WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is exhorting a Florida minister to “listen to those better angels” and call off his plan to engage in a Quran-burning protest this weekend.
Obama tells ABC’s “Good Morning America” he hopes the Rev. Terry Jones listens to the pleas of people who have asked him to call off the plan. The president called it a “stunt.”
Obama also said in the interview broadcast Thursday morning that what Jones proposes “is completely contrary to our values as Americans. This country has been built on the notion of freedom and religious tolerance.”
Obama declared: “This is a recruitment bonanza for al-Qaida.”
Obama tells ABC’s “Good Morning America” he hopes the Rev. Terry Jones listens to the pleas of people who have asked him to call off the plan. The president called it a “stunt.”
Obama also said in the interview broadcast Thursday morning that what Jones proposes “is completely contrary to our values as Americans. This country has been built on the notion of freedom and religious tolerance.”
Obama declared: “This is a recruitment bonanza for al-Qaida.”
A Muslim imam behind a proposed cultural center two blocks from New York's Ground Zero said he must build there despite angry protests in order to defend America and its citizens against a "danger from the radicals in the Muslim world to our national security."
ReplyDeleteIf he could start over, Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf said, he would propose a different site for his project.
"If I knew this would happen, that this would cause this kind of pain, I wouldn't have done it," Rauf, 61, said in an interview with CNN's Soledad O'Brien on "Larry King Live" Wednesday evening. "My life has been dedicated to peacemaking."
But, capping a daylong rhetorical offensive that began Wednesday morning with an opinion piece in The New York Times, Rauf said he intends to go ahead with the "multifaith" center near the site where Islamic terrorists killed nearly 2,800 people because not doing so would unleash fury abroad.
"If we move from that location, the story will be that the radicals have taken over the discourse," Rauf told CNN. "The headlines in the Muslim world will be that Islam is under attack.
"There is a certain anger here [in America], no doubt," he said later in the interview. "But if we don't do this right, anger will explode in the Muslim world. If we don't do things correctly, this crisis could become much bigger than the Danish cartoon crisis [over images depicting the Prophet Mohammed], which resulted in attacks on Danish embassies in various parts of the Muslim world. And we have a much bigger footprint in the Muslim world."
Nine years after the heroes of Flight 93 rebelled against the terrorists who hijacked their plane -- crashing it into a field in Shanksville, Pa., instead of allowing it to smash into an unknown, high-profile target in Washington, D.C. -- the design of a memorial to honor the 40 passengers and crew who died remains a subject of bitter controversy.
ReplyDeleteSince 2005, when plans for the Flight 93 National Memorial were unveiled, a group of critics, including the father of one of the heroes who died, have protested loudly that the memorial's design is rife with Islamic symbols. They haven't wavered in their protest -- even though some design elements have been changed -- and they plan to run a full-page ad opposing the design in a local newspaper on Friday and Saturday, when the nation will pause to remember September 11.
But the National Park Service says the critics -- whom it calls "conspiracy theorists" -- are expressing concerns that are baseless, and that it's already changed the design to remove any symbols that might be considered "Islamic."
These Muslim better stop their shit and bitching because we Americans are getting tired of it.
By Feisal Abdul Rauf
ReplyDeleteAs my flight approached America last weekend, my mind circled back to the furor that has broken out over plans to build Cordoba House, a community center in Lower Manhattan.I have been away from home for two months, speaking abroad about cooperation among people from different religions. Every day, including the past two weeks spent representing my country on a State Department tour in the Middle East, I have been struck by how the controversy has riveted the attention of Americans, as well as nearly everyone I met in my travels.
We have all been awed by how inflamed and emotional the issue of the proposed community center has become. The level of attention reflects the degree to which people care about the very American values under debate: recognition of the rights of others, tolerance and freedom of worship.
Many people wondered why I did not speak out more, and sooner, about this project. I felt that it would not be right to comment from abroad. It would be better if I addressed these issues once I returned home to America, and after I could confer with leaders of other faiths who have been deliberating with us over this project. My life’s work has been focused on building bridges between religious groups and never has that been as important as it is now.
We are proceeding with the community center, Cordoba House. More important, we are doing so with the support of the downtown community, government at all levels and leaders from across the religious spectrum, who will be our partners. I am convinced that it is the right thing to do for many reasons.
"The level of attention reflects the degree to which people care about the very American values under debate: recognition of the rights of others, tolerance and freedom of worship."
ReplyDeleteThats not the debate. Sorry, you're 'de'flecting the issue.
As Muslims have their values in their culture, we Americans have our, one being respect for those who died before their time, through no fault of their own, for doing nothing but going on with their daily lives that day.
If the Muslim community wants other to continue to respect them, respect is earn here in America and is a two way street.
Live free to build your Mosque, but have respect for those of us who request it be built away from Ground Zero, out of respect for those who died on 9/11 and you'll building many bridges.
Chris, we need to stop blaming the Cultural center and tell intolerant people Americans to settle down..
ReplyDeleteArrests made in vandalism at upstate NY mosque- WSJ
Phoenix mosque vandalism being investigated by FBI- Azcentral.com
Vandalism at Madera mosque one of several incidents under investigation by Justice Department- LA TIMES
Threats, Intimidation Part Of Mosque Vandalism Investigation- NewsChannel5.com
The only ones to suffer in this battle of religions will be our kids, theirs, your and mine. The backlash will make them suffer. Its been 40 years since we saw a decade of this kind of turmoil and tension and i am sad that we have started to attack our own again.
When will we ever learn?