Posted on 09/26/2011 9:48:00 PM PDT by DelanoSAlways
An Islamic cultural centre close to the site where New York's World Trade Center once stood has opened quietly in spite of scenes last year of vehement protests from those who said the area should not house a mosque.
The opening ceremony for the Park51 centre on Wednesday featured a photo exhibit called "NYChildren", displaying over 160 portraits of immigrant children living in New York.
Sharif El-Gamal, the center's developer, said the biggest error on the project was not involving the families of 9/11 victims from the start.
"We made incredible mistakes," El-Gamal told The Associated Press in an earlier interview at his Manhattan office.
The building at 51 Park Place, two blocks from the World Trade Center site, includes a Muslim prayer space that has been open for two years.
The Islamic center sparked a national debate last year about the place of Islam among the numerous religions practised in the US.
By contrast, Park51 has vowed to offer "social and recreational services, as well as world-class health, wellness and educational facilities", alongside a religious focus.
"Presently, Park51 is opening its doors to New Yorkers of all backgrounds for interfaith workshops, films and lectures," the group said on its website, as a mosque has already been operating on the site for two years.
Last year thousands of people marched through New York on the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, facing off in angry debate under a heavy police presence as they protested for or against the project.
The row was stirred in August 2010 by threats from an evangelical Christian pastor to burn hundreds of Korans unless the mosque was moved.
Why did Obama have to be there at all?
Let’s see if they permit Jewish meetings to be held there .....
Children, sharia and sharia alike!
Does a building have to be done in the classical mosque style, with a dome and a prayer tower, in order to qualify within Islam as a “mosque”? Is it enough to have a prayer sanctuary in it? Nobody would say that in order to be a church, a building needs a steeple.
sow the wind, reap the whirlwind
Thanks a lot Bloomie. May you and the Kenyan get everything that’s coming to you. Both now and in the afterlife.
One koran burned for each Christian burned to death by Muslims in.. what? the last year?
The article does not mention Obama and as far as I know he was not there at all.
Sounds like a good place to picket and burn Saudi flags!
he is not on americas side
True! And neither does the source article, which doesn’t mention Obama in the headline. Normally FReepers shouldn’t be altering headlines, except for parenthetical [barf alerts] or shortening one which doesn’t fit.
Nothing about Obama in the story or the original title at the link.
Interfaith.. that's Islamists (political Islam, sharia law advocates) talk for, "let us teach you about Islam, we don't care one whit about your inalienable rights, social contract, constitution.. none of that stuff matter to us."
DelanoSAlways changed the headline when posting this article. Obama was in Cincinnati on the 22nd.
Where was President Obama? Did you make up the story? Why?
We are with you in spirit!
Obama isn’t anything, he just pretends everything.
He is not Christian, he is not Muslim, he is not American, he is not African, he is not Hawaiian, he is not Chicagoan, he is not white, he is not black, he is educated, he is ignorant—on and on.
Obama is an empty fraud. He is what ever your imagination wants to pin to him. That is how he has gotten by in life...being nothing in particular.
DelanoSAlways is a ten-day old newbie; not a good way to start off at FR even though he may have had good intentions.
Can’t somebody park a wood chipper in front of the site, and run a bunch of pigs through it?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.