Mosque Moves Forward, Yet Church in Limbo by Mark Impomeni
WaveCameCrashin
Posts: 2,929
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=38462
The battle raging over the Ground Zero mosque is bringing new attention to another, less publicized controversy involving a house of worship in Lower Manhattan.
St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, which once sat right across the street from the World Trade Center, was crushed under the weight of the collapse of Tower Two on September 11, 2001. St. Nicholas was the only church to be lost in the attacks, and nine years later, while City of New York officials are busy removing every impediment to the building of the Cordoba mosque two blocks from the site, St. Nicholas’ future remains unclear.
The last bit of hopeful news for St. Nicholas came two years ago, in July 2008, when church officials and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced a deal which would have allowed the church to be rebuilt about two blocks from its original location.
The Port Authority agreed to give the church a parcel of land at Liberty and Greenwich Streets, and contribute $20 million toward construction of a new sanctuary. The Port Authority also agreed to build an explosion-proof platform and foundation for the new church building, which would sit on top of a screening area for cars and trucks entering the underground garages at the new World Trade Center.
Trouble emerged after St. Nicholas announced its plans to build a traditional Greek Orthodox church building, 24,000 square feet in size, topped with a grand dome. Port Authority officials told the church to cut back the size of the building and the height of the proposed dome, limiting it to rising no higher than the World Trade Center memorial. The deal fell apart for goodin March 2009, when the Port Authority abruptly ended the talks after refusing to allow church officials to review plans for the garage and screening area underneath. Sixteen months later, the two sides have still not met to resume negotiations.
St. Nicholas Church’s difficulty in getting approvals to rebuild stands in stark contrast to the treatment that the developers of the proposed Cordoba mosque have received. New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, state Atty. Gen. Andrew Cuomo, and a raft of city officials have all come out publicly in favor of building the mosque, and the city’s Landmarks and Preservation Commission recently voted unanimously to deny protection to the building currently occupying the site where the mosque is to be built.
The mosque is proposed to rise 13 stories, far above the height of the World Trade Center memorial, with no height restrictions imposed.
Inspired by former representative Vito Fossella (R-NY), Human Events and RedState.com are sponsoring an online petition calling on New York officials to take action to stop the mosque from being built.
The contrast has not been lost on at least one candidate for Congress. George Demos is a Republican running in New York’s 1st Congressional District. Demos has made the Cordoba mosque an issue in his campaign, even though his district is on Eastern Long Island, and is highlighting the plight of St. Nicholas Church.
In an exclusive interview with Human Events, Demos had harsh words for the Port Authority, which he accuses of blocking the church from being rebuilt. “The Port Authority is a creation of Congress and should be answerable to two states [New York and New Jersey], but in reality is answerable to no one,” Demos said. “The Port Authority is insular and simply doesn’t care about public opinion. They are simply not making this a priority. Chris Ward is the Port Authority director and he is not allowing this to go forward.”
For its part, the Port Authority says it had no choice but to break off negotiations with the church to avoid delaying the World Trade Center project any longer. The authority said that the church retains the right to rebuild on its own at its original location. “We made an extraordinarily generous offer to resolve this issue and spent eight months trying to finalize that offer, and the church wanted even more on top of that,” Stephen Sigmund, a spokesman for the Port Authority said last year. “They have now given us no choice but to move on to ensure the site is not delayed. The church continues to have the right to rebuild at their original site, and we will pay fair market value for the underground space beneath that building.”
Demos said it is the church that has been unjustly delayed. “One place of worship was destroyed in the attacks. That should be the first thing on that board’s agenda. That should be the first priority,” he said. “There were actually relics of St. Nicholas in that church that were lost in the attacks. Why is it that the same government officials who are so ferverently fighting for the mosque’s right to be built aren’t also fighting for the church to be rebuilt.”
Demos was critical of Mayor Bloomberg’s recent comments on the occasion of the Landmarks Commission vote. In a speech immediately following the vote, Bloomberg said, among other arguments, that allowing the mosque project to go forward would be a victory of sorts over the forces that attacked America on 9/11.
“Let us not forget that Muslims were among those murdered on 9/11, and that our Muslim neighbors grieved with us as New Yorkers and as Americans,” Bloomberg said. “We would betray our values and play into our enemies' hands if we were to treat Muslims differently than anyone else. In fact, to cave to popular sentiment would be to hand a victory to the terrorists, and we should not stand for that.”
Demos called those remarks “premature” and echoed New York Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio’s call for an investigation into the funding of the mosque. “We need to investigate sources of funding for the mosque. If in fact it is being funded by terrorist regimes, then it is the terrorists who are winning by building a mosque at Ground Zero,” Demos said. “Bloomberg’s comments only beg the question of why aren’t we investigating?”
Demos calls his district, currently represented by four-term Democrat Tim Bishop, a bellwether for Republicans in the fall elections. The district is a traditionally Republican seat, which President Obama narrowly won with 51% of the vote in 2008.
While Demos is focusing his campaign on the issues of jobs, government spending, and his opponent’s voting record—which he characterized as out of step with the district—he said that the plight of St. Nicholas Church is resonating with voters.
Recent polling in New York shows that a majority disagrees with the plan to build the mosque so close to Ground Zero.
Asked what prompted him to take up St. Nicholas’s cause, Demos said the apparent favorable treatment the mosque’s developers received served to illuminate the issue to him as simply a question of right versus wrong.
“This is not a partisan issue,” he said. “It’s an issue of fair-minded candidates for office stepping up and doing the right thing. The focus should be something we can all agree on—getting the church rebuilt
I wonder where all the left wing drones and phony constitutionalist are on this ? I wonder where M. Bloomgerg, Obama and A.Quomo are on this. I would love to hear their explanation on this. So I guess jews and christians are second class citizens,particulary true believers in this country and all the secularist and Muslims are first class citizens.
In all seriosness this church had been their prior t sept 11.
If in fact the constituion compels the building of the cordoba project then why do we have any zoning laws at all ? shouldn' a church or a synagog or a place to worship satan be exempt from zoning laws also ? why is that ? Isn't it a violation of the constitution acording to M. Bloomberg if there are any adverse decisions made about the building of a particular religious structure or any where ? Shouldn't they be exempt from all zoning laws ? He sounds like an idiot..
Where are those monuments ? They should have been finished long ago honoring all the people that were Murdered on Sept 11. How is it that politicians and the bureaucrats can move at light speed when it comes to giving a radical imam what he wants,but when it comes to honoring the families and those slaughtered not so fast ?( IMO HE'S A RADICAL BECAUSE HE WONT DENOUNCE HAMAS OR WILL HE SAY THEY ARE A TERRORIST ORGANAZATION.)
How is it that when it comes to this greek orthodox church the same bureaucracies obsrtuct it ?
As long as we have leftist or progressives in positions of authority and power, whether they be elected or on bordes or on commissions this nation will deteriorate from with in. Because the lefts philosophy is not the philosophy of the founding. I find it especially unconscionable,repugnant in fact when people like Bloomberg envokes the constitution that they reject.
Just who is it in this country exactly that tries to undermine those who seek to to practice their reliogion? Who is it that has taken the constituion and turned into a secular document when in fact it's utterly nuetral. It both allows an enviroment of religious practice yet does not create a theocracy.
Who is it that has turned our courts into secular courts. Where they over see every decision at every local state level for daring to put a religious symbol on public land and who makes up phrases like seperaton of church and state ? Then who bend over backwards and never say something like seperation of church and state when it comes to the expedited process it seems to give this imam or muslims what they want ?
You people on the left don't understand the constituion and you sure as hell don't understand the AMERICAN PEOPLE...
The battle raging over the Ground Zero mosque is bringing new attention to another, less publicized controversy involving a house of worship in Lower Manhattan.
St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, which once sat right across the street from the World Trade Center, was crushed under the weight of the collapse of Tower Two on September 11, 2001. St. Nicholas was the only church to be lost in the attacks, and nine years later, while City of New York officials are busy removing every impediment to the building of the Cordoba mosque two blocks from the site, St. Nicholas’ future remains unclear.
The last bit of hopeful news for St. Nicholas came two years ago, in July 2008, when church officials and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced a deal which would have allowed the church to be rebuilt about two blocks from its original location.
The Port Authority agreed to give the church a parcel of land at Liberty and Greenwich Streets, and contribute $20 million toward construction of a new sanctuary. The Port Authority also agreed to build an explosion-proof platform and foundation for the new church building, which would sit on top of a screening area for cars and trucks entering the underground garages at the new World Trade Center.
Trouble emerged after St. Nicholas announced its plans to build a traditional Greek Orthodox church building, 24,000 square feet in size, topped with a grand dome. Port Authority officials told the church to cut back the size of the building and the height of the proposed dome, limiting it to rising no higher than the World Trade Center memorial. The deal fell apart for goodin March 2009, when the Port Authority abruptly ended the talks after refusing to allow church officials to review plans for the garage and screening area underneath. Sixteen months later, the two sides have still not met to resume negotiations.
St. Nicholas Church’s difficulty in getting approvals to rebuild stands in stark contrast to the treatment that the developers of the proposed Cordoba mosque have received. New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, state Atty. Gen. Andrew Cuomo, and a raft of city officials have all come out publicly in favor of building the mosque, and the city’s Landmarks and Preservation Commission recently voted unanimously to deny protection to the building currently occupying the site where the mosque is to be built.
The mosque is proposed to rise 13 stories, far above the height of the World Trade Center memorial, with no height restrictions imposed.
Inspired by former representative Vito Fossella (R-NY), Human Events and RedState.com are sponsoring an online petition calling on New York officials to take action to stop the mosque from being built.
The contrast has not been lost on at least one candidate for Congress. George Demos is a Republican running in New York’s 1st Congressional District. Demos has made the Cordoba mosque an issue in his campaign, even though his district is on Eastern Long Island, and is highlighting the plight of St. Nicholas Church.
In an exclusive interview with Human Events, Demos had harsh words for the Port Authority, which he accuses of blocking the church from being rebuilt. “The Port Authority is a creation of Congress and should be answerable to two states [New York and New Jersey], but in reality is answerable to no one,” Demos said. “The Port Authority is insular and simply doesn’t care about public opinion. They are simply not making this a priority. Chris Ward is the Port Authority director and he is not allowing this to go forward.”
For its part, the Port Authority says it had no choice but to break off negotiations with the church to avoid delaying the World Trade Center project any longer. The authority said that the church retains the right to rebuild on its own at its original location. “We made an extraordinarily generous offer to resolve this issue and spent eight months trying to finalize that offer, and the church wanted even more on top of that,” Stephen Sigmund, a spokesman for the Port Authority said last year. “They have now given us no choice but to move on to ensure the site is not delayed. The church continues to have the right to rebuild at their original site, and we will pay fair market value for the underground space beneath that building.”
Demos said it is the church that has been unjustly delayed. “One place of worship was destroyed in the attacks. That should be the first thing on that board’s agenda. That should be the first priority,” he said. “There were actually relics of St. Nicholas in that church that were lost in the attacks. Why is it that the same government officials who are so ferverently fighting for the mosque’s right to be built aren’t also fighting for the church to be rebuilt.”
Demos was critical of Mayor Bloomberg’s recent comments on the occasion of the Landmarks Commission vote. In a speech immediately following the vote, Bloomberg said, among other arguments, that allowing the mosque project to go forward would be a victory of sorts over the forces that attacked America on 9/11.
“Let us not forget that Muslims were among those murdered on 9/11, and that our Muslim neighbors grieved with us as New Yorkers and as Americans,” Bloomberg said. “We would betray our values and play into our enemies' hands if we were to treat Muslims differently than anyone else. In fact, to cave to popular sentiment would be to hand a victory to the terrorists, and we should not stand for that.”
Demos called those remarks “premature” and echoed New York Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio’s call for an investigation into the funding of the mosque. “We need to investigate sources of funding for the mosque. If in fact it is being funded by terrorist regimes, then it is the terrorists who are winning by building a mosque at Ground Zero,” Demos said. “Bloomberg’s comments only beg the question of why aren’t we investigating?”
Demos calls his district, currently represented by four-term Democrat Tim Bishop, a bellwether for Republicans in the fall elections. The district is a traditionally Republican seat, which President Obama narrowly won with 51% of the vote in 2008.
While Demos is focusing his campaign on the issues of jobs, government spending, and his opponent’s voting record—which he characterized as out of step with the district—he said that the plight of St. Nicholas Church is resonating with voters.
Recent polling in New York shows that a majority disagrees with the plan to build the mosque so close to Ground Zero.
Asked what prompted him to take up St. Nicholas’s cause, Demos said the apparent favorable treatment the mosque’s developers received served to illuminate the issue to him as simply a question of right versus wrong.
“This is not a partisan issue,” he said. “It’s an issue of fair-minded candidates for office stepping up and doing the right thing. The focus should be something we can all agree on—getting the church rebuilt
I wonder where all the left wing drones and phony constitutionalist are on this ? I wonder where M. Bloomgerg, Obama and A.Quomo are on this. I would love to hear their explanation on this. So I guess jews and christians are second class citizens,particulary true believers in this country and all the secularist and Muslims are first class citizens.
In all seriosness this church had been their prior t sept 11.
If in fact the constituion compels the building of the cordoba project then why do we have any zoning laws at all ? shouldn' a church or a synagog or a place to worship satan be exempt from zoning laws also ? why is that ? Isn't it a violation of the constitution acording to M. Bloomberg if there are any adverse decisions made about the building of a particular religious structure or any where ? Shouldn't they be exempt from all zoning laws ? He sounds like an idiot..
Where are those monuments ? They should have been finished long ago honoring all the people that were Murdered on Sept 11. How is it that politicians and the bureaucrats can move at light speed when it comes to giving a radical imam what he wants,but when it comes to honoring the families and those slaughtered not so fast ?( IMO HE'S A RADICAL BECAUSE HE WONT DENOUNCE HAMAS OR WILL HE SAY THEY ARE A TERRORIST ORGANAZATION.)
How is it that when it comes to this greek orthodox church the same bureaucracies obsrtuct it ?
As long as we have leftist or progressives in positions of authority and power, whether they be elected or on bordes or on commissions this nation will deteriorate from with in. Because the lefts philosophy is not the philosophy of the founding. I find it especially unconscionable,repugnant in fact when people like Bloomberg envokes the constitution that they reject.
Just who is it in this country exactly that tries to undermine those who seek to to practice their reliogion? Who is it that has taken the constituion and turned into a secular document when in fact it's utterly nuetral. It both allows an enviroment of religious practice yet does not create a theocracy.
Who is it that has turned our courts into secular courts. Where they over see every decision at every local state level for daring to put a religious symbol on public land and who makes up phrases like seperaton of church and state ? Then who bend over backwards and never say something like seperation of church and state when it comes to the expedited process it seems to give this imam or muslims what they want ?
You people on the left don't understand the constituion and you sure as hell don't understand the AMERICAN PEOPLE...
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now a community center (some want to call it a mosque) can't be build...you know, because it's going to be full of Muslims...
this makes perfect sense...
this is sad.... this case has nothing to do with the constitution, its a planning thing. its not like new york is saying we don't want Greek Orthodox in our state, its just saying yeah build a church, it just can't be higher than this.... it sounds like your throwing shit at a wall in the hopes that some of it will stick
But from what I've read, the mosque is a couple blocks away, clear and free from the WTC complex...
This Greek Orthodox church (while the article says about two blocks away), clearly is at least adjacent to the WTC complex if there is an underground garage for the WTC below the land given to the church.
If in there area of the mosque, there is height restrictions and they get a pass, then I agree that they shouldn't... but there is clearly a height restriction that to the land that the Port Authority gave to the Greek Orthodox church, and the church doesn't agree with it. And by the way, I guess that your post about tax dollars going to building mosques is now moot, since you didn't say you had a problem with this Greek Orthodox church getting free land and $20 million, right?
And then there is this...
edit -
Forgive me prfctlefts if you've answered this already, but I've read most of these repetitive threads on this issue and haven't seen it, but where exactly is your geographical cut off where it would be ok to build the mosque? I'm just curious, your only disagreement seems to be with the location of it, where would you be ok putting it?
was like a picture
of a sunny day
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
― Abraham Lincoln
Probably Kabul
Who made up the phrase separation of church and state? I believe that was Thomas Jefferson, who knew a thing or two about the constitution (so I wouldn't call him a 'phony constitutionalist':
"Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church & State."
As for separation of church and state, this church was going to be paid for by the Port Authority (a "creation of Congress" per the article) - as the article states, "The Port Authority agreed to give the church a parcel of land at Liberty and Greenwich Streets, and contribute $20 million toward construction of a new sanctuary. The Port Authority also agreed to build an explosion-proof platform and foundation for the new church building, which would sit on top of a screening area for cars and trucks entering the underground garages at the new World Trade Center."
It sounds to me like the state was bending over backwards to help build the church - the only problem was the height of the dome. As for the church's height relative to the height of the Cordoba building, perhaps there's a rule that anything built adjacent to the memorial cannot be higher than it - after all, the site that the Port Authority was going to GIVE THEM is in the WTC complex (beside 4WTC and the WTC visitor center), while Park 51 is two full blocks away.
as far as the first part, how can you call all people on the left drones, when in this situation they are fighting for the constitutional right for these people to build their cultural center/mosque there. they are adhering to the constitution, and the constitution is on their side, so how can they be "phoney constitutionalists"? and how can you say jews and christians are second class citizens? nobody has ever said that. there are more christians and jews in this country than muslims, so how can they be second class citizens when they are in the majority?
as far as the second part, you call him a radical because that is your opinion of him. that prejudgement is the same thing as if someone on here called you a radical based on their opinion of you.
the third part to me says that because there are progressives on boards that the country will implode from within? that is just a dramatic overstatement of your opinion that the sky is falling. you say the left's philosophy is not the philosophy of the founding fathers, when in the case of this mosque it clearly is. are you advocating repealing the 1st ammendment? what about the 14th? for you to say anyone on the left rejects the constitution is laughable. who wants a constitutional ammendment to ban gay marriage? who wants to re-peal the 14th ammendment? who is on the wrong side on this issue? the answer to all three of those questions are those politicians on the right.
in the last part, you say that we know nothing about the constitution, and that we reject the constitution, and we don't understand the american people. this is based on what exactly?
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
I don't understand this claim about secularism & neutrality. Are you saying if a document is secular than it is necessarily NOT neutral?
How can we not understand the American people when we ARE the American people?? :?
i think he's talking about 'mmericans'. the people that only follow the constitution when it suits them and think everyone should have a gun.
Kinda like the bible...
and as far as the article goes....it has been shot down enough.
Just look at that highschool in Dearborn where they are having football practice from 1:00 am to 4:00 am to cater to the Muslim players because it's ramadan .Muslims are not allowed to eat or drink during the day for the 30 days of Ramadan. I mean you could look at it like it's a way to hot during the day becuase of record heat in Michigan,but give me a break. You think they would do this for any other religion ? I wouldn't bet on it. If they have then I would love to hear about it.
Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a law-breaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. - Louis Brandeis
your still throwing shit at a wall in the hopes that something will stick... it seems thats all you do
We are treated like second class citizens when it comes to christianity in a public forum
christians and jews espeicially true believers are mocked all the time even on the MT. There are thousands of examples..
Yeah well maybe in this case for once..
who said anything about repealing the first amendment ?As far as gay marriage goes, Im a live and let live kind of person but I think the the word Marriage should be between a man and a woman. What's wrong with a civil union with all the same benefits of being married ? As far as the 14th amendment goes Just because you have a baby here and you are here illegally doesn't mean that child is automatically a citizen. That's absured..
And the whole idea that the constituion is a living and breating document is also absurd. If that were the case it's dead.
It's not that you don't know anything about the constituion,it goes bak to the whole idea of living and breathing. Is your car loan living and breathing ?
Words have meanings not interpretations..
The Constitution is a set of rules, and like any other set of rules, it is meant to be strict and uncompromising. Of course, the Constitution can be modified through the amendment process, but once ratified, any amendment becomes like the rest of the Constitution: rigid.
Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a law-breaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. - Louis Brandeis
:? :?
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
You seriously need to go back to your High School Government class... and pay attention this time.
The reason WHY there is an Amendment process is to CHANGE the Constitution to fit changing times. In 1776, the British Army could take over your property to quarter their troops. This is why the 3rd Amendment prohibits this... it was very important to the landowners of 1776 who drafted the Constitution.
...
And like someone else asked... really? A Car Loan?
Work on your metaphors, too.
Hail, Hail!!!
My, what a big but you have!
funny how there can such a big contradiction in the same sentence...
He's basically saying that :"I'm a live and let live kind of person, except when you want to do things I don't agree with..."
Freedom of religion! Except you can't build a mosque where I don't want you to...
was like a picture
of a sunny day
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
― Abraham Lincoln
He only wants the word to come between them... maybe he prefers "manbutwoman" - wouldn't that be a hermaphrodite or transvestite (could both be described as manbutwoman)?
We're doing renovations at our shop, and its a fucking bitch trying to get the right permits in order!
Sounds like they got a pretty sweet deal, 20 mil and a bomb proof floor...
They turned it down, there's no comparison to the big fuss about the muslim centre..
Just sounds like building code beurocracy to me, nothing we all don't have to go through.
I'm not even giving you a bouncing ball to follow - I'm going to number this response:
1. What makes half a mile from Ground Zero less sacred than two blocks from Ground Zero?
2. Why does the Imam want to build it where he is planning on building it? Are you aware that the center will contain a 9/11 memorial to ALL victims of the terrorist attacks? Are you also aware that the building is currently the site of a weekly Muslim prayer group?
3. You say a lot of people are "clearly forgetting the tragedy of 911 (sic) and how many people are still grieving" - I posted something in the other thread that was started on this topic, but you did not respond to my question, so I will ask it again: how do you balance the wishes of the anti-Cordoba 9/11 families with those of the 9/11 families who are in favor of it? There is an organization of 9/11 families who are fully in favor of building the center right where it is proposed - do their opinions not count in this discussion?
4. How do the anti-mosque protests around America (not referring to the NYC building, but proposed mosques in Tennessee, Wisconsin, and California) support your statement that "...we have been more tolerant than anybody when it comes muslims (sic)."
5. You said you wouldn't bet that any other religion gets any special religion-based breaks - do you consider the fact that BYU (a Mormon school) gets allowances from the NCAA to not play on Sundays, therefore making all of its opponents schedule differently when playing them, different to a high school practicing at night for one month out of every year?
And two bonus questions:
6. What is a bigger insult to grieving 9/11 families: A) the fact that representatives of the same religion that produced the 9/11 terrorists want to build a community center two blocks from the site of the 9/11 terrorist attacks,
7. Lastly - on behalf of the people in America who don't think Muslim = terrorist, how much longer should Lower Manhattan be subjected to different rules than the rest of the country when it comes to construction? Will you still have a problem with Muslims setting up shop there in 2020? 2030? At what point are people going to get on with their lives and accept that while 9/11 was a tragedy, it can't be used as an excuse to persecute an entire religion forever?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/685071
In March 2003, federal officials were being criticized for disrespecting the rights of Arab-Americans in their efforts to crack down on domestic security threats in the post-9/11 environment. Hoping to calm the growing tempers, FBI officials in New York hosted a forum on ways to deal with Muslim and Arab-Americans without exacerbating social tensions. The bureau wanted to provide agents with "a clear picture," said Kevin Donovan, director of the FBI's New York office.
Brought in to speak that morning -- at the office building located just blocks from Ground Zero -- was one of the city's most respected Muslim voices: Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf. The imam offered what was for him a familiar sermon to those in attendance. "Islamic extremism for the majority of Muslims is an oxymoron," he said. "It is a fundamental contradiction in terms."
It was, by contemporaneous news accounts, a successful lecture.
Flash forward six-and-a-half years, and Feisal Abdul Rauf occupies a far different place in the political consciousness. The imam behind a controversial proposal to build an Islamic cultural center near those same FBI offices has been called "a radical Muslim," a "militant Islamist" and, simply, the "enemy" by conservative critics. His Cordoba House project, meanwhile, has been framed as a conduit for Hamas to funnel money to domestic terrorist operations.
For those who actually know or have worked with the imam, the descriptions are frighteningly -- indeed, depressingly -- unhinged from reality. The Feisal Abdul Rauf they know, spent the past decade fighting against the very same cultural divisiveness and religious-based paranoia that currently surrounds him.
"Imam Feisal has participated at the Aspen Institute in Muslim-Christian-Jewish working groups looking at ways to promote greater religious tolerance," Walter Isaacson, head of The Aspen Institute told the Huffington Post. "He has consistently denounced radical Islam and terrorism, and promoted a moderate and tolerant Islam. Some of this work was done under the auspices of his own group, the Cordoba Initiative. I liked his book, and I participated in some of the meetings in 2004 or so. This is why I find it a shame that his good work is being undermined by this inflamed dispute. He is the type of leader we should be celebrating in America, not undermining."
A longtime Muslim presence in New York City, Feisal Abdul Rauf has been a participant in the geopolitical debate about Islamic-Western relations well before 9/11. In 1997, he founded the American Society for Muslim Advancement to promote a more positive integration of Muslims into American society. His efforts and profile rose dramatically after the attacks when, in need of a calm voice to explain why greater Islam was not a force bent on terrorism, he became a go-to quote for journalists on the beat.
"We have to be very much more vocal about protecting human rights and planting the seeds of democratic regimes throughout the Arab and Muslim world," he told Katie Couric, then with NBC, during an interview in October 2001.
Along the way, he rubbed elbows with or was embraced by a host of mainstream political figures, including several in the Republican Party. John Bennett, the man who preceded Isaacson as president of the Aspen Institute, was impressed enough by the imam's message that he became a co-founder of his Cordoba Initiative, which seeks to promote cross-cultural engagement through a variety of initiatives including, most recently, the center in downtown Manhattan.
In November 2004, Feisal Abdul Rauf participated in a lengthy discussion on religion and government with, among others, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. In May 2006, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright placed the imam among a host of luminaries who inspired her book, "The Mighty and the Almighty." As the New York Times reported at the time:
She mentioned Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, the two Democratic presidents in whose administrations she served; King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and King Abdullah II of Jordan; Vaclav Havel and Tony Blair. She organized discussions with Senator Sam Brownback, Republican of Kansas, a conservative Catholic.
''The epitome of this,'' she said, was ''a totally fascinating, interesting discussion'' with Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, a New York Sufi leader and author; Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism; and Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Albright eventually collaborated with Feisal Abdul Rauf and others on more substantive political projects. In September 2008, the two, along with a number of other foreign policy heavyweights (including Richard Armitage and Dennis Ross) signed a report claiming that the war on terror had been inadequate in actually improving U.S. security. No less a figure than Senator Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), the ranking minority member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, embraced the findings.
"The Project's report offers a thoughtful analysis of the current state of America's relations with the Muslim world and constructive recommendations on how we can approach this pressing concern in a bipartisan framework," said the senator.
Not that the imam has been without controversy. The most famous quote circulated by critics came when he talked to the Australian press in March 2004.
"The Islamic method of waging war is not to kill innocent civilians," he said. "But it was Christians in World War II who bombed innocent civilians in Dresden and dropped the nuclear bomb on Hiroshima, neither of which were military targets."
Then there is the interview he gave to CBS's "60 Minutes" shortly after the 9/11 attacks occurred. "I wouldn't say that the United States deserved what happened," he said by way of explaining the attacks. "But the United States' policies were an accessory to the crime that happened."
More often than not, he's pushed his audience to grapple with uncomfortable analogies in his efforts to contextualize Islamic radicalism, such as when he argued that the Ku Klux Klan was, likewise, drawn from a form of extreme religiosity.
Those statements, in the end, were not enough to convince the Bush administration that he was a militant. Feisal Abdul Rauf was dispatched on speaking tours by the past State Department on multiple occasions to help promote tolerance and religious diversity in the Arab and Muslim world. In 2007, he went to Morocco, the UAE, Qatar and Egypt on such missions, a State Department official confirmed to the Huffington Post.
In February 2006, meanwhile, he took part in a U.S.-Islamic World Forum in Doha, Qatar with Undersecretary of State Karen Hughes, a close adviser to President Bush. Months later, Feisal Abdul Rauf wrote favorably about his meeting with Hughes, noting that he wanted to further the discussion with other members of the administration.
The Huffington Post reached out to both Albright and Hughes for comment. Perhaps reflecting the political sensitivities of the situation, neither responded. Hughes' aide explained that the former Bush aide was "tied up with client travel and unable to give interviews at this time."
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
even Buddhist.
nice work.
drop the 'radical'. how about just 'christians' period?
Radical Buddhists...I wonder if he means those violent buddhist monks in the Kung Fu movies of the 70s... because those guys were pretty violent bad-asses.
...
Same must go for those radical passivists Jehovah's Witnesses... with their violent handing out of 'The Watchtower' pamphlets.
Hail, Hail!!!
Nothing like suicide bombing to find your zen!
if they have a lease or own it, who (should) give a rats ass where they build. this is america? right? freedoms and all? right?
fuck
I. I said a 1/2 mile Is fine with me. Why don't you ask the famalies that are against it and see what they say
2. No I was not aware of that....
3. Yes their opinions count..
4. I think in most cases we have,but your always going to have people like that,I have no problem with any mosqe being built,just not 2 blocks from ground zero.
5. Really?? Didnt know that either
6.I don't like the fact of people selling that kind of stuff in order to make a buck, unless of course the money is going to the families,but it's probably not..
7.Nobody is trying to persecute an entire religion. That's where you and everybody on this bored who are in favor of this cant seem to grasp.. and what different set of rules are you referring to ?
are'nt you Mr. sensitive :roll: