President Obama last night offered a strong defense of a proposed Muslim community center at 45 Park Place two blocks from Ground Zero at a White House dinner celebrating Iftar, the beginning of Ramadan, the holiest month of the Islamic calendar, according to a front page article today in The New York Times by Sheryl Gay Stolberg.
"As a citizen and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country," he said, adding that he understood "the emotions that this issue engenders" but "This is America and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable."
The article said that "aides to Mr. Obama say privately that he has always felt strongly about the proposed community center and mosque, but the White House did not want to weigh in until local authorities made a decision on the proposal" and last week the city removed the "final construction hurdle for the project, and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg spoke forcefully in favor of it."
Rick A. Lazio, a Republican candidate for governor of New York, however, issued a statement that the article said maintained that the president was still "not listening to New Yorkers," adding that "with over 100 mosques in New York City, this is not an issue of religion, but one of safety and security."
Sharif el-Gamal, the developer on the project, said "we are deeply moved and tremendously grateful for our president's words," the article said, adding that "a building on the site of the proposed center is already used for prayers, and some worshippers there on Friday night discussed he president's remarks."
In a separate story in the same edition of The Times, Anne Barnard wrote that two mosques near City Hall - the Masjid Manhattan and the Masjid al-Farah, have both existed for decades, largely unnoticed, blocks from the World Trade Center site.
Masjid Manhattan has been located on Warren Street, four blocks from Ground Zero, since 1970 and Masjid al-Farah has been located on West Broadway, about 12 blocks from Ground Zero, since 1985.
An article in today's edition of The New York Post by Sally Goldenberg and Carl Campanile said that in his remarks last night, President Obama said that Americans must separate Islamic terrorists from the overwhelming majority of peace-loving Muslims: "Our enemies respect no freedom of religion. Al Quaeda's cause is not Islam - it is a gross distortion of Islam."
"As a citizen and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country," he said, adding that he understood "the emotions that this issue engenders" but "This is America and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable."
The article said that "aides to Mr. Obama say privately that he has always felt strongly about the proposed community center and mosque, but the White House did not want to weigh in until local authorities made a decision on the proposal" and last week the city removed the "final construction hurdle for the project, and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg spoke forcefully in favor of it."
Rick A. Lazio, a Republican candidate for governor of New York, however, issued a statement that the article said maintained that the president was still "not listening to New Yorkers," adding that "with over 100 mosques in New York City, this is not an issue of religion, but one of safety and security."
Sharif el-Gamal, the developer on the project, said "we are deeply moved and tremendously grateful for our president's words," the article said, adding that "a building on the site of the proposed center is already used for prayers, and some worshippers there on Friday night discussed he president's remarks."
In a separate story in the same edition of The Times, Anne Barnard wrote that two mosques near City Hall - the Masjid Manhattan and the Masjid al-Farah, have both existed for decades, largely unnoticed, blocks from the World Trade Center site.
Masjid Manhattan has been located on Warren Street, four blocks from Ground Zero, since 1970 and Masjid al-Farah has been located on West Broadway, about 12 blocks from Ground Zero, since 1985.
An article in today's edition of The New York Post by Sally Goldenberg and Carl Campanile said that in his remarks last night, President Obama said that Americans must separate Islamic terrorists from the overwhelming majority of peace-loving Muslims: "Our enemies respect no freedom of religion. Al Quaeda's cause is not Islam - it is a gross distortion of Islam."
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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