.."Yes, Islam is just another religion Mr. President.... Just like Nazism is a religion," the commenter wrote. "Do you support a 100 million dollar Nazi shrine near Auschwitz as well?""..
Obama Slammed, Praised for Backing Ground Zero Mosque
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(Aug. 14) -- President Barack Obama drew criticism from some Republicans and representatives of 9/11 victims' families over his support for the mosque near ground zero in New York City.
Speaking to Muslims observing the holy month of Ramadan at the White House on Friday, Obama asserted that Muslims have the right to build the planned mosque, citing freedom of religion as a core American value.
On Saturday, the president told CNN he was "not commenting on the wisdom" of building an Islamic community center in New York City but was promoting the principle that "we treat everybody equally and in accordance with the law, regardless of race, regardless of religion."
White House spokesman Bill Burton said that Obama wasn't shying away from the comments he made Friday, according to The Associated Press.
Some praised Obama's remarks in his Friday speech, while others slammed them.
"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 spokeswoman for a group of victims' families, according to The Associated Press. Burlingame's brother was a pilot killed in the 9/11 attacks.
The planned mosque and community center two blocks away from the site of the 9/11 attacks has drawn intense criticism from politicians including Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich. The Anti-Defamation League, whose mission statement says it exists to fight "all forms of bigotry", also opposed the plan. Some Jewish leaders have rallied in support of the proposed project.
Three thousand people died when hijacked planes slammed into the World Trade Center towers on Sept 11, 2001.
The Obama administration had previously said that the planned $100 million Islamic community center was a local matter. On Friday, the president tackled the issue head on.
"As a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country," Obama said.
"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 said. "This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable."
Obama compared opposition to times in American history when there had been hostility towards the building of Catholic churches and Jewish synagogues.
"Time and again, the American people have demonstrated that we can work through these issues, and stay true to our core values and emerge stronger for it. So it must be and will be today," Obama said.
Sharif el-Gamal, the developer on the project, told The New York Times, "We are deeply moved and tremendously grateful for our president's words." But Republicans were quick to attack the comments, saying that Obama was focusing on religious freedom and civil rights rather than the feelings of victims' families and public opinion.
"He is ignoring the will of the American public," former Sen. Rick Santorum, who represented Pennsylvania in the Senate, told Fox News on Friday. The community center would "desecrate the ground of those who were murdered by people who practice the faith, or at least an element of the faith, that is being represented by that mosque."
"Islam is not just a religion, it is also a political doctrine," Santorum said.
Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y. also weighed in, calling the plans for the mosque "insensitive."
"President Obama is wrong. It is insensitive and uncaring for the Muslim community to build a mosque in the shadow of ground zero," King told the AP.
Not all the reaction was hostile. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an independent, has been a strong supporter of the community center. He called Obama's speech a "clarion defense of the freedom of religion."
Speaking on Aug. 3, Bloomberg said that the city government had no authority to stop the planned project, and that to do so would amount to discrimination.
"The simple fact is this building is private property, and the owners have a right to use the building as a house of worship," Bloomberg said. "The government has no right whatsoever to deny that right."
Writing in the New York Daily News, columnist Joshua Greenman lauded Obama's political courage for wading into a debate in which he stood to gain little.
"There's little political upside for a president already seen by some as soft on terror, a president whom 1 in 10 Americans insanely believe to be a Muslim, to back the right of this house of worship to locate near the site of the 9/11 attacks," Greenman wrote.
"He deserves credit for not continuing to sidestep this wrenching question. And for standing on principle," Greenman wrote.
Obama urged Americans to separate their notions of Islam from that of Islamic terrorism.
"Al-Qaida's cause is not Islam -- it is a gross distortion of Islam."
Still, Obama's speech is unlikely to win him much public approval. A recent CNN/Opinion Research poll showed that 70 percent of the American public opposed the planned mosque, with only 29 percent in favor.
So far, most Democratic politicians have ducked the issue, unwilling to engage in such a controversial dispute with November's mid-term elections looming.
One commenter on Greenman's column said that the hostility towards Christians and Jews in Saudi Arabia justified failing to accommodate Muslims in New York.
"Yes, Islam is just another religion Mr. President.... Just like Nazism is a religion," the commenter wrote. "Do you support a 100 million dollar Nazi shrine near Auschwitz as well?" |
