Mosque being built at Ground Zero

[Jarid in Cedar]

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/nationa...WS0lXuAnQau5uL

Let the fireworks begin.

[Surfah]

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/nationa...WS0lXuAnQau5uL

Let the fireworks begin.

WTF? How did that thing get greenlighted?

[Babs]

That's the least of the eyebrow-raisers in that column:

Australian filmmaker Justin Sisley says he's found a clutch of virgins (or so they claim) eager to give it up for $20,000 in a kind of modern-day slave auction that pairs the legally blind with the seriously hard up. It's called reality TV.

Sisley has three people lined up to sell their virginity to the highest bidder, including "Alex," who'll fly halfway around the globe to participate because, he says, he wants to meet chicks.

[il Padrino Ute]

If the Mosque is built, they better accept that everything that goes on there will be and should be heavily scrutinized.

Is there really no other place in the tri-state region where it could be built?

[Jarid in Cedar]

If the Mosque is built, they better accept that everything that goes on there will be and should be heavily scrutinized.

Is there really no other place in the tri-state region where it could be built?

To me, the real question is what dope was the planning/building commission doing. I do think that the group building it chose the sight purposefully. I don't think they chose the sight as a way to poke a finger in New Yorkers eye. They may feel that they are doing it to show solidarity with New Yorkers and as a way to promote more moderate Islamic groups. However, I think the opposite reaction will occur. It will cause a backlash against them. Which, again, the planning commission has to see as an inevitable reaction.

[il Padrino Ute]

To me, the real question is what dope was the planning/building commission doing. I do think that the group building it chose the sight purposefully. I don't think they chose the sight as a way to poke a finger in New Yorkers eye. They may feel that they are doing it to show solidarity with New Yorkers and as a way to promote more moderate Islamic groups. However, I think the opposite reaction will occur. It will cause a backlash against them. Which, again, the planning commission has to see as an inevitable reaction.

I actually agree with you about why the location was chosen, but as the article mentioned, how would a Japanese cultural center being opened next to Pearl Harbor or a Bach choral society opening near Auschwitz be seen?

10 years to the date after the worst attack on US soil happened, a cultural center of the same religion that terrorists have twisted for their own agenda is to be opened near the site of that attack. I think folks in Manhattan would not be as aggravated if it was across the river in Hoboken.

[falafel]

The mosque is apparently being built in "a building damaged by the fuselage" of on of the airplanes. I have no idea how close this will be to the site of the two towers, but it doesn't sound like its exactly in the center of ground zero.

I'm not sure I have a huge problem with this. I'm sure there are thousands of muslims in New York, and they need to be able to build houses of worship. Unless this mosque is being built by some group with ties to militant islamic groups or there is some other indication of danger, I don't think its a real problem.

Jarid, you make a good point about the planning commission. But if you were on the commission, what would be your basis for denying their application? Assuming they profess to be peace-loving muslims with no ties to jihadism.

[Jarid in Cedar]

The mosque is apparently being built in "a building damaged by the fuselage" of on of the airplanes. I have no idea how close this will be to the site of the two towers, but it doesn't sound like its exactly in the center of ground zero.

I'm not sure I have a huge problem with this. I'm sure there are thousands of muslims in New York, and they need to be able to build houses of worship. Unless this mosque is being built by some group with ties to militant islamic groups or there is some other indication of danger, I don't think its a real problem.

Jarid, you make a good point about the planning commission. But if you were on the commission, what would be your basis for denying their application? Assuming they profess to be peace-loving muslims with no ties to jihadism.

I agree that you have to be sensitive to why you would reject an application, so I think you deny application for ANY religious building within a specific radius of ground zero. I don't know NY well enough to say what that radius should be. Possibly sightlines to ground zero?

I also don't have issue with this, but I worry that it may be like hitting a beehive with a bat

[Surfah]

The mosque is apparently being built in "a building damaged by the fuselage" of on of the airplanes. I have no idea how close this will be to the site of the two towers, but it doesn't sound like its exactly in the center of ground zero.

I'm not sure I have a huge problem with this. I'm sure there are thousands of muslims in New York, and they need to be able to build houses of worship. Unless this mosque is being built by some group with ties to militant islamic groups or there is some other indication of danger, I don't think its a real problem.

Jarid, you make a good point about the planning commission. But if you were on the commission, what would be your basis for denying their application? Assuming they profess to be peace-loving muslims with no ties to jihadism.

Anything is a reason. Planning commissions and boards wield all the power. Developers have no rights. They are at the mercy of the commission. Which is why I said how the hell did this get the green light? I can't imagine this would have passed through the normal channels and process.

[BoylenOver]

What's the problem with this? And the Pearl Harbor/Auschwitz comparison is silly. Why would we hold the decisions made by insane leaders 60 years ago against people from that country? Do we hold Fidel Castro and Kim Jong Il against people of Cuban and North Korean descent?

[Jacob]

In light of even democrats now coming out opposing the mosque (see inter alia Harry Reid), I am officially coming out as not opposed.

2 blocks away is not really part of ground zero, it won't be visible from ground zero (probably), but more importantly, freedom of religion, private property and all that jazz are just too important.

I'd prefer that there weren't any muslims because I think it's a bad religion, but as long as there are, they can worship and then can build a mosque wherever they want consistent with the law.

My take would be different if we knew of any real relationship to terrorists, etc.

[Indy Coug]

My opinion is if mainstream Muslims are interested in bridging the gap between themselves and America, they would be best served by compromising and building farther away from Ground Zero and issue an eloquent statement about why they've reconsidered.

Unfortunately, I believe it's too late in the game for any statement to be taken as sincere.

[Jeff Lebowski]

My opinion is if mainstream Muslims are interested in bridging the gap between themselves and America, they would be best served by compromising and building farther away from Ground Zero and issue an eloquent statement about why they've reconsidered.

Unfortunately, I believe it's too late in the game for any statement to be taken as sincere.

I will admit that I haven't followed this closely, but from what I understand:

1) there is already mosque in the same area and it has been there for decades
2) the group building the mosque is a progressive sect of Islam that condemns fundamentalism

Ultimately, I think this is the type of thing that is best ignored. If they have a legal right to build it, let them build it. It is a nice testament to tolerance and freedom of religion.

[Flystripper]

I will admit that I haven't followed this closely, but from what I understand:

1) there is already mosque in the same area and it has been there for decades
2) the group building the mosque is a progressive set of Islam that condemns fundamentalism

Ultimately, I think this is the type of thing that is best ignored. If they have a legal right to build it, let them build it. It is a nice testament to tolerance and freedom of religion.

Totally agree. When I heard of this as the big political story over the weekend, my only reaction is that it must be a slow week for political news. It gets a big "So what?" from me.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

If this is a progressive sect of Islam, then it doesn't say much for Islam in general. Other religious groups would back out if a sect of their religion was responsible for the place being called "Ground Zero" in the first place and the response to the project was so negative and controversial. I'm not necessarily against the thing because there are only so many limitations that local government can put on a group that wants to build something and has the money and is willing to jump through the hoops. From a property rights perspective, no true conservative can wholeheartedly come out against it, but at the same time people have a right to be outraged at the idea that any sect of Islam wants to build a thirteen story mosque within literally a 2-3 football fields of Ground Zero. I'm sure we'd all be a little more cool with it if all of a sudden the Catholics could build a cathedral in Mecca. But the tolerance train only seems to run one direction with the relationship between Islam and America and Christians.