Mosque at 51 Park Place, NY, NY

The community center is also providing numerous services and facilities for the entire lower Manhattan community -- 500-seat auditorium, theater, performing arts center, fitness center, swimming pool, basketball court, childcare area, bookstore, culinary school, art studio, food court....

Uh oh...child care center...where terrorist supporters can indoctrinate children.

[xoxoxoBruce]

That's OK, they're children of terrorists anyway.

[xoxoxoBruce]

BTW, the 17th floor of the south tower had a prayer room for Muslims that worked at, or were visiting, the WTC.

[tw]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

BTW, the 17th floor of the south tower had a prayer room for Muslims that worked at, or were visiting, the WTC.

No wonder Jews conspired with bin Laden to attack it. Must be true. Some extremist told me how to think.

[BigV]

Christian Science Monitor

Originally Posted by Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf

The real battle

Haass: If you were to go ahead with the center, and given the larger mission of interfaith dialogue and bridges between faiths that you’ve dedicated so many years to, what sorts of things can you do to heal the rifts that have come about?

Rauf: Let me speak about the larger context. The charge that has been thrown to me since 9/11 is how to improve Muslim-West relations. All of my work since then has been based on doing that.

For many years people have asked, “Where are the moderate Muslims? Where are they? Where are they?” But we moderates couldn’t get any attention. Now that we’ve gotten attention, I’m accused of being immoderate!

In any crisis there is an opportunity. The challenge we have together is how to deploy ourselves in a way that will capitalize on these opportunities within the window of time we have so we can leverage the voice of the moderates – not only to address the causes that have fueled extremism, but enable the moderates to wage a war against the extremists.

Ninety-nine-plus percent of Muslims all over the world, I assure you, absolutely, totally find extremism abhorrent. Let there be no mistake, Islam categorically rejects the killing of innocent people. Terrorists violate the sanctity of human life and corrupt the meaning of our faith. In no way do they represent our religion. And we must not let them define us. Radical extremists would have us believe in a worldwide battle between Muslims and nonMuslims. That idea is false. The real battlefront today is not between Muslims and nonMuslims, but moderates of all faith traditions against the extremists of all faith traditions.

What has been so heartwarming to me (during the crisis over the community center) has been the tidal wave of people all across America who have inundated us with offers of help.

Emphasis mine, but this emphasis should be **everyone's**.

[classicman]

mine too.

Originally Posted by classicman

mine too.

Yet you support governments legislating to restrict personal religious /cultural practices (bans on burqa-style Islamic veils)?

[classicman]

Originally Posted by Redux

Yet you support governments legislating to restrict personal religious /cultural practices (bans on burqa-style Islamic veils)?

Shall we not discuss that in the appropriate thread?

[Pete Zicato]

Originally Posted by Redux

Yet you support governments legislating to restrict personal religious /cultural practices (bans on burqa-style Islamic veils)?

That gets into tricky area, Redux. In this case, you have to judge the religious freedom of the individual against the need for public safety.

Originally Posted by Pete Zicato

That gets into tricky area, Redux. In this case, you have to judge the religious freedom of the individual against the need for public safety.

I agree if there is ANY substantive evidence that women wearing burhkas pose a public safety threat.....any more than Sikhs wearing turbans. And I have seen none.

[classicman]

Originally Posted by Redux

Yet you support governments legislating to restrict personal religious /cultural practices (bans on burqa-style Islamic veils)?

I guess not - ok. YES I do... to an extent.

[tw]

Originally Posted by Pete Zicato

That gets into tricky area, Redux. In this case, you have to judge the religious freedom of the individual against the need for public safety.

In my religion, wearing cloths when temperatures exceed 21 degrees C is a sin. Nakedness is my demand for religious freedom. After all, a naked body is not a threat to public safety. Especially my body (an example of how man was created in the image of god).

I demand to be freed from the bonds of cotton. I demand my religious freedom.

[xoxoxoBruce]

My religion requires wearing an AK-47 and hand grenades.

[Happy Monkey]

Actually, Sikh daggers do run into this very issue on occasion.

I subscribe to the Ben Franklin notion that "those who sacrifice liberty for safety (security) deserve neither."

Particularly when it is based on emotions and not evidence that such sacrifices of liberty will ensure greater safety/security.