Monday, May 24, 2010

Families of Victims of 9/11 Reject Ground Zero Mosque

I am reposting a very revealing and informative blog post by Patriot's Corner of 9/11 families rejecting the proposed mosque at ground zero with very good reason.


New York, May 24, 2010 — 9/11 Families for a Safe & Strong America (9/11 FSSA) adamantly rejects the plan for a mosque to be built atop a planned 15-story structure that would tower over the site where nearly 3,000 people were killed by Islamic terrorists.


According to the project’s leader, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the mosque and “Muslim-led community center” is to be called the Cordoba House, named after the historic period when the Islamic Caliphate in Cordoba ruled much of Europe and non-Muslims lived as second-class citizens under Islamic rule.

Victims’ families view the imam’s expressed plan to “leverage” the mosque’s proximity to Ground Zero to engage in proselytizing and to “grow the Muslim community,” as shockingly insensitive to the history of the site where their loved ones were slaughtered in the worst terrorist attack by extremist Muslims in America’s history; following the attack, 20,000 body parts were recovered in a nine-month operation to remove 1.8 million tons of rubble from Lower Manhattan.

“Imam Rauf is a Muslim cleric who, immediately after 9/11, blamed the attacks on U.S. treatment of Muslims, asserting that Osama Bin Ladin was ‘made in the U.S.A,’” said Debra Burlingame, co-founder of 9/11 FSSA, whose brother was the pilot of the American Airlines flight which was hijacked and crashed into the Pentagon. “We do not accept the Cordoba organization’s view that we need Imam Rauf to lecture us about religious tolerance in a city still dealing with the consequences of the attack that he claims we brought on ourselves.”

Last Monday, representatives of 9/11 FSSA met with Sharif El-Gamal, owner and CEO of Soho Properties, the corporation that purchased the two buildings where the mosque will be built at 43-45 Park Place, and asked him to name the investors in the mosque project. Mr. El-Gamal refused, citing the advice of his attorneys, stating that “this is private property” and that “we can build this ‘as of right.’” The property was purchased with $4.85 million in cash.

Imam Rauf is now publicly stating in a professionally-organized PR campaign that the building will be a community center, “not a mosque.” However, Mr. El-Gamal showed 9/11 FSSA members architectural renderings in which a mosque, located on the top floor of the 15-story building, would have a commanding view of the entire Ground Zero neighborhood.

Equally troubling is the fact that, while the stated purpose of the project is to engage in interfaith dialogue and cultural egalitarianism, Imam Rauf embraces Shariah, the Arabic word for Islamic law, a sociopolitical system of jurisprudence based upon the Koran which supersedes man-made law and which rejects the Constitutional doctrine of the separation of church and state. Islamic countries that embrace Shariah and political Islam are known for brutal policies that discriminate against women, gays, and religious minorities. Shariah law is entirely incompatible with the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment and would violate 1st Amendment protections of speech, assembly and the free exercise of religion.

We feel that the attempt to use our loved ones’ deaths and the painful legacy of 9/11 still felt by New Yorkers to engage in a campaign to reverse America’s core doctrine of religious freedom — and to do so under the guise of interfaith understanding — is a gross insult to the memory of those who were killed on that terrible day.

9/11 Families for a Safe & Strong America asks concerned Americans — regardless of race, color, creed, or ethnic origin — to join us in denouncing this effort to chip away at America’s bedrock principle of religious freedom.

You may want to read this article: Planned Ground Zero mosque imam wants sharia law in America



H/T Patriot's Corner

14 comments:

Maggie Thornton said...

Well, we know what goes on in these Islamic "community centers." This is such a terrible development, as the horrible meaning behind the Flt. 93 memorial.

Each time I think we have let Muslims go too far, we let them take a giant step.

Really good information Teresa.

Opus #6 said...

You know what? If the muslims still think we brought 9-11 on ourselves, they can go pound sand. I sure hope that the mosque does not get built there.

Christopher - Conservative Perspective said...

There should have been a moratorium on any satan-worshipping mosque building after 9/11.

I say no more anywhere on American soil including her territories.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting this. I'm all for religious freedom, but this goes too far. This is beyond inappropriate. It's a big in your face gesture shielded by insane multiculturalism.

Rescue America said...

Would a Muslim Nation allow a Jewish Temple or a Catholic Church built by an area were they were attacked by Radicals? Political Correctness in action again. They can trash Jews and Christians but do not say Radical Islam.
From "Stop Marxixm"

Fuzzy Slippers said...

This HAS to be stopped; it's unbelievable and would be a huge triumph for terrorists. Would German immigrants to Poland insist on a statue of Hitler being erected at Auschwitz? This is an absolute outrage and it makes me sick to my stomach.

Kyla Denae said...

...And?

There's this wonderful thing America has. It's pretty unique, especially considering it was envisioned in the 1700s. It's called freedom of religion. It gives everyone the right to worship however they want.

Then there's something called freedom of speech. That means that we can say whatever we want, even if somebody else doesn't like it.

Then there're property rights. That means that if somebody legally buys a piece of property, they can do whatever the heck they want with it.

These are just some of the inviolable rights our founders believed in, and that they enshrined within the Constitution so that the government (and other people) couldn't infringe upon each person's right to do as they chose. This mosque-building falls under these rights. The Imam in question has a right to say whatever he wants. That is his right, just as it is your right to say you disagree. It is the company's right to build whatever they want on their property, just as it is your right to build what you want in your backyard or on any other piece of property you legally own. Lastly, it is their right to practice whatever form of religion they wish, just as it is our right to worship our own God.

If we violate these rights for one set of people, we create a precedent that will return to take away our rights.

Woodsterman (Odie) said...

If I can't say anything nice ....

Quite Rightly said...

Thanks for spreading the word, Teresa.

The more we find out about the Ground Zero mosque, the more sickening it gets.

Just what the Muslims need, a place to pray with a view of Ground Zero. As someone else correctly noted, first they depopulate the area, then they repopulate it.

A petition to stop this madness is available here. Also contact information for the mad mayor of NYC and the committees involved.

I hope your readers spread the word.

Teresa said...

Liberty,
There are limits even to what is considered freedom of speech with respect to how that speech may cause or even promote harm to persons and even this nation.

Fuzzy Slippers makes a great point. Sharia Law is not compatible with America and that is what this imam is promoting. Plus, this would be the equivalent of having a statue honoring Hitler in Germany where a concentration camp used to be located.

When this imam starts denouncing Muslim extremism and terrorists or another Mosque does the same and espouses values related to promoting religious freedom for all religions instead of promoting a Caliphate that years ago considered anyone who did not practice Islam as second-class citizens, then they would be more than welcome to build a mosque somewhere near where the Trade Towers used to be located until some of the 19 Muslim extremists murdered 3000 people on that very soil.

Kyla Denae said...

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
(Emphasis added)

Teresa said...

Liberty,
There are exceptions to Freedom of Speech.

Here is one example

Kyla Denae said...

"While the precise meaning of "imminent" may be ambiguous in some cases, the court provided later clarification in Hess v. Indiana (1973). In this case, the court found that Hess's words did not fall outside the limits of protected speech, in part, because his speech "amounted to nothing more than advocacy of illegal action at some indefinite future time,"[1] and therefore did not meet the imminence requirement."

The Imam's speech is hence protected, under this exception to the exception.

Regardless- I am unsure of how you wish to prevent the alleged building of this mosque. Recourse to the government? Unconstitutional. Recourse to popular opinion? Wrong, but not unlawful. So if this petition is towards the builders of the mosque, go ahead. But the government can't do anything about it.

Snarky Basterd said...

You know if this thing gets built, hell just might open and spit forth all of its entrails.