'Ground Zero mosque' debate hits the streets of New York
The debate over the so-called 鈥�Ground Zero mosque鈥� hit the streets of New York Sunday.
The weather fit the mood 鈥� gray skies and rain 鈥� and there were a few scuffles and shouted exchanges. But police officers and barricades kept several hundred demonstrators on each side separated.
The proposed site is several blocks away from the World Trade Center, attacked in 2001 by Islamic terrorists, in a neighborhood that includes bars, strip clubs, and an off-track betting facility. Still, it is 鈥渉allowed ground鈥� to many who oppose the Islamic Center 鈥� including politicians using it to batter President Obama.
Ground zero and beyond: four mosque battles brew across US
This has led to increasing talk of moving the site of the proposed center, which is not a 鈥渕osque鈥� as most people might envision it with a dome, minarets, and amplified calls to prayer but more like a YMCA or Jewish Community Center 鈥� architecturally plain with an auditorium, swimming pool, and meeting rooms as well as a prayer space (but no loud speakers).
Roman Catholic Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York, has offered to mediate the issue. A model, he suggests, is when Pope John Paul II ordered nuns to move from a convent at the Auschwitz Nazi death camp after protests from Jewish leaders.
鈥淗e鈥檚 the one who said, 鈥楲et鈥檚 keep the idea, and maybe move the address,鈥� 鈥� Archbishop Dolan . 鈥淚t worked there; might work here.鈥�
On ABC鈥檚 鈥淭his Week鈥� Sunday, Daisy Khan, wife of the proposed Islamic Center鈥檚 leader Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf, did not rule out the possibility of selecting a less controversial site away from 9/11鈥檚 ground zero.
鈥淲e're meeting several stakeholders right now, because we understand the pain and the anguish that has been displayed throughout the country,鈥� . 鈥淎nd we indeed want to build bridges. We don't want to create conflict. This is not where we were coming from. So, this is an opportunity for us to really turn this around and make this into something very, very positive. So we will meet and we will do what is right for everyone.鈥�
At the same time, Khan pointed out, 鈥淲e have the Muslim community around the nation that we have to be concerned about, and we have to worry about the extremists as well, because they are seizing this moment. And so we have to be very careful and deliberate in when we make any major decision like this.鈥�
New York Governor David Paterson has offered to help find an alternative site.
To many observers, the 鈥淕round Zero mosque鈥� issue has become an excuse for more widespread opposition to Islam 鈥� including the persistent and growing belief among Americans that President Obama is a Muslim.
A Time magazine survey this past week 鈥渞evealed that many Americans harbor lingering animosity toward Muslims.鈥�
鈥淭wenty-eight percent of voters do not believe Muslims should be eligible to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court,鈥� . 鈥淣early one-third of the country thinks adherents of Islam should be barred from running for President 鈥� a slightly higher percentage than the 24 percent who mistakenly believe the current occupant of the Oval Office is himself a Muslim.鈥� (That鈥檚 higher than the recent Pew Research Center survey showing that 18 percent think Obama is a Muslim.) Just 55 percent said they think most Muslims are 鈥渓oyal Americans.鈥�
Local battles over mosques are raging in several places around the country, none of which has any direct connection to the events (or victims) of 9/11.
"The people who say the mosque is too close to Ground Zero, those are the same people that protest mosques in Brooklyn and Staten Island and Tennessee and Wisconsin and California,鈥� Ali Akram, a local doctor who supports the project, . 鈥淲hat radius will they go for? There's no end to it."
