Tuesday August 24, 2010
NewsBytes for Aug. 24 – Ground Zero Mosque
Compiled by Steve Jalsevac
See introductory article Militant Islam Versus the West
* Disclaimer: The linked items below or the websites at which they are located do not necessarily represent the views of LifeSiteNews.com. They are presented only for your information.
Archbishop Dolan Calls for Dialogue Over “Ground Zero Mosque”
The New York archbishop is underlining the need for civil, respectful dialogue as controversy heats up over plans for building an Islamic center near the site of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. “I know it’s a controversial topic,” said Archbishop Timothy Dolan in a spontaneous press conference Wednesday. “My major prayer is that what has turned into somewhat of a divisive issue might develop into an occasion of very civil, rational, loving, respectful discussion,” he affirmed.
https://www.zenit.org/article-30100?l=english
Cardinal O’Malley on NYC Mosque – America Magazine
We certainly do not want to support groups that promote terrorism, but there are many American citizens who are Muslim, and they have a right to practice their faith. Having a mosque near the site of the attack can be a very important symbol of how much we value religious freedom in this country.
https://www.americamagazine.org/blog/entry.cfm?blog_id=2&entry_id=3185
Ground Zero Imam Says U.S. Worse than al-Qaeda by Jason Mattera – Human Events
https://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=38673&s=rcmp
The Mosque By Manon McKinnon – American Spectator
This will be short and to the point. Of course there should be no mosque built in New York City near the site we call simply Ground Zero — the place where once stood two towering buildings filled with life and people and commerce.
A mosque, of course, is a place of worship exclusively for members of the very religion in whose name the twin towers were attacked and the people massacred. To most of us this is unthinkable.
To defenders of the mosque, please don’t bring up religious freedom and tolerance — those are givens in America. Understand instead that this mosque might look suspiciously like a triumphal arch to most of us, and definitely like rubbing salt in a wound. Just think decency, decorum, consideration and respect and don’t build that mosque.
https://spectator.org/archives/2010/08/24/the-mosque
Intolerance is Not Just Part of al-Qaeda, it is Part of Islam – National Review
Non-Muslims are barred from entering the cities of Mecca and Medina — not merely barred from building synagogues or churches, but barred, period, because their infidel feet are deemed unfit to touch the ground. This is not an al-Qaeda principle. Nor is it an “Islamist” principle. It is Islam, pure and simple.
As Iraq’s “moderate” Ayatollah Ali Sistani — probably the world’s most influential Shiite cleric — has explained, the touching of non-Muslims is discouraged, because they are considered to be in the same “unclean” category as “urine, feces, semen, dead bodies, blood, dogs, pigs, alcoholic liquors, and the sweat of an animal who persistently eats [unclean things].”
These teachings are worth bearing in mind as we listen to the staunch defenses of religious liberty that have suddenly become so fashionable among proponents of the Cordoba Initiative, a planned $100 million Islamic center and mosque to be built on the hallowed ground where remains of the nearly 3,000 Americans killed by Muslim terrorists on 9/11 continue to be found.
https://www.nationalreview.com/articles/243899/tolerant-pose-andrew-c-mccarthy
Tawfik Hamid: Ground Zero Mosque Islamic Victory Symbol – Newsmax
Islamic expert Tawfik Hamid tells Newsmax that many Muslims will view the construction of a mosque near ground zero as symbolizing a “triumph over America.” He also declares that if the mosque is built it could prove to be the “spark” that begins a “war between civilizations.”
https://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/ground-zero-mosque-tawfik-hamid-hamas-obama-bloomberg/2010/08/18/id/367823
Hamas Chief on 9/11 Mosque: ‘Islam Must Build Everywhere’ – WorldNetDaily
Terror-group leader: Muslims in U.S., around world united in common cause. Stated the Hamas chieftain: “First of all, we have to address that we are different as people, as a nation totally different. We already are living under the tradition of Islam. … Islam is controlling every source of our life as regard to marriage, divorce, our commercial relationships. … Even the Islamic people or the Muslims in your country, they are living now in the tradition of Islam. They are fasting, they are praying.”
https://www.wnd.com/?pageId=191797
“We Muslims know the Ground Zero mosque is meant to be a deliberate provocation” – Jihadwath
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2010/08/we-muslims-know-the-ground-zero-mosque-is-meant-to-be-a-deliberate-provocation.html
Where is the Islamic supremacist mega-mosque getting its money? – Jihadwatch
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2010/08/where-is-the-islamic-supremacist-mega-mosque-getting-its-money.html
Islamic Center Backers Won’t Rule Out Taking Funds from Saudi Arabia, Iran – ABC News
https://abcnews.go.com/US/Politics/islamic-center-backers-rule-taking-funds-saudi-arabia/story?id=11429998
Muslims Must Atone Before Mosque is Built at WTC – Spirit Daily
https://www.spiritdaily.com/mosquegroundzero.htm
CNN’s Jack Cafferty Openly Criticizes Mosque Developers – Newsbusters
It’s simply unrealistic to think you can build a Muslim house of worship two blocks from where this awful thing happened, and not get a negative reaction.”
https://newsbusters.org/blogs/matthew-balan/2010/08/19/cnns-jack-cafferty-openly-criticizes-mosque-developers
Hardhats vow not to work on controversial mosque near Ground Zero – New York Daily News
“I wouldn’t work there, especially after I found out about what the imam said about U.S. policy being responsible for 9/11,” Kaiser said. The grass-roots movement is gaining momentum on the Internet. One construction worker created the “Hard Hat Pledge” on his blog and asked others to vow not to work on the project if it stays on Park Place
https://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/08/20/2010-08-20_we_wont_build_it_hardhats_say_no_way_they_will_work_on_wtc_mosque.html
Giuliani on Mosque: “This Project Is Divisive” – NBC
Former mayor acknowledges developers have “right” to build, but defers to question, “should they?” This project is creating tremendous pain for people who’ve already made the ultimate sacrifice. All you’re doing is creating more division, more anger, more hatred.”
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local-beat/Giuliani-on-Mosque-This-Project-Is-Divisive–101062444.html
Ground Zero’ mosque faces another hurdle – OneNewsNow
A Christian law firm is elated about a bombshell report revealing that the developers of the controversial “Ground Zero” mosque only own half of the site where the structure is supposed to be built.
https://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=1120158
Plans to Build Massive Islamic Centers Raise Concerns in Tennessee – Fox News
The Islamic Center of Tennessee is so anxious to move forward with its plan to convert a movie theater in Antioch into a massive mosque and community center that it has a countdown to its closing date – down to the millisecond — on the front page of its website. But not everyone’s excited.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/08/09/plans-build-tennessee-islamic-centers/
Welcome to the Club of Ancient Wrongs by Micheal Cook – Mercatornet
The mosque in Manhattan should be moved further away from Ground Zero, but not because of enmity toward Islam. Only part of the US$100 million Cordoba Initiative is a mosque which will accommodate about 1,000 for Friday prayers. The rest of it is a community centre with a library, gym, auditorium, restaurant, 9/11 memorial and so on. Second, it is not a “Ground Zero Mosque”. It is a full two blocks away from the place where more than 2,700 people died. It is not a gathering place for radical Muslims.
“Demonization of the Muslim religion is what this brouhaha is all about.” It is “as irrational an act of scapegoating as blaming all ethnic Germans for the acts of Nazis,” in the words of one left-wing pundit, Robert Scheer. Even the usually sensible Economist says that “The campaign against the proposed Cordoba centre in New York is unjust and dangerous.”
But the right to free commercial activity and the right to freedom from discrimination and vilification are very blunt instruments for dealing with a “sacred site.” The source of the opposition is more an inarticulate sense of sacredness than bigotry.
A Pakistani professor Islamic Studies stated, “I don’t think the Muslim leadership has fully appreciated the impact of 9/11 on America. They assume Americans have forgotten 9/11 and even, in a profound way, forgiven 9/11, and that has not happened. The wounds remain largely open. And when wounds are raw, an episode like constructing a house of worship – even one protected by the Constitution, protected by law – becomes like salt in the wounds.”
https://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/welcome_to_the_club_of_ancient_wrongs/
Couric: Mosque Opponents ‘Tear Down Towers’ Of American Values – Newsbusters
Last week Norah O’Donnell accused mosque opponents of acting “like the people who attacked America and killed 3,000 people.” In her “Notebook” of yesterday, Katie Couric sounded the same theme. Couric employed WTC imagery to claim that “fear and rage” [translation: animated mosque opponents] were threatening “to tear down the towers” of our core American values.
https://newsbusters.org/blogs/mark-finkelstein/2010/08/24/couric-mosque-opponents-tearing-down-towers-american-values
ABC Works to Rehabilitate Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf’s Reputation
ABC News set out Monday night to rehabilitate the reputation of the iman behind the proposed mosque near Ground Zero, Feisal Abdul Rauf, trying to discredit criticism of him from the right as Sharyn Alfonsi portrayed him as a model of religious tolerance who condemns suicide bombers, terrorism and Hamas and who deserves admiration because he “eulogized Daniel Pearl.”
Alfonsi generously began with how “he candidly discussed his beliefs with Barbara Walters for her 2006 special on Heaven” where he promised her “the Jews, the Christians, whoever believes in God and does good will be saved.”
https://newsbusters.org/blogs/brent-baker/2010/08/23/abc-works-rehabilitate-imam-feisal-abdul-raufs-reputation-after-pining–
Rauf: a Moderate? Beware Imams’ Doubletalk – New York Post
If he believes jihad is really just an internal struggle, then why does he refuse to condemn Hamas? There’s also Rauf’s laughable claim that the Islamic legal code is compatible with the US Constitution. Rauf is hardly what most of us think of as a moderate Muslim
https://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/rauf_moderate_vVYXWDsRdiF6UGZUr3xvNO