Lower Manhattan Community Board Supports Mosque

A 13-story mosque is planned near the World Trade Center site, in a building that was damaged by airplane debris on Sept. 11, 2001.  A Lower Manhattan community board committee said Wednesday that it supported the $100 million project.  Some 9/11 victims' families said they were offended by the idea.

Some 9/11 victims' families said they were angered that it would be built so close to where their relatives died. "I don't like it," said Evelyn Pettigano, who lost a sister in the attacks, during a phone interview on Thursday. "I'm not prejudiced....It's too close to the area where our family members were murdered." 

Supporters say the history associated with the damaged former department store was one reason to pick it.

Two Muslim organizations have partnered to open the mosque and cultural center in lower Manhattan, saying the $100 million project will create a venue for mainstream Islam and a counterbalance to radicalism. It earned a key endorsement this week from influential community leaders.

The organizations publicly unveiled the preliminary plan for the project, known as the Cordoba House, on Wednesday at a meeting of the finance committee of the local community board, which is composed of influential stakeholders in lower Manhattan. While the agency has no authority over what can be developed at the site, their support is viewed as key to gaining acceptance from residents.

But the simple idea of a mosque so near ground zero angered those whose family members were killed by adherents to radical Islam. "I think it's despicable, and I think it's atrocious that anyone would even consider allowing them to build a mosque near the World Trade Center," said Rosemary Cain, whose son, George Cain, a firefighter, died on Sept. 11.

Many will see this as an insult to those who died.  I have to agree with them.  But greed and money will rule out.  How soon America forgets those murdered on 9/11.

Comment here and email us at YourVoice@speaknowconservatives.org.

Visit MomsAndDadsBeHeard a forum for you to express your views and concerns. Be part of bringing our Great Christian country back.

You might like to read this article: 76 Year Old Union Rule Changed