Of course, it's easier when the left is on their side. From the May 13, 2010 New York Post:
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.
Congress should make a law prohibiting the free exercise of religion by these Muslims!
ReplyDeleteYou don't suppose that the date of opening might have been picked to be intentionally offensive?
ReplyDeleteI believe the writer of the article you linked to intended the use of that date to inflame people to anger. However, since the building doesn't even have funding yet, I sincerely doubt that they'll have a 13 or 15 story building done in 15 months. This is another one of those "facts" that someone posts on the Internet, and it sweeps through the blogosphere until someone stops and says, "Hey, this doesn't pass the smell test."
ReplyDeletePersonally, I'd like the U.S. to not follow Saudi Arabia's lead in... well, basically anything. As I belong to a religion (LDS) which not infrequently has people trying to keep us from putting houses of worship on land we own, I guess I'm a little more sensitive to the issue than most.
ReplyDeleteSo, assuming that one agrees that Muslims should be able to build a new mosque somewhere in the Northeast, what should be the minimum required distance they have to keep from Ground Zero?
100 miles.
ReplyDeleteLook, we all know what that Mosque represents. It is Moslems saying, we destroyed your buildings, we murdered your people, and we put a Mosque up in it's place. And this from people who think they are acting in God's will. It will take OBL how long, maybe 2 minutes, to start making the connection in one of his cowardly speeches. It's an insult, it's meant to be an insult, and you aren't doing anyone any favors by pretending you don't recognize it as such.
"Personally, I'd like the U.S. to not follow Saudi Arabia's lead in... well, basically anything. As I belong to a religion (LDS) which not infrequently has people trying to keep us from putting houses of worship on land we own, I guess I'm a little more sensitive to the issue than most."
ReplyDeleteI'm sort-of inclined to agree with this, as well, although if LDS terrorists (acting in the name of my faith) destroyed several buildings and killed thousands of people in the process, I would think that putting up a temple to be opened on the anniversary of that act would be in poor taste.
At least, I'd like to think I'd find it in poor taste; at the very least, it shouldn't be surprising if others find it in poor taste as well.
But I also agree that this smells rather odd.
It is certainly true that there is a serious constitutional question in refusing permission to build a mosque--although not on establishment clause grounds, but free exercise of religion grounds. It is still an astonishingly crude action to make plans for such a building to be opened on such a date, clearly intended to be provocative.
ReplyDeleteI'm a bit surprised that there are parts of the country where anyone would prevent an LDS church from being built based on religious grounds. I'm even more surprised to find out Bubblehead is LDS.
Yep, the Boston Temple was delayed for quite a while. And Calvary Chapel was quite active in protesting the Spokane Temple.
ReplyDeleteAgain, I really doubt the Mosque is planned to be opened on that date; a quick Google search showed that "fact" was only showing up on the linked article and in conservative blogs, while a CNN article said funds were still being raised and it would take 3-5 years to build. When one considers that ground hasn't been broken, I think they'd be hard pressed to get the thing built in 15 months. Sometimes, people just make stuff up on the internet; it's up to the discerning blogger to determine what passes the smell test.