “shouldn’t be in the business of picking” one religion over another.
“I think it’s fair to say if somebody was going to try, on that piece of property, to build a church or a synagogue, nobody would be yelling and screaming,” the mayor said.
“And the fact of the matter is that Muslims have a right to do it, too.”
Placing the proposed mosque two blocks from the World Trade Center site has led to an outcry from opponents, including family members of 9/11 victims, who contend the holy place at 45 Park Place would defile the memories of those who perished in the worst terror attack in US history.
Community Board 1 approved the project Tuesday night by a 29-1 vote after a raucous four-hour hearing in which nine members abstained.
The meeting got so heated that one young girl, whose father is Muslim and mother is Jewish and who went to testify in favor, decided instead to sit silently.
The issue also continues to fuel an intense debate on the Internet. One commenter likened a mosque near Ground Zero to a convent established on the grounds of Auschwitz. Pope John Paul II ordered the nuns to move in 1993 after years of protests from Jewish leaders.
But Bloomberg argued that blocking the 13-story mosque and Islamic cultural center would violate the essence of America.
“What is great about America and particularly New York is we welcome everybody, and if we are so afraid of something like this, what does that say about us?” asked the mayor.
“Democracy is stronger than this. You know the ability to practice your religion was one of the real reasons America was founded. And for us to just say no is just, I think, not appropriate is a nice way to phrase it
“. . . If you are religious, you do not want the government picking religions, because what do you do the day they don’t pick yours?”
Even with Bloomberg on board, the project still has to win approval of the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission, because the current building on the mosque site dates to 1857-58 and would have to be razed.
The landmark application has been pending since 1989 and was recently reinstated. The commission is scheduled to hold a hearing and a vote in the early summer.
The mosque’s proponents say they are prepared to raise $100 million and hope to accommodate up to 1,500 worshippers on Fridays. About 500 people already use the site for prayers.
(Source: NY Post)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
6 Responses
The only trouble with this is that in the Muslim world this will look like Al Quaeda has won. Their propaganda will say “Look, we threw down a mighty symbol of America and in its place there is now a mosque”. They twist everything out and make propaganda for their cause from it. Therefore, I vote NO MOSQUE on this site.
Mayor B.: We loyal Americans are not afraid; we are resentful, and angry at this blatant attempt to figuratively spit in the face of the loyal Americans whose fellow countrymen were murdered by Muslims. Fact: the handbook of Islam – the Koran – prescribes death for those who fail to convert or bow down to Islam; Fact: the Koran legitimizes lying about your intentions in order to advance Islam; Fact: there is not a large population of Muslims in desperate need of a 13-story gathering place around Ground Zero. Fact: we have experienced, in the past several years, instances of “good neighbors” who turned out to be “plants”, men living in a neighborhood for long enough to seem like everyone else, then turning out to be violent Islamists. We had better be safe than sorry. We are not Neville Chamberlains!
rikki and Yehoshua Kehati, you are both absolutely right. But this mayor is just interested in gaining the political high ground and couldn’t care less about the morality of any given situation.
Sorry Bloomey but it isnt other religions that are out there killing and maiming because we dont believe the trash they do. The day you wake up and realize they hate you as much will be a good day.
Dont give me this hypocrisy about it being a fringe group etc. If it made a difference and they were bothered by it, there would be an anti terrorist GESHRAI each and every time there is an attack or attempted attack.
When will this foolish political correctness end? Why not build a mosque in City Hall.
Bloomberg, wake up. If these so-called religious leaders of the “religion of peace” had any decency, they wouldn’t consider building there. This is nothing more than rubbing it in the face of New Yorkers and all of America.
Can they build on the grounds of the Pentagon too?
Like the Al Aqsa Mosque, the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, as well as the former Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Islam proclaims its victories by building a mosque over a former symbol of the vanquished. In the case of Byzantine Christendom, the church was converted to a mosque by Sultan Mahmed II immediately following the Muslim conquest of Constantinople.
Building a mosque on the former site of the WTC follows suit in proclaiming Islamic triumph over the secular America by symbolically replacing our symbol of global economy, with their symbol of global Sharia!
Mayor Bloomberg is ascenting to surrendering New York City to Dar al Islam!!!!
This is a common pattern of dhimmitude under the guise of religious tolerance!