"There is a distinct creepiness to the controversy now raging around a proposed Islamic cultural center in Lower Manhattan. The angry "debate" over whether the building should exist has a kind of glitch-in-the-Matrix feel to it, leaving in its wake an aura of something-very-bad-about-to-happen.

It's not just that opposition to the building has coalesced around a phony "Mosque at Ground Zero" shorthand (with its echoes of dust, death, and evildoers). Many have pointed out—futilely—that the complex will be more than two blocks from the former World Trade Center, around a corner on Park Place, and will feature an auditorium, spa, basketball court, swimming pool, classrooms, exhibition space, community meeting space, 9/11 memorial, and, yes, a prayer space for Muslims. The shorthand still sticks.

Nor is it just that this is only the most visible of a growing number of nasty controversies over proposed mosques in Tennessee, California, Georgia, Kentucky, Wisconsin, and Illinois as well as Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, and Midland Beach, Staten Island, in New York City.

Such protests are emerging with alarming frequency. Nor is it simply that political leaders—from Republican presidential wannabes to New York gubernatorial hopefuls—have sought to exploit the Lower Manhattan controversy. (Sarah Palin demanded that "peaceful Muslims" step up and "refudiate" the plan; Newt Gingrich denounced the building of such a "mosque" as long as Saudi Arabia bars construction of churches and synagogues; Rick Lazio, a Republican campaigning for the governorship of New York state, asserted that the plan somehow subverted the right of New Yorkers "to feel safe and be safe.")"

More at: Mosque Mania (http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/08/ground-zero-mosque)

Well I think the mosque was a bad idea. Whether they should bar it probably depends on the law. But to the point of the article, the issue has become a political issue beyond the actual merits of the case and has kind of become a symbolic issue to people across the nation regarding 9/11 and Christianity in the U.S. so it makes sense for both liberal and conservative politicians to get on their high horses and give glamorous speeches which pretty much echo what their supporters want to hear. Such is politics.

The angry "debate"... an aura of something-very-bad-about-to-happen.And I'm sure that totally blindsided the builders. :rolleyes:

This is a win-win for them though. Either they will build it and get what they want, or they will build it and somebody will mcveigh it (thanks, vrai) before the ribbon is cut. Regardless, supporters will push it in the face of the opponents and make them seem like a fringe element.

Well, let's go to the other side of the coin. Suppose the christians wanted to build a cathedral in a majority muslim country. For instance, a cathedral on the site of Quadysia, where the Arab muslims crushed the Sassanids. I can just imagine
the "peaceful"demonstrations that would ensue. When the Caliphate of Cordoba was in existence, Christians and Jews were tolerated, but their churches and synagogues were to be subdued in appearance to show their subservience to Islam. That was the extent of equality.
Even now, christians in Turkey and throughout the Middle East are made to be "secondary "citizens tolerated in hopes they will die out and hence the whole enchilada would go to them. Ask the Copts of Eygpt, the Maronites in the Lebanon and the Ba'hai of Iran all about" toleration" Ask the Armenians.
If they spoke with an honest face, muslims would be accepted wholeheartedly. That is something they have a problem doing..