Free Republic

Sponsors of the proposed mosque near Ground Zero are not slamming the door on Gov. Paterson's idea to build the center someplace else. "We are open to a conversation to find out more on what the governor has in mind," the center, Park51, said in a Twitter post yesterday. SNIP Mosque developer Sharif El-Gamal has said the group is interested in hearing from Paterson but added that "this has always been about serving lower Manhattan." He did not return calls and emails yesterday. SNIP

President Obama carefully backpedaled on his support for building a mosque near Ground Zero, saying yesterday that he was merely defending the legal right to religious freedom -- but not giving the project his stamp of approval. "I was commenting very specifically on the right people have that dates back to our founding," Obama said. "That's what our country is about. And I think it's very important, as difficult as some of these issues are, that we stay focused on who we are as a people and what our values are all about." The backtracking came as the president's approval...

Now, that's not to say that religion is without controversy. Recently, attention has been focused on the construction of mosques in certain communities -- particularly New York. Now, we must all recognize and respect the sensitivities surrounding the development of Lower Manhattan. The 9/11 attacks were a deeply traumatic event for our country. And the pain and the experience of suffering by those who lost loved ones is just unimaginable. So I understand the emotions that this issue engenders. And Ground Zero is, indeed, hallowed ground. But let me be clear. As a citizen, and as President, I believe that...

Sarah Palin won't back down on the controversial Ground Zero mosque. Late Saturday afternoon, Sarah Palin hit President Barack Obama with a list of questions in a Facebook post titled "Legitimate Questions for the President." Obama said he supported the mosque Friday night at a White House celebration to mark Ramadan. Palin adamantly opposes the mosque. In his speech, Obama said: "I understand the emotions that this issue engenders. Ground Zero is, indeed, hallowed ground." Palin lashed out in her brief post. "Mr. President, should they or should they not build a mosque steps away from where radical Islamists killed...

Palin to Obama on Ground Zero Mosque: "This Is Not Above Your Pay Grade" BY John McCormack August 14, 2010 6:58 PM Sarah Palin responds to the president's comments on the Ground Zero mosque: Mr. President, should they or should they not build a mosque steps away from where radical Islamists killed 3000 people? Please tell us your position. We all know that they have the right to do it, but should they? And, no, this is not above your pay grade. If those who wish to build this Ground Zero mosque are sincerely interested in encouraging positive "cross-cultural engagement"...

President Barack Obama sought to clarify his support for a controversial mosque planned to be built three blocks from the site of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. “In this country we treat everybody equally and in accordance with the law, regardless of race, regardless of religion. I was not commenting and I will not comment on the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there. I was commenting very specifically on the right people have that dates back to our founding. That’s what our country is about,” Obama, in Panama City Beach for an overnight family vacation, told...

Don’t count on the ACLU to complain about violations of the separation of church and state on this one. Or should I say mosque and state (how about an infamous mosque and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton?) AP has reported Feisal Abdul Rauf, the Imam planning the mosque near Ground Zero, is being sent to three Middle Eastern countries on a religious mission to promote peace and tolerance. I wonder when the government will send my Calvinist pastor on a trip abroad to promote Arminianism among Scottish Covenanters? Seriously, the only real hope for better international relations with Muslim countries...

After a barrage of criticism, president appears to backtrack, saying: 'I was not commenting and I will not comment on the wisdom of making a decision to put a mosque there'. Barack Obama has come under attack from American conservatives for supporting plans to build a mosque two blocks from the site of one of the terror attacks of 11 September 2001. The proposal for a mosque and community centre near the site of the World Trade Centre has attracted a large opposition movement in a fierce argument over religious freedom. At a White House dinner marking Ramadan, Obama said:...

PANAMA CITY, Florida (Reuters) – President Barack Obama on Saturday backed off remarks that appeared to endorse a proposed Muslim cultural center near the site of the September 11, 2001, attacks in New York City, saying he only supported the organizers' right to build it. At a White House event on Friday, Obama seemed to offer his support for the construction of Cordoba House near the site known as "Ground Zero" in lower Manhattan. U.S. conservatives and many New Yorkers object to the project. The 13-story building will include meeting rooms, a prayer space, an auditorium and a swimming pool....

Did President Barack Obama come out in favor of the building of a mosque just steps away from where Islamic extremists slaughtered almost 3,000 Americans on 9/11? To paraphrase former President Bill Clinton, it depends on what your definition of "right" is. At last night's White House event to observe the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, Mr. Obama said that he believes "Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country" and "that includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance...

John Boehner, the Ohio Republican who is the House minority leader, said: ”The decision to build this mosque so close to the site of ground zero is deeply troubling, as is the president’s decision to endorse it.” “The American people certainly don’t support it,” Mr. Boehner said. Representative Peter King, a New York Republican, said that while the Muslim community has the right to build the mosque, doing so needlessly offends too many people. “President Obama is wrong,” Mr. King said. “It is insensitive and uncaring for the Muslim community to build a mosque in the shadow of ground zero....

I always find it repugnant when Barack Obama pretends to articulate and apply America’s moral values. As products of Saul Alinsky’s finishing school for Marxist protégés, Obama and his crew have no respect for the self-evident truths in which those values originate. It’s not that they have no use for them. On the contrary, they refer to them only when they are useful for ideological warfare. Obama’s reference yesterday to religious tolerance, and America’s respect for religious freedom, is a case in point. According to an AP report, he “is weighing in forcefully on the mosque near ground zero, saying...

Fort Cordoba, ground zero NYC Mosque, will be the main Taqiyya Center and outpost in the USA and along with the new London England mega Mosque, at the Olympic site, will be the guiding lights for Dah’wa and “Aslim Tuslam”….. Watch this PJTV Interview by Roger Simon with Walid Shoebat on “NYC Ground Zero Mosque Founder Exposed…?” (Go to FR link) by Walid Shoebat, May 26, 2010 Little is known regarding the founder of the Ground Zero Mosque Faisal Abdul Rauf or his views on Islam. Many view him moderate and others connect him to his father’s affiliation to the...

... the Obama mosque decision ... is also likely to affirm a broadening political view in the United States that the president is out of step with mainstream America. Nearly 70 percent of people feel an Islamic center near ground zero is disrespectful, even deliberately provocative, according to a CNN/Opinion Research poll. By backing the mosque, Obama sided with the imam behind the Cordoba House project, Feisal Abdul Rauf, who is set to leave on a State Department-sponsored goodwill trip to the Middle East. But with the president's stand, he has parted ways with at least some of those connected...

Take yourself back to September 12th, 2001, if you can. Imagine, with the bodies still burning, the full death toll still unknown, the future of the war declared on us by Islamic jihadists unclear, that someone had told you: In nine years, a U.S. president named Barack Hussein Obama, at a White House dinner in honor of the Muslim holiday of Ramadan, will insist that a mosque should be built overlooking the mass grave of the victims of this attack. Breathtakingly bizarre, it would have seemed, and offensively ridiculous too. Surely anyone must admit that. And yet that's where we...

Barack Obama just made the November Elections even tougher for Democrats. Politico is reporting that already “nervous Democrats” are now really “on edge” in the wake of President Obama’s announcement that he supports the building of the Ground Zero Mosque.

A few quick thoughts about Obama's forceful speech yesterday expressing strong support for Cordoba House, which will go down as one of the finest moments of his presidency. Obama didn't just stand up for the legal right of the group to build the Islamic center. He voiced powerful support for their moral right to do so as well, casting it as central to American identity. This is a critical point, and it goes to the the essence of why his speech was so commendable. -SNIP-Obama issued this statement in the full knowledge that his opponents have been itching for...

President Barack Obama on Saturday sought to defuse the controversy over his remarks on plans to build a mosque near Ground Zero, insisting that he wasn’t endorsing the specific project but making a general plea for religious tolerance toward all. "In this country we treat everybody equally and in accordance with the law, regardless of race, regardless of religion,” Obama told reporters Saturday when asked about his remarks at a White House dinner marking the start of Ramadan. “I was not commenting and I will not comment on the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there,” Obama...

Speaking to reporters today, President Obama drew a sharp line under his comments last night, insisting that his defense of the right to build a mosque does not mean he supports the project. "I was not commenting and I will not comment on the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there. I was commenting very specifically on the right people have that dates back to our founding," he said. Obama's new stance is logically consistent with his words last night, if a bit less "clarion," as Mike Bloomberg called the first remarks. And there are certainly two...

One of the leading groups representing families who lost loved ones in the 9/11 attacks blasted President Barack Obama Saturday for supporting the construction of a mosque near the site of the attack. The group 9/11 Families for a Safe & Strong America said it was "stunned" by the president's remarks. 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," the group said. "Now this president declares that the victims of 9/11 and their families must bear another burden. We must stand...