Obama supports mosque by Ground Zero

whygohome

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38702141/ns ... ite_house/

I've been waiting for him to weigh in on this issue.
Very interesting. On one hand,the GOP will destroy (or try to) him on this issue. On the other hand, he is siding with the constitution, and we know how the GOP, especially those on the Supreme Court, are strict originalists.
Personally as a New Yorker, I am opposed to this building. There is certainly no shortage of places of worship for Muslims in NY, so why build one right next to Ground Zero? And, why name the project the Cordoba project?

Should be interesting come November......2012.

Edit: I realize that the word being used for this building is mosque, but it seems to me that it will be more of a center for Islam.....maybe an Islamic Y? Also, that area of Manhattan has plenty of Synagogues and Churches, so, in a nation where freedom of religion is in the Bill of Rights, this seems like it shouldn't cause any outrage.

JB273968

As a non-American, please do us all a favour and keep him around as long as possible. And for the love of your country give the guy a hand...y'all voted for him stop blocking everything he's trying to achieve, then blaming him for broken promises.

whygohome

JB273968 wrote:

As a non-American, please do us all a favour and keep him around as long as possible. And for the love of your country give the guy a hand...y'all voted for him stop blocking everything he's trying to achieve, then blaming him for broken promises.

I voted for him, support many things that he has done/wants to do (No, it is not socialism), but on this issue, I strongly disagree.

mca47

Other than not responding, anything he said was going to be lose-lose.
There have been polls asking Americans what their thought was on a mosque being built near ground zero and most polls showed a 50:50 response (yes-no). A poll on CNN today asking "If you agree with Obama's response"...again 50:50.

HIs response was the legal and responsible one. I also feel that it is more of a response of Obama as a constitutional law professor rather than Obama the politician.

To this day people are still emotional about the whole situation, and rightfully so. That said, laws supersedes emotions.

I think his response was correct. How it will work out for him politically is to be seen...

haffajappa

mca47 wrote:

Other than not responding, anything he said was going to be lose-lose.
There have been polls asking Americans what their thought was on a mosque being built near ground zero and most polls showed a 50:50 response (yes-no). A poll on CNN today asking "If you agree with Obama's response"...again 50:50.

HIs response was the legal and responsible one. I also feel that it is more of a response of Obama as a constitutional law professor rather than Obama the politician.

To this day people are still emotional about the whole situation, and rightfully so. That said, laws supersedes emotions.

I think his response was correct. How it will work out for him politically is to be seen...

I agree, when it comes down to it, there's such a thing called freedom of religion and it doesn't change whether you want to build a muslim community centre 2 blocks from ground zero or 20

whygohome

haffajappa wrote:

mca47 wrote:

Other than not responding, anything he said was going to be lose-lose.
There have been polls asking Americans what their thought was on a mosque being built near ground zero and most polls showed a 50:50 response (yes-no). A poll on CNN today asking "If you agree with Obama's response"...again 50:50.

HIs response was the legal and responsible one. I also feel that it is more of a response of Obama as a constitutional law professor rather than Obama the politician.

To this day people are still emotional about the whole situation, and rightfully so. That said, laws supersedes emotions.

I think his response was correct. How it will work out for him politically is to be seen...

I agree, when it comes down to it, there's such a thing called freedom of religion and it doesn't change whether you want to build a muslim community centre 2 blocks from ground zero or 20

Agree and agree. A very smart use of the Constitution here by Barry......now the GOP and the contrusctionists/originalists don't really have any grounds for disagreement........but we'll wait on that.

fuck

whygohome wrote:

And, why name the project the Cordoba project?

uhh... what's wrong with the name?

gimmesometruth27

i'm glad obama came out in favor of this. anyone that looks at the constitution with an ounce of objectivity would know that this is legal. but this is only going to lead to more attacks and calling him a muslim and a kenyan from the lunatic fringe....

i would have loved to hear bush's perspective on this...why could it not have happened in 2007?

whygohome

_outlaw wrote:

whygohome wrote:

And, why name the project the Cordoba project?

uhh... what's wrong with the name?

Look it up

fuck

whygohome wrote:

_outlaw wrote:

whygohome wrote:

And, why name the project the Cordoba project?

uhh... what's wrong with the name?

Look it up

I know what the name means. What I asked is what is wrong with it?

JR8805

If we have freedom of religion, we have freedom of religion. As soon as you start saying it's okay to build a church over here, or a temple, but not a mosque you're saying only certain religions should have freedom. Also, I'm not sure trying to prove to Muslims that we are certifiably freaky about their religion, no matter how moderate they are, is terribly smart. I don't think we need to all become raving fundamentalists in order to counter Islamists. As an agnostic, I sure hope not. I find religion to be so fundamentally divisive.

pjfan021

he gave the right answer in my book...stated that they absolutely have a legal right to build it there but didn't comment on the wisdom of that descion. They definitely have their constitutional right to build it, but i can see how it would rub people the wrong way. They should still have their right tho; there's gotta be at least half a dozen catholic churches within a mile of my house

WaveCameCrashin

They have every right to build it there. It doesn't mean they should though.. Would it be ok if a right wing extremist group built a community center/place of worship 2 blocks fromthe Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building ?

FiveB247x

Here's the difference...the people building the mosque/center a few blocks from ground zero are not affiliated or like in any way, shape or form to those that caused the destruction. You and others lump them together and therefore take offense to it.

prfctlefts wrote:

They have every right to build it there. It doesn't mean they should though.. Would it be ok if a right wing extremist group built a community center/place of worship 2 blocks fromthe Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building ?

Nittany1bn

FiveB247x wrote:

Here's the difference...the people building the mosque/center a few blocks from ground zero are not affiliated or like in any way, shape or form to those that caused the destruction. You and others lump them together and therefore take offense to it.

prfctlefts wrote:

They have every right to build it there. It doesn't mean they should though.. Would it be ok if a right wing extremist group built a community center/place of worship 2 blocks fromthe Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building ?

exactly...comparing the 9/11 terrorists to muslims is akin to comparing the KKK to christians. there is an actual mosque inside of the pentagon, didn't they fly a plane into the pentagon on 9/11? where are the protesters over the pentagon mosque? were the attacks on 9/11 perpetrated by americans from the lower east side of manhattan?

whygohome

uhh... what's wrong with the name?[/quote][/quote]

I apologize for me short answer, but I was out the door at that time.
Conspiracy theorists and those opposed to this project are using the name Cordoba Project as ammunition in their protests. So, when the project is named after a Spanish city that was the site of a Muslim conquest sometime in the 8th or 9th century, people start drawing connections.

OutOfBreath

The name was chosen because Cordoba was a city that was pretty tolerant for a long time, and also was the site of a brief republic that was decidedly multireligious in nature.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taifa_of_Cordoba

So it is meant to symbolize a place of religious tolerance, which is the stated point of the centre they want to build in NY, on the model of an existing jewish centre. The head imam has for decades been a spokesperson for tolerance and dialogue with other religions.

The only controversy is that americans draw the link 9/11=Al Qaeda=muslims=mosques being terror training camps. the only sensible position is to not do anything about it as long as they own it, and build in accordance with code. Anything else would frankly be a disgrace for the US, and I think it would damage your standing in the world as a place of free religion.

Peace
Dan

fuck

OutOfBreath wrote:

The name was chosen because Cordoba was a city that was pretty tolerant for a long time, and also was the site of a brief republic that was decidedly multireligious in nature.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taifa_of_Cordoba

So it is meant to symbolize a place of religious tolerance, which is the stated point of the centre they want to build in NY, on the model of an existing jewish centre. The head imam has for decades been a spokesperson for tolerance and dialogue with other religions.

The only controversy is that americans draw the link 9/11=Al Qaeda=muslims=mosques being terror training camps. the only sensible position is to not do anything about it as long as they own it, and build in accordance with code. Anything else would frankly be a disgrace for the US, and I think it would damage your standing in the world as a place of free religion.

Peace
Dan

exactly. Cordoba is never remembered in Islamic history as being the site of Muslim conquest. It's instead remembered as housing one of the biggest libraries in the world at the time, being a city of tolerance, an advanced city that was one of biggest cultural, political, and economic centers in the world. Anything else is just a crock of shit thrown up by the neocons, further proof that they're just trying to stir up trouble rather than "avoid it". :roll:

puremagic

prfctlefts wrote:

They have every right to build it there. It doesn't mean they should though.. Would it be ok if a right wing extremist group built a community center/place of worship 2 blocks fromthe Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building ?

Either the U.S. Constitution applies to all or it applies to none. The whole ‘just because they have the right’ doesn’t mean ‘they should be allowed to exercise it’ is nonsense and you know it. If that’s the case, should we tear down all the Buddhist temples and shrines near Pearl Harbor? Should cults should be denied church status because of Oklahoma City?

Where does it stop? How far are you willing go!
--Should we restrict Koreans from attending the University of Virginia because of one moron?
--Should we make Chinatowns illegal because they may have ties to communism?
--Should we put all Germans and Italians on a no fly list because they may still have ties to people who supported Hitler?

What about the other side of that coin?

Jason P

mca47 wrote:

Other than not responding, anything he said was going to be lose-lose.
There have been polls asking Americans what their thought was on a mosque being built near ground zero and most polls showed a 50:50 response (yes-no). A poll on CNN today asking "If you agree with Obama's response"...again 50:50.

HIs response was the legal and responsible one. I also feel that it is more of a response of Obama as a constitutional law professor rather than Obama the politician.

To this day people are still emotional about the whole situation, and rightfully so. That said, laws supersedes emotions.

I think his response was correct. How it will work out for him politically is to be seen...

I agree with your assessment but it still boggles my mind that Obama even addressed this issue, especially with elections around the corner. I'll bet republican campaign managers across the country were popping open bottles of champaign and hi-fiving each other last Friday evening.

unsung

So he will cite The Constitution in this case but has no problem resigning the PATRIOT Act.