{"id":2342,"date":"2010-08-03T17:15:30","date_gmt":"2010-08-03T17:15:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/news\/2010\/08\/conservatives-will-appeal-go-a.php"},"modified":"2010-08-03T17:15:30","modified_gmt":"2010-08-03T17:15:30","slug":"conservatives-will-appeal-go-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2010\/08\/conservatives-will-appeal-go-a","title":{"rendered":"Conservatives Will Appeal Go-ahead Vote for `Ground Zero Mosque&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>(RNS) A conservative religious law firm plans to appeal a decision that grants a green light for the construction of an Islamic community center two blocks from Ground Zero.<br \/>\nThe Washington-based American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) opposes the construction of the Cordoba House in lower Manhattan because the building currently at the site &#8220;stands as an iconic part of the cultural and historical fabric of America.&#8221;<br \/>\nThe New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission on Tuesday (Aug.<br \/>\n3) voted unanimously not to grant historic status to the site, eliminating a key hurdle that allows planning and construction to go forward.<br \/>\nThe ACLJ, which represents a retired New York City firefighter, called the vote &#8220;deeply offensive,&#8221; adding that they are &#8220;poised to file legal action on behalf of our client to challenge this flawed decision and put a stop to this project.&#8221;<br \/>\nTension has mounted in recent weeks regarding what critics call the &#8220;Ground Zero Mosque,&#8221; while proponents say it will not be a mosque and that it is not at Ground Zero.<br \/>\nAs Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, CEO of the Cordoba Initiative, told Reuters, the future project will be a community center &#8212; which includes a prayer hall &#8212; modeled after the YMCA.<br \/>\nThe ACLJ, however, said in a press release that the vote ignores &#8220;the fact that this is a historic and hallowed site that should not be destroyed to build an Islamic mosque.&#8221;<br \/>\nIn a July 20 letter submitted to the Landmarks Preservation Commission, the ACLJ said its opposition &#8220;is not based upon fear, hostility or prejudice, but rather the unique architectural and historical characteristics of the building and the public&#8217;s interest in preserving the history of the September 11th events.&#8221;<br \/>\nRauf, in a statement, thanked the commission for its &#8220;careful and thoughtful consideration,&#8221; saying he was grateful to them and local elected officials for &#8220;their commitment to the democratic and constitutional ideals we all hold dear and which the community center we hope to create on the site will honor.&#8221;<br \/>\nThe joint statement from the New York Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU praised the decision for &#8220;promoting our nation&#8217;s core values and not letting bias get in the way of the rule of law.&#8221;<br \/>\n&#8212; Alfredo Garcia<br \/>\n<em>Copyright 2010 Religion News Service.  All rights reserved.  No part of this transmission may be distributed or reproduced without written permission.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(RNS) A conservative religious law firm plans to appeal a decision that grants a green light for the construction of an Islamic community center two blocks from Ground Zero. The Washington-based American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) opposes the construction of the Cordoba House in lower Manhattan because the building currently at the site&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Conservatives Will Appeal Go-ahead Vote for `Ground Zero Mosque&#039;<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2010\/08\/conservatives-will-appeal-go-a\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Conservatives Will Appeal Go-ahead Vote for `Ground Zero Mosque&#039;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"(RNS) A conservative religious law firm plans to appeal a decision that grants a green light for the construction of an Islamic community center two blocks from Ground Zero. 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