Ground Zero Mosque: Sinister Attempt or Religious Tolerance?

After months of sitting on the sidelines while Americans grow increasingly disturbed by the proposed Ground Zero Mosque (GZM), President Barack Obama now says Muslims have the right to build a mega-mosque near ground zero in New York. In what appears to be business as usual for Obama, he didn´t address his thoughts on this controversial issue with the very people who are frustrated – rather he chose a recent dinner at the White House held to observe the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Odd that he chose to finally speak up about this issue in the company of representatives of several of the Nation´s most prominent Muslim Brotherhood front organizations.

The President told the rather large crowd "As a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country." Agreed! Yet, freedom of religion isn´t the issue that has many American´s so frustrated. The issue is the location. The issue is Imam Rauf and funding. The issue is Islamic world dominance.

A day following the dinner, Obama weighed in once again stating "That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances" He then reminded us all that "This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable." Once again, he never felt compelled to address the issues that frustrate so many American citizens and view this project as a slap in the face and desecration of hallowed ground.

Interestingly, the White House had not previously taken a stand on the mosque, which would be part of a $100 million Islamic community center merely two blocks from where towers one and two once stood. Within a baseball throw of where nearly 3,000 people perished when terrorists hijacked jetliners and slammed two into the World Trade Center towers on September 11, 2001. Why would any American oppose that?

While insisting that the place where the twin towers once stood was indeed "Hallowed ground," Obama said "The proper way to honor it was to apply American values." Isn´t it a bit strange that we don´t hear the victim´s families embracing similar sentiment. In fact, the majority of families of those killed at ground zero are adamantly opposed to the GZM.

"Barack Obama has abandoned America at the place where America's heart was broken nine years ago, and where her true values were on display for all to see," said Debra Burlingame, a spokesperson for 9/11 victims' families and the sister of one of the pilots killed in the attacks. According to Burlingame, building the mosque so close to ground zero "is a deliberately provocative act that will precipitate more bloodshed in the name of Allah."

In perhaps the most telling repudiation of Obama´s position came from Sally Regenhard, whose firefighter son was killed at the World Trade Center. In her opinion the president has failed to understand the issue. "As an Obama supporter, I really feel that he's lost sight of the germane issue, which is not about freedom of religion," she said. "It's about a gross lack of sensitivity to the 9/11 families and to the people who were lost."

Two prominent opponents of GZM have also weighed in. Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y. said "President Obama is wrong. It is insensitive and uncaring for the Muslim community to build a mosque in the shadow of ground zero." Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich who, in remarks before the American Enterprise Institute last month, declared, "Stealth jihadis use political, cultural, societal, religious, intellectual tools; violent jihadis use violence. But in fact they´re both engaged in jihad and they´re both seeking to impose the same end state which is to replace Western civilization with a radical imposition of shariah." What better place to do this then the site of the most devastating attack against America, carried out by Muslim brothers in their quest for a world dominated by Islam.

Supporters and other apologist of GZM, perhaps most notably New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, cite this project as an important step in harvesting improved Muslim-American relations. The mosque is a project of the telling Cordoba Initiative, an advocacy group that ostensibly promotes improved relations between Islam and the West. Yet if one peels back the facade of building relationships between Islam and the West, it´s awfully difficult for Americans to embrace such a project as mere "bridge building" when we consider the Muslim Brotherhood´s stated mission: "…Eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ´sabotaging´ its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God´s religion is made victorious over all other religions."

In another twist that recently surfaced, the Obama administration is endorsing not only this project but explicitly endorsing at taxpayer expense the agenda of the imam behind it – Feisal Abdul Rauf. Imam Rauf is part of the Muslim Brotherhood movement who has yet to comment on the controversial issue, at least not publicly. Moreover, he remains tight lipped over the funding source for GZM raising suspicions that Saudi Arabia may be backing it. But not to worry, many prominent Saudi officials attended the recent White House dinner to celebrate Ramadan so surely they can´t be involved.

Just recently Americans learned that Rauf is jet-setting across the Middle East promoting tolerance and raising funds for GZM. According to the State Department, Rauf is a "moderate" who has a history of mending fences and creating inter-religious dialogue. Unfortunately, the facts somehow got in the way of what the State Department would have us believe about Imam Rauf.

In a recent study released by Act! For America, Feisal Abdul Rauf was born in Kuwait in 1948, often boasts of his "Egyptian family steeped in religious scholarship," and presents himself as a Muslim moderate. However, the facts don´t quite match up with Rauf´s personal view of himself. Make no mistake about it, according to Alyssa Lappen, the author of the study, "Feisal Rauf's Muslim Brotherhood provenance, radical by definition, is as authentic as it gets." Perhaps Ms. Lappen should send her study to the White House. Maybe not, after all it is, we are told by President Obama, all about "religious freedom" and "tolerance."