Free Republic

Park51, the organization looking to develop the $100 million “Ground Zero Mosque” at the site of the old Burlington Coat Factory in New York City, has become embroiled in a remarkable “retroactive rent” dispute with Con Ed. Park51 owns the five-story building that takes up half of the Burlington Coat Factory site, while the utility company owns the other half. Con Ed has been leasing its half to the mosque developers for $2750 per month, but in August they decided to raise the rent just a tad, as reported by the New York Post: Park51, which leases the substation from...

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...

September 21 at 6:30 PM, the Ground Zero Mosque will open its doors to show a photo exhibit in its community space. Park51 is hoping to discourage its opponents by declaring an early victory in spite of its recent embarrassments and setbacks. This grand opening does not mean that the fight is over. The project still has a long way to go until completion.

The Associated Press sent an advisory out on Thursday telling its staff to stop referencing the controversial Cordoba House as the "Ground Zero Mosque." Instead, the AP wants their reporters to call it the "NYC Mosque." In an advisory the AP wrote: Colleagues, Here is some guidance on covering the NYC mosque story, with assists from Chad Roedemeier in the NYC bureau and Terry Hunt in Washington: 1. We should continue to avoid the phrase "ground zero mosque" or "mosque at ground zero" on all platforms. (We’ve very rarely used this wording, except in slugs, though we sometimes see other...

NEW YORK (CBS 2) – There was a possible resolution in the works Tuesday night in the debate surrounding the proposed mosque and Islamic cultural center near ground zero. CBS 2′s Marcia Kramer has learned it looks as if the developers of the mosque may be willing to budge and move away from the Park 51 location where they originally planned the construction. So will the mosque be moving? New York Gov. David Paterson plans to meet with developers of the controversial ground zero mosque as early as this week to offer them state land – at another location –...

I have been following the debate over the building of a mosque at Ground Zero in Manhattan. I have a counter proposal. Let us build a chapel dedicated to Sts. Nunilo and Alodia next to the mosque. Saints Nunilo and Alodia were a pair of 9th c. virgin martyrs in Huesca, Spain.  They were born to a Muslim father and Christian mother.  However, they chose their mother’s Christianity. And so during the Emirate of Abd ar-Rahman II it came to pass that in these little girls were first put in a brothel and then were executed as apostates according to...

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg says it would be a "sad day for America" if opponents block plans for a mosque near the site of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks in Manhattan. Bloomberg told a news conference Monday that the government should not interfere in people's religion. He said stopping the mosque and community center just because they are two blocks away from where "freedom was attacked" would mark a sad day for the country. The mayor and others who support the building of the center have said it will help bridge divisions between the West and the...

Mayor Bloomberg's popularity rating has dropped to its lowest level in five years, in part because of his ardent defense of a proposed mosque several blocks from Ground Zero, according to a poll released yesterday. New Yorkers' approval of their third-term mayor (pictured) dipped to 49 percent, down from 56 percent in April, as 53 percent of those surveyed said they disagree with his position on the mosque, according to the Marist survey. "The mosque is not doing him any good . . . He's certainly on the wrong side of public opinion on that in the city," said pollster...

A new poll finds that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s approval rating has dipped below 50 percent for the first time in five years. The Marist College survey was released Tuesday. It found that 49 percent of registered New York City voters think the billionaire mayor is doing either an excellent or good job. The poll said 33 percent rate him as doing a fair job, 16 percent said poor and 2 percent weren’t sure. The last time Marist asked this question, in April, 56 percent of voters rated him excellent or good.

State Department officials on Monday confirmed Feisal Abdul Rauf, the Imam of the so-called Ground Zero Mosque, will soon be going on a trip of the Middle East and the U.S. government will be picking up the tab. The planned construction of a mosque near Ground Zero in New York City has set off a contentious national debate over religious freedom in the U.S., drawing impassioned opposition from some families of 9/11 victims. Rauf has emerged as a controversial figure because of his refusal to acknowledge Hamas as a terrorist organization, which is how the U.S. government classifies the group....

I have no grave site to visit, no place to bring my mother her favorite yellow flowers, no spot where I can hold my weary heart close to her. All I have is Ground Zero. On the morning of Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001, I watched as terrorists slammed United Flight 175 into the South Tower of the World Trade Center, 18 minutes after their accomplices on another hijacked plane hit the North Tower. My mother was on the flight. I witnessed her murder on live television. I still cannot fully comprehend those images. In that moment, I died as well....