Mosque Near Ground Zero
Mosque Near Ground Zero
By RAY SANCHEZ
http://abcnews.go.com/US/ground-mosque-plan-stirs-controversy/story?id=10670631
Here is an excerpt from a story that has hit the airwaves recently with all the finesse and sensitivity of a tidal wave:
Plans for an Islamic cultural center and mosque near New York City’s most hallowed ground have divided families of the nearly 3,000 people who perished on Sept. 11, 2001.
2.1.2002: The World Trade Center is reduced to a million tons of rubble. While details of the funding for the $100 million complex just two blocks from the former World Trade Center site remain sketchy, proponents say the project would be a bridge between Islam and a city still recovering from the worst terrorist attack on American soil.
For some survivors, erecting a mosque and 12-story glass-and-steel complex at the old Burlington Coat Factory at 45 Park Place in lower Manhattan is offensive. For others, the cultural center represents a step towards improved relations with the Muslim world.
Retired New York Fire Department Deputy Chief Jim Riches, whose 29-year-old son Jim, a firefighter, was killed on 9/11, said he wasn’t opposed to the mosque. But don’t build it so close to ground considered sacred by many New Yorkers, he said.
"There are still 1,000 bodies that haven’t been found," he said of remains of the 2,752 people killed in the attacks. "They’re still finding little bits and pieces of the victims. And these people want to build a big 12-story mosque with a swimming pool."
Riches called the Islamic center proposal "a slap in the face of the families."
"To me, it’s a religion of hate," he said of Islam. "There might be some good ones. I don’t know them but they haven’t stood up and knocked the other ones down. I don’t want to go down there on the tenth anniversary of 9/11 and see 2,000 Arabs outside. Maybe they’ll start cheering."
Ted Sjurseth, a founder of America’s 9/11 Foundation, a Virginia-based support group for first responders, called the mosque plan "a stick in the eye."
"It’s tasteless that the city has allowed this to get as far as it has," Sjurseth said.
The controversy over the cultural center highlights the raw tensions that persist nearly a decade after the terrorist attacks shook the nation and sent it to war. Since the attacks, American Muslims have been increasingly targeted as terror suspects.
Known as Cordoba House, the Islamic center will have a mosque for up to 1,500 worshippers on Fridays, Khan said. The complex would also include a swimming pool, performance space and a basketball court. It will be open to non-Muslims. Some 500 worshipers already use the site of the old Burlington Coat Factory for Friday prayers. Khan said her group is open to suggestions from the community, and its members are reaching out to families opposed to the project in hopes of gaining their support. The plan for the mosque and cultural center was unanimously endorsed earlier this month by Community Board 1′s financial district committee. "It is definitely not part of the World Trade Center site," she said. "It’s two blocks away. It’s not even in front of the site, but on a side street. We already have a presence in the neighborhood … and we want to build a peaceful future. This center will give a platform to the silent majority of Muslims whose voices get drowned out by the actions of extremists."
The group hopes to unveil its full plans for the project by the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in 2011. "Extremism can only be defeated when Muslims and non-Muslims come together," Khan said. " You can read the full story here.
Now don’t get me wrong. I truly believe in forgive and forget. But, don’t keep sticking it in my face. I am not against Muslims but the men behind 9/11 and the men who carried it out were Muslim so to me the idea is totally insensitive. It would be no different than wanting to go into Jerusalem and build a 12-story memorial to Treblinka (Poland), Belzec (Poland) & Auschwitz-Birkenau (Poland). (For those of you not up on WWII history, those were the three most vicious concentration camps/ovens operated by the Nazi’s).
One reader made a comment on the http://naziwarcrimes.wordpress.com blog about the concentration camps that I believe very closely applies to the area and events surrounding Ground Zero in New York City:
"It is vital that the memories of the victims, the horrific nearly unimaginable events that took their lives, and the complete absence of humanity on the part of the criminals who perpetuated these crimes be taught to every generation of every people of the world. Only by understanding and accepting these horrors may a recurrence of these events be averted. The pure evil that was allowed to walk the earth must always be recognized so that it may be obliterated every time it shows its putrid face among us before more innocents are robbed of their existence. This remembrance must never be allowed to fade."
Ground Zero is not about a group wanting to build a shrine to their religion, it is about the innocent souls who perished there. It is about preserving their memory in our minds so that we never forget them or the extremism that stole their lives. You want forgivness? You want love and peace like you say you do? Then quit sticking that big stick in my eye every time I turn around. I have said it before and I will say it again:
You live in America now. You came here on your own. We did not force you to come, we welcomed you. But now that you are here you must begin to contribute to the overall image which is America. America is unique because it is composed of every race and religion on earth. It is unique because over the years all of those races and religions have melted into one, unique blend of humanity. It is good to continue your individual beliefs and to share them with us. But is not OK to hide behind the so-called protection of minority status and a legion of lawyers just to get your own way and try to de-Americanize America. In case you didn’t bother to notice because you were so wrapped up in yourself, we were all minorities at one point in time.
"I will gladly share everything I have with anyone who is without, but don’t you ever make the mistake of trying to take it away from me". Dad
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