Obama Endorses New York Mosque

[Sionnach Glic]

Barack Obama has waded into a bitter controversy over a plan by Muslims to build a mosque just blocks from Ground Zero, endorsing the project on religious freedom grounds. Skip related content
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The proposed site of the Islamic community center near Ground Zero in New York Enlarge photo

* The proposed site of the Islamic community center near Ground Zero in New York Enlarge photo
* Obama has defended controversial plans to build a mosque near the site of the 9/11 New More Enlarge photo
* A woman shouts at NYC's Landmarks Commission after they voted not to grant landmark More Enlarge photo

"As a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practise their religion as anyone else in this country," Obama said late Friday.

"That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances."

Obama's remarks, delivered at a White House Iftar meal for Muslims breaking their Ramadan fast, were the president's first on the controversial project, which has become a test of tolerance for Islam in post-9/11 America and sparked a national debate on freedom of religion.

Republican reaction was swift and negative.

Congressman Peter King, who represents New York in the US House of Representatives, said the Muslim community was "abusing" of its rights and "needlessly offending" many people.

"It is insensitive and uncaring for the Muslim community to build a mosque in the shadow of ground zero," King, a Republican, said in a statement. "Unfortunately the president caved in to political correctness."

A CNN/Opinion Research poll earlier this month showed that 68 percent of Americans opposed plans to build the mosque near Ground Zero, while only 29 percent favored it.

Intended to include a mosque, sports facilities, theater, restaurant and possibly a day care, the multi-story Islamic center would be open to all visitors to demonstrate that Muslims are part of their community, planners say.

But the proposed location, two blocks from the gaping Ground Zero hole, where the Twin Towers were destroyed on September 11, 2001, has touched raw nerves.

Obama acknowledged that the site where the World Trade Center towers once stood remains "hallowed ground," and that the 9/11 attacks "were a deeply traumatic event for our country."

But he said American values required that all religious groups be treated equally and fairly.

"This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakeable. The principle that people of all faiths are welcome in this country, and will not be treated differently by their government, is essential to who we are."

New York City has approved plans for the lower Manhattan building to be turned into a mosque and an interfaith venue called "Cordoba House."

But hearings on whether the construction should be allowed prompted furious exchanges, with supporters accusing critics of racism and Islamophobia, and opponents warning the plan insulted the memory of the 3,000 victims of the 9/11 attacks.

Applause erupted when a New York city commission unanimously approved the project August 3, but others shouted "shame," and waved signs reading "Islam builds mosques at the sites of their conquests."

Obama acknowledged the "pain and suffering experienced by those who lost loved ones is unimaginable," but he called on Americans to "always remember who we are fighting against, and what we are fighting for."

"Al-Qaeda's cause is not Islam -- it is a gross distortion of Islam," the president said. "In fact, Al-Qaeda has killed more Muslims than people of any other religion -- and that list of victims includes innocent Muslims who were killed on 9/11."

Before an audience of prominent Muslim Americans, including administration officials, and Muslim members of Washington's diplomatic corps, Obama paid tribute to a US history of accepting and engaging Muslims.

He cited the example of president Thomas Jefferson, who he said hosted the first White House Iftar, more than 200 years ago.

But the appeal to US history is unlikely to convince those most opposed to the mosque, which has attracted increasingly strident criticism, raising fears among US Muslims of an Islamophobic backlash.

A Florida church has already said it will hold a "Koran-burning" on September 11 this year, and Muslim advocacy groups say they have reached out to law enforcement officials seeking extra vigilance.

But Obama said while America's diversity contained the seeds of conflict, US values were stronger and would always overcome difference.

"Time and again, the American people have demonstrated that we can work through these issues, stay true to our core values, and emerge stronger for it. So it must be -- and will be -- today," he said.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20100814/tp ... 170b4.html

[Tyyr]

I'm in total agreement with him.

So ponder that when you consider that I'm slightly to the right of Vlad the Impaler.

"Unfortunately the president caved in to political correctness."

When did the law of the fucking land and a core foundational principle of this country become "political correctness"?

[Sionnach Glic]

When it stopped being idealogicaly useful to certain groups.

[Tyyr]

I fucking hate what the Republican party's become. Hell, I hate them worse than the Democrats.

[Captain Seafort]

Well, well, well. So there's a spine and a brain in there after all.

[Sionnach Glic]

I f***ing hate what the Republican party's become. Hell, I hate them worse than the Democrats.

I'm always amused at how the Republicans and the Democrats have essentialy switched places in the last century or so. Originally it was the Democrats who were the more right-wing of the two.

I'll be quite interested in seeing how politics in the US evolves over the next decade or two. The Democrats seem to lack any backbone and the Republicans have apparently been hijacked by fringe loons. Fun times ahoy!

[Tyyr]

Well, well, well. So there's a spine and a brain in there after all.

He's back peddling at full speed.

[Lighthawk]

Best move he's made so far as being a real leader goes. Probably not the brightest politically, but it is the right thing to do, and that he choose to do so regardless of the impact it's sure to have on his career gets him some respect from me.

The over all idiocy of this whole "controversy" is frankly shameful and embarrassing on America. The unwillingness of so many to understand the difference between Al-Qaeda and Islam as a whole is the worst kind of ignorance. What a fringe group does is not a representation of the whole. And more hate is always a bad response to hate.

Sadly if this mosque does get built, I don't think it'll last long before some extremists take the matter into their own hands. I foresee fire ending this.

[Sionnach Glic]

I'd honestly be surprised if the mosque isn't vandalised in some way once built.

[Tyyr]

You think they'll wait for it to be built? Wanna put some money on that?

[Sionnach Glic]

Fair point.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

A damned shame, here, the protests against the mosque. *Sigh*