Protests Against Mosques Spread Far Beyond Ground Zero

New York Times:

While a high-profile battle rages over a mosque near ground zero in Manhattan, heated confrontations have also broken out in communities across the country where mosques are proposed for far less hallowed locations.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[Arthur Riechert]

12:45 PM on 08/18/2010

It's just another example of "our god is more powerful than your god" thing. Back in the old days they believed in local gods and when they'd go to war they carried their gods before them (the ark of the covenant was supposedly god's home) and whomever won the battle supposedly had the most powerful god and you were supposed to worship him. So, when Muslims want to build a mosque at ground zero it's just another way of saying "our god is more powerful than your god." "We won this battle. Our god destroyed your god."

[JJovana]

01:17 PM on 08/16/2010

That mosque has every right to be built. Is it insensitive?? Out of all places in NYC? Ground zero? Really???????

[jbarelli]

12:41 AM on 08/17/2010

What better place to show that Islam does not equate to terrorism? What better could be done than to try and revitalize that part of New York that, to this day is still suffering the loss of business and culture that the World Trade Center represented?

A building that has been empty since the attack, and isn't visible from the actual ground zero site, but still close enough to help revitalize the area?

And, what better way to show that we refuse to become what the terrorists wanted us to be? What better way to say "we are ALL Americans and you will not divide us!"

Of course, the GOP wants us to say "that group isn't really American". They tell us that about Muslims, they tell us that about Hispanics, and judging from some of their reaction to having a black President, they apparently want to tell us that about blacks.

GOP "real American" = white anglo-saxon Protestant. Oh, and not all Protestants count. Only the conservative Protestants are "real Americans".

My only problem with the proposed cultural center is that bigots will be lining up to try to harm innocent Muslims. The crazies are out in force.

[Davest]

07:22 AM on 08/15/2010

Because nothing shows the world, our "Freedoms" we enjoy as americans, more than us picketing somebody else's religion.

See this country was founded on religious freedom, and the people that came here, were fleeing persecution from that.

How fitting that we now show our racist, and Islamophobic faces.

I'm sure there are no Christian churches built in any other country that has a differing religion.

[Mark Twaine]

12:18 AM on 08/17/2010

This isn't about religion. It is a bunch of lieing politicians and hate gangs who are trying to make a name for themselves.

[Tulka2]

03:43 PM on 08/13/2010

No more mosques is a good idea. No more Christian churches is a good idea too.....at least no more tax exemptions. Just freeze the existing churches' tax exceptions. No more should be built.

Some one should do an educated estimate of the underground economy related to church tax exemptions.

Jesus said something like, "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's" and that means taxes should be paid by everyone to Caesar. There's another subject.... How did American Christians get that flim-flam tax exemption for churches? I know their Constitutional argument under the First Amendment, of course, but do not think it would fly today. We should revisit that before we revisit the fourteenth amendment.

[fbr79]

02:33 AM on 08/15/2010

Absolutely, in times of financial crisis religious organizations always flourish, especially financially. Time to make them all pay.

[ionthegravity]

08:40 PM on 08/12/2010

Personally, if Muslims can't build their mosques, then Catholic Churches shouldn't be allowed near schools and daycare centers...because of all of those dangerous priests and all....

[Stroodle]

08:47 AM on 08/11/2010

"In late June, in Temecula, Calif., members of a local Tea Party group took dogs and picket signs to Friday prayers at a mosque"

I don't even know what to say to this. Saying you should be ashamed of yourselves would be a complete understatement. You are sad, sad people.

[JackHall]

04:38 AM on 08/11/2010

I think there is some misunderstanding about the rancor over Cordoba House, the Mosque at Ground Zero.

Most Americans believe in a degree of freedom for everyone, but that doesn’t mean children should play on the railroad tracks, or drunks drive themselves home, or pilot trainees fly jetliners.

Most New Yorkers don’t know why Cordoba should be remembered. Islam has its reason for remembering Cordoba. And Christians have theirs. Who is speaking up for the Christians who were slain at Cordoba in the 8th century AD defending Spain against this Muslim invasion? Don’t count on the New York Mayor or City Council to stand up for them. They don't care.The Muslims stayed in Spain for 700 years before being expelled by Ferdinand and Isabella.

The Mosque at Ground Zero represents a monument glorifying Muslim aggression against Europeans in the 8th century AD. This aggression was wrong then and it is still wrong now.

Cordoba was the home of an architect of Christian Theology. Hosius of Cordoba was the bishop who presided over the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD. He guided the Council to accept the divinity of Jesus Christ. This is the central dogma of Christianity. The opposition to this doctrine is found in the Arian controversy and Islam. In the Dark Ages it was a cause for war.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07475a.htm

[Stroodle]

09:06 AM on 08/11/2010

The Council Of Nicaea was no more than an editing workshop. All it did was take a current story at the time and cut it down to mean what they wanted it to. If they chose any other of the gospels that were left out, it would be a very different bible that the world knows today. The Council Of Nicaea was a joke and if christians live their lives today for happened there, that's quite sad. It is no different then Jefferson writing "The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth". They left in the parts they liked and left the controversial gospels out. Jefferson only included the teachings of Jesus and left everything supernatural out.

What's the difference between the two? Nothing. It's two men's vision of how the bible should have read. One being Constantine and the other a founding father of the US

[NWBrunette]

10:33 AM on 08/12/2010

Your rendering of history is rather incomplete to say the least. Try getting a little educated instead of just listening to Newt's silly blather -- http://gotmedieval.blogspot.com/2010/08/professor-newts-distorted-history.html.

[SocraticWisdom319]

08:20 PM on 08/10/2010

I like the lady holding the "This is not your country" sign. Ohhhhh the irony.

[Hillbilly49]

10:47 PM on 08/10/2010

I hope she doesn't call my country her country.

[themainpoint]

11:32 AM on 08/10/2010

Our country was founded on freedom of religion for good reason: Religions are easily co opted abused for political purposes to divert followers, start wars, divide and conquer peoples, and also to manipulate people. Our founders were wise enough to want to avoid the world history of brutal religious oppression, persecution and war.

It wasn't Muslims or followers of Islam in a GENERAL sense who attacked the WT Center----it was a handful of fanatics.

Every religion has their fanatics who claim to be religious, then do heinous things in the name of some religion. It seems doubtful we're going to change that--and certain we won't change it by hatred, racism or attacking an entire religion with a gazillion followers.

It's also a question of priorities. Is it really wise for Americans to diver their attention to any unsubstantiated focus on all things Muslim?

We really do have a country to get back on track.

We really do have trends and Wall Street execs and banks that have been destroying much of our economy, many jobs and the middle class. These same interests have been rewarded for this with unprecedented transfers of trillions of tax dollars, so they might just do this again.

We really do have a broken health care system that overcharges Americans more than twice the going rate for health care.

We really do have expensive wars going on in our name that kill daily.

[kitty2713]

05:31 AM on 08/10/2010

Two words... safe haven

[Kashyap]

04:08 AM on 08/10/2010

The record of mosques in the United States is not much better. As long ago as January 1999, the Naqshbandi Sufi leader Sheikh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani declared in a State Department Open Forum that Islamic supremacists controlled most mosques in America: “The most dangerous thing that is going on now in these mosques,” he said, “that has been sent upon these mosques around the United States – like churches they were established by different organizations and that is ok – but the problem with our communities is the extremist ideology. Because they are very active they took over the mosques; and we can say that they took over more than 80% of the mosques that have been established in the US. And there are more than 3000 mosques in the US. So it means that the methodology or ideology of extremist has been spread to 80% of the Muslim population, but not all of them agree with it.”

"And in June 2008 federal investigators found that the Islamic Saudi Academy in Virginia, despite promises to stop teaching such material, was still using books that advocated that apostates from Islam be executed and that it was permissible for Muslims to kill and seize the property of “polytheists.”

http://frontpagemag.com/2010/08/10/closed-for-business/

[Javida]

11:31 PM on 08/10/2010

Thanks and Fannnned! Amazing how so many people are misinformed. Islam teaches that Christians are polytheists, which is patently untrue. For this reason, Christians are infidels.
Islam is not a religion of neutrality in its view of others. People are viewed as either Muslim or infidels. And infidels are normally subjected to ostracism, abuse, assault or death under the sanctions of this ideology unless they convert.

[Kashyap]

02:10 AM on 08/10/2010

"The spread of sharia law to the entire world is part of jihad. In Canada and Britain, jihad is advancing.

A June 2010 report entitled "Sharia Law in Britain: A Threat to One Law for All and Equal Rights" begins with Secretary General of the Islamic Sharia Council Suhaib Hasan saying, "If Sharia law is implemented, then you can turn this country [Great Britain] into a haven of peace because once a thief's hand is cut off nobody is going to steal." Furthermore, "once[,] just only once, if an adulterer is stoned[,] nobody is going to commit this crime at all," and finally, "[w]e want to offer it to the British society. If they accept it, it is for their good and if they don't accept it they'll need more and more prisons."

http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/08/sharia_law_in_canada_and_brita.html

[Jason T Henry]

12:52 AM on 08/10/2010

but that experiment, is coming to a swift end. It didn't work, and you are the the main reason why.( you unbelievers, muslims included, and atheists, liberals, you know who you are) This country will come to an end some day. That is not my concern. MY concern is with the coming kingdom of God, and the return of his son Jesus Christ, to come for his church. ( and you know who you are as well, you are truly blessed of the Lord) Well, that's all I have to say for now, but just keep in mind that God is ultimately going to make things right in the end. NO matter how ridiculous things seem to get, he is faithful to take care of the needs of his people, one day at a time. GOd Bless.( only if you are a believer, because obviously if you are not, you will not receive this blessing.) End of story. You can claim this as your country, the land of the free, etc...

[Jason T Henry]

12:52 AM on 08/10/2010

If we are divided as a nation, and continue to become more and more divided, as you see is happening, how will we stand against an enemy from the outside? But if we are united, we can stand strong. That is why I say unite, by coming back to the one true God. You know the bible stories from your youth. I'm sure that most of you are familiar with Daniel in the lIons den, King David and Bethsheba, even if you don't consider yourself a Christian or "believe" in God. But, why is that? We don't have characters from other Pagan religions that we are familiar with in this country. And yes, I am calling them Pagan religions, and I am referring to Christianity as the belief in the one true God through the sacrifice of his only begotten son Jesus Christ. So if I just offended you, good. The word of God will offend unbelievers. I am not writing this to agree with you or make you feel better if you are an unbeliever. I am writing this to speak to the hearts of those who have ears to hear and eyes to see. God will seperate out the goats from the sheep in the last day. So we don't need to continue to cow-tow to the unbelievers of this nation. We need to stand up against them, and let them know that they don't belong here.

[SocraticWisdom319]

08:15 PM on 08/10/2010

This is the problem. You say you have the one true god, muslims say they do. But, where is the proof?

[Jason T Henry]

12:50 AM on 08/10/2010

I believe that should another situation like 9/11 happens again in our nation, be it Chicago, L.A. or even NYC, again, (God forbid), but should it happen again, This may be the only thing to unite us once again as a nation. As horrible as that sounds, we all know it's true, from experience. If you study the patterns and the way the American people have become more and more "polarized" over the past 5 to 6 years, it becomes pretty clear that we are really heading in the wrong direction, and our biggest enemy, isn't one that comes from the outside, it is ourselves. We will be the ones to bring our nation down, and that is the very tactics of our "invisible" enemy. Believe in God or not, Satan is the enemy of all mankind, whether you believe in a god, or worship the devil, he still hates you. And his number one aim, just like from the beginning in the garden, with Adam and Eve, is to get people to doubt God's word, and to think that they can do a better job without God.

[jam2715]

02:54 PM on 08/10/2010

You are the problem

[ionthegravity]

08:47 PM on 08/12/2010

wooow...people like you are what turned me into an atheist.