Cordoba House Passes Final Hurdle: News Roundup

New York City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously on Tuesday to deny historic status to a 19^th century building that will now house the center.

 

Opposition to Cordoba House has been unsettling. Just last week, the Anti-Defamation League released a statement in opposition to the center, saying “The controversy which has emerged regarding the building of an Islamic Center at this location is counterproductive to the healing process.  Therefore, under these unique circumstances, we believe the City of New York would be better served if an alternative location could be found” (Anti-Defamation League).

 

And the American Center for Law and Justice, representing a New York City firefighter is already planning to appeal the decision, calling the vote "deeply offensive" and saying they are "poised to file legal action on behalf of our client to challenge this flawed decision and put a stop to this project" (Religion News Service).

 

On the contrary, many have remained resolute in their support of the community center.

 

Mayor Bloomberg never wavered in his support of Cordoba House. On Tuesday, after the vote he gave a speech on Governor’s Island saying, “Let us not forget that Muslims were among those murdered on 9/11, and that our Muslim neighbors grieved with us as New Yorkers and as Americans. We would betray our values and play into our enemies' hands if we were to treat Muslims differently than anyone else. In fact, to cave to popular sentiment would be to hand a victory to the terrorists, and we should not stand for that” (New York Daily News).

 

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick said, “The sooner we separate the peaceful teaching of Islam from the behavior of terrorists, the better for all of us’’ (Boston Globe).

 

The New York Times wrote, “Some of the families of the victims of the attacks, who deserve our respect and sympathy, are uneasy about the mosque. But it would be a greater disservice to the memories of their loved ones to give into the very fear that the terrorists wanted to create and, thus, to abandon the principles of freedom and tolerance” (New York Times)

 

And Kamran Pasha writes in the Huffington Post, “The Cordoba House is exactly the voice of moderate Islam that needs to be highlighted at a time when Muslim extremists and anti-Muslim bigots both want Islam, a spiritual path of great beauty, to be seen as a religion of hate and death” (Huffington Post).

The antagonism toward Muslims in general (a Florida church announced this week it’s planning a “burn a Koran” day) and Cordoba House in particular shows just how necessary this community center really is. It’s that kind of intolerance and anger we work to reduce here at Tanenbaum, and we look forward to working with Cordoba in this shared mission once it’s up and running.

 

Since there actually were other things going on in religious diversity news this week, check out these last few links!

Have a great weekend.