Wow, you guys have some pretty arrogant responses and I'm a little surprised. Just because the people that flew a planes into the WTC were nuts, doesn't mean all Muslims are. I don't get why these guys are considered extremists, i mean the Cordoba Initiative's slogan is "Cordoba Initiative (CI) aims to achieve a tipping point in Muslim-West relations within the next decade, steering the world back to the course of mutual recognition and respect and away from heightened tensions." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordoba_House http://www.cordobainitiative.org/?q=content/cordoba-house-new-york-city It actually sounds pretty cool, I don't understand why all you guys have your panties in a bunch, oh yea, I forgot, after 9/11 all Muslims = terrorists.
I've got nothing against Muslims per se, I just find them building anything near ground zero to be rude and misguided. That and I think religion as a whole just needs to go away. Religion took down the towers, and there's just no room for it in my personal life.
The easiest way to solve this is to not allow any religious houses of worship to be built anywhere near ground zero. No church's, mosques, temples, synagogues or kingdom halls.
I get that building a mosque near Ground Zero would create a PR nightmare for Muslims and be in bad taste, which means it's definitely a misguided effort by Cordoba Initiative, but how does that make this organization extremist? The website clearly states the objective of "[t]his proposed project is about promoting integration, tolerance of difference and community cohesion through arts and culture. Cordoba House will provide a place where individuals, regardless of their backgrounds, will find a center of learning, art and culture; and most importantly, a center guided by Islamic values in their truest form - compassion, generosity, and respect for all." You can definitely say that the extremists who brought down the towers were Muslims, but you can't say all Muslims are extremists. That would be like saying "all Germans are Nazis" or "all Catholic priests are pedophiles." That kind of stuff is patently false.
So, building a Mosque that represents the majority of Muslims in the world as opposed to the minority of extremist Muslims near ground zero is in poor taste?
to anyone that thinks there's a justification: But why there and not someplace else? The term: "ignorance" comes to mind if any muslim believes they'd be welcome where they plan to build. The KKK was brought up. This would be akin to the teapartyers building a headquarters next to a black man's house that the KKK burnt down earlier in the week. As for Muslims wishing to "educate" people....................wrong move, wrong time, wrong place................wrong! Build it in the bronx. Some on here, seem to know a bit about Muslims already. Did they learn it from an Muslim cultural center/mosque? I didn't think so.
This forum is a microcosm of our society. Read most of the comments in this thread, and you can probably guess what the general consensus is. mistawiskas makes a good point in his last post.
What don't you tell us what really is on your mind, HEAVY-D? Stop pussyfooting around with sardonic comments.
Why not...Its a place where alot of people hate towards there religion/people started. Best place to show people that not all Muslims are evil. You have to see what NY like in person to understand how people treat each other. Vicious as they are, you don't see people in normal life looking middle eastern people with evil eyes alot. Now off-course some hate the idea, some don't care, some are now more curious about it. When/IF some thing like that is built do you think only Muslim are going to go. I guarantee it that alot of non Muslim will go too. In them some will be very arrogant about there ways, some will be curious to learn what its about and some will go because its convenient for them and can care less about Muslim and Christan. How ever it happen it will create people to interact, some in good way and some in bad. Over time if the place is under correct administration and people who working there realize they have to show how respectful they are and other good things they represent because they learn from there culture/religion. Some peoples mind will change. Learning to distinguish between fanatics, and those who just want to work hard help people and watch there kids grow up in peace and be a productive part of society. No different then what average family wants for there kids. As for learning part, yes we were taught about there religion, there book (Quran),and there Varying cultures also was taught about there Ethics. Have gone to mosques and very well taught in there prayers. Also been to some thing they call Khane Kaba(sp) called Hijrat/Hijra (sp). But that wasn't for work, it was more out of curiosity as in what the hell is it all about... However in the end i still dont give a dam about religion or any religion at that. But i dont let that make me ignorant of other or what they represents. I do care about being fair (when i can) and seeing things from rational point of view unbiased by any emotions.
I think its retarded that they're trying to build it there from a PR standpoint, but I don't have a problem that they are. Its a muslim community center, not a durkadurkajihad training camp.
It's obvious you are a muslim lover. With all of this anger being generated towards a mosque being built near ground zero I was wondering if muslim's were being kept away from the area? It's clear they aren't welcome anymore. Since I don't live in the city was wondering if muslim's are being shunned. In all honesty I don't care if the mosque is built or not. It won't change a thing we live for anger and hate and the spreading of this anger and hate in this day and age. This is a world wide epidemic with no end in sight.
If the situation was reversed, could christianity build a place like that in the middle east? I mean, I'm all for tolerance and all, but it must be a two way street, at least to some degree.
So I guess that's no? Yeah I can really see some missionaries in Afghanistan or Baghdad building a church.
And look at what that ideology has gotten us. That mindset is just a ruse anyhow. We never were better, We just screw each other over in the name of commerce rather than relligeon. We chase a corrot-on-a-stick while they do whatever they can to keep from being suicide bombed. In the end the majority of us (east and west) die feeling disillusioned by what we place the most importance on in life. We all get to live a life ruled by a thousand forms of fear and insecurity. Just take a look at their relligeo-politics and our advertising campaigns. Fear and insecurity sells products, ideas and agendas. A person cannot be truely happy or free until those things are overcome.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/22/AR2005062202335.html First google link. I just had to check. EDIT: And this will likely be the end for the mosque too.
This is from more wider prospect. Your question is to ambiguous, in sense since Muslims occupy and have soo many different countries. Each country thinks in different manner towards different issues and even on same issues there views can vary widely. So if you try to build Church in Iran i dont think it be easy. However if you try to build a church in Dubai, as long the Church is high tech cool looking building no one will stop you. NY is a big melting pot, so people are more use to seeing people of different ethnic background on regular basis. And that's how there tolerance was developed. As suppose to some Red neck state/place who dont have even 1 percent of other races population. Or people who dont have much interaction with people of more diverse ethnic background on regular basis. There tolerance be on the diff level. I cant think of any reason why would any one want to build a Building/Church in a war-ridden place. Least not until the place has stabilize, because any building of that nature will just be a big bulls eye in the war-ridden land. From my experience, when i seen missionaries in chaotic places they didnt work out of some building, they prefer smaller locations where it was easier for them to talk to people with as much physical contact as possible.
Some of the oldest Christian churches in the world are located in Iraq and Afghanistan. Muslims make pilgrimage to these sites because they believe that Jesus was a prophet but not the son of God. Missionaries don't really need to go and build new churches out there because Muslims already believe in Jesus.
If I was a Muslim extremest, I wouldn't pick a target to fly my plane into thats located 2 blocks from my huge 13 story Mosque, might be bad news with Ala . Did anyone ever think of that?
^^who said thats the one and only target of future attacks? next they'll blow up the capitol building, and build a mosque on top "were sorry, so were going to build a "community center" here for your grievance and acceptance of our faith" WHAT THE FUCK EVER.
I must have missed this thread before. I don't see an issue with it. Personally, I think all religion is a bunch of crap, but we're supposed to be tolerant of each other and allow freedom of religion. I'm gonna jump on the "not all Muslims = terrorists" bandwagon. Not to mention, this is New York City. The place where you see a black husband with a Chinese wife, with 3 Mexican kids that are all theirs. It's a few blocks away, not directly at the WTC site. If we want to continue with this logic, should we not allow any Catholic churches to be within a mile of an elementary school, because Catholic priests have a tendency to touch little boys?
