{"id":7737,"date":"2011-09-21T17:27:51","date_gmt":"2011-09-21T21:27:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/watchwomanonthewall\/?p=7737"},"modified":"2011-09-21T17:27:51","modified_gmt":"2011-09-21T21:27:51","slug":"were-you-led-to-believe-that-the-ground-zero-mosque-was-off-the-table","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/watchwomanonthewall\/2011\/09\/were-you-led-to-believe-that-the-ground-zero-mosque-was-off-the-table.html","title":{"rendered":"Were you led to believe that the Ground Zero Mosque was off the table?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Ground Zero Mosque Opens for Business<\/h2>\n

Posted by\u00a0Ryan Mauro<\/a>\u00a0Bio \u2193<\/a>\u00a0on Sep 21st, 2011<\/p>\n

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On September 21 at 6:30 PM, the Ground Zero Mosque will open its doors to show a photo exhibit in its community space. Park51 is hoping to discourage its opponents by declaring an early victory in spite of its recent embarrassments and setbacks. This grand opening does not mean that the fight is over. The project still has a long way to go until completion.<\/p>\n

The exhibit, called \u201cNYChildren,\u201d will showcase the work of Danny Goldfield, who photographed children in the city originating from 171 countries around the world. About $70,000 was\u00a0raised<\/a>\u00a0in less than two months for the temporary community space through KickStarter.com. Over 700 invitations have been distributed for the grand opening, and visitors to Park51\u2019s\u00a0website<\/a>\u00a0are registering to attend now. The exhibit will be up for three months. The site will be\u00a0open<\/a>Monday through\u00a0Friday, 12:30 p.m. to 9:00 pm beginning on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The photo exhibit is not the Ground Zero Mosque\u2019s only attraction. It will have various classes including yoga and Brazilian martial arts, discussion groups, arts programs and, of course, a section for Muslim prayer services. Religious services have been held in the old Burlington Coat factory since 2009. The planned prayer space will\u00a0accomodate<\/a>\u00a0over 2,000 attendees, rivaling St. Patrick\u2019s Cathedral. Park51 claims the site is a cultural center, not a mosque, because it will eventually have a gymnasium, swimming pool, art galleries, and other non-religious facilities.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt is ridiculous that Park51 tries to say this is anything but a mosque. Churches have gyms, classes and other facilities as part of their buildings, and they could never get away with saying it is anything but a church,\u201d Martin Mawyer, president of the\u00a0Christian Action Network<\/a>, told FrontPage.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

His organization held a\u00a0screening tour<\/a>\u00a0of the organization\u2019s film, \u201cSacrificed Survivors: The Untold Story of the Ground Zero Mosque,\u201d in New York City public parks around the tenth anniversary of 9\/11. Congressman Allen West also\u00a0hosted<\/a>\u00a0a screening of the film in Congress on September 7, prompting Rep. Keith Ellison to promote another\u00a0event<\/a>\u00a0on \u201cIslamophobia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Park51 recently had a setback when an application for a $5 million federal grant was\u00a0rejected.<\/a>\u00a0If the group had its way, taxpayer money would have paid for the Ground Zero Mosque\u2019s \u201cdomestic violence prevention, Arabic and other foreign language classes, programs and services for homeless veterans, two multi-cultural art exhibits and immigration services.\u201d Park51 is also\u00a0far from<\/a>\u00a0its original fundraising goal of $100 million. In 2011, it raised $7.5 million and it hopes to raise $15 million next year.<\/p>\n

Now, Park51 is talking about scaling back its plans. One of the co-founders, Nour Mousa,\u00a0said<\/a>, \u201cMaybe [the community] doesn\u2019t need all that space\u2026We\u2019re not going to build anything that\u2019s not needed.\u201d Sharif el-Gamal, the developer, refuses to move the location but\u00a0says<\/a>, \u201cIf the community only wants four or five floors, it\u2019s going to be four or five floors.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ground Zero Mosque continues to suffer blows to its public image. The top financial backer, Hisham Elzanaty, is being\u00a0sued<\/a>\u00a0by Allstate Insurance for $5.1 million. He is accused of orchestrating a \u201chighly developed and sophisticated kickback scheme.\u201d State Farm is also suing him for $1.9 million, and Geico for $1.7 million. He also donated to the Holy Land Foundation, a front for Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, in 1999. This only adds to the\u00a0significant concern<\/a>\u00a0over the sources of the money behind the project. Even supporters of the Ground Zero Mosque may be convinced to withhold their donations because of this development.<\/p>\n

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the original \u201cface\u201d of Park51, also showed how moderate he really is during a speech he gave earlier this year where he said that criticism of Islam shouldn\u2019t be protected speech. \u201cI believe that the insulting or mocking of others\u2019 religious symbols, icons, prophets, etc. should not fall within the realm of free speech,\u201d he\u00a0said.<\/a>\u00a0The statement is a reminder of theextremist beliefs and affiliations<\/a>\u00a0of those tied to the Ground Zero Mosque.<\/p>\n

Work on the rest of the Ground Zero Mosque may not begin for another\u00a0five years.<\/a>\u00a0Neither side has won the battle. The partial opening of the site will not silence those who find its location to be offensive, and it will not put the questions about Park51 to rest. If anything, the grand opening will bring the issue back to the forefront.<\/p>\n

The controversy over the Ground Zero Mosque will not go away any time soon. The proposal continues to spark outrage, and its opponents continue to be accused of having an anti-Muslim agenda even though 35 percent of American-Muslims\u00a0feel<\/a>\u00a0that it should not be constructed. Park51 can celebrate that one section is now open to the public, but if the Park51 group thinks that the opposition will consider the battle lost, then it is sorely mistaken.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Thought you might like to read this comment left at Front Page:<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n
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From: PatriotX<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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What’s next? Let’s erect a Hitler statue overlooking the Jewish community in New York! What’s the problem? It would be in bad taste, understandable? Oh…..wait a minute, let’s build a model of a plantation next to the NAACP Administration building? Would that make me a racist? Yea……you’re right, probably not a good idea. The black community wouldn’t be to happy with that move, me, being black myself well…..I could certainly understand. Hey!!!……..why not a swastika enscribed on the tombstones at a veterans cemetary? Yea….probably not a good idea at all, besides it’s what alot of them fought against for crying out loud. How about……adding a Christian fellowship annex to Mecca and announce it to the Muslim community in New York? No……well, why not…., it might incite a riot? Well….certainly the Muslim community would’nt be against multiculturalism, being that they seem to want to use this term when they try to impose shariah law…..say it ain’t so.Now, I hope that those that read this get the point and realize that as proposterous an insult as all those examples were it is just as if not more of an insult to go ahead with this project. Those that would look at it otherwise and call this mosque anything short of an insult with the arguement “it’s not a victory mosque and everyone has a right to practice their beliefs….”, I want you to suggest some of the ideas I mentioned above and observe the reactions you get then, once your released from the emergency room……give it some deep thought.”It’s just a recreation center”, PLEASE!!!!!!, I may have been born in the morning but it wasn’t yesterday morning. NYC has over 6,720 square miles of metro area and you mean to tell me that their was no other place to build it.The time is now to stand as a nation or get used to submitting to Islamic rule as a nation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

_____________<\/p>\n

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About\u00a0Ryan Mauro<\/a><\/p>\n

Ryan Mauro is the founder of WorldThreats.com, the national security adviser for the Christian Action Network, an analyst with Wikistrat and is a frequent contributor to Fox News. He can be contacted at TDCAnalyst@aol.com.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Source:\u00a0http:\/\/frontpagemag.com\/2011\/09\/21\/ground-zero-mosque-opens-for-business\/?utm_source=FrontPage+Magazine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=eac42922bb-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ground Zero Mosque Opens for Business Posted by\u00a0Ryan Mauro\u00a0Bio \u2193\u00a0on Sep 21st, 2011 On September 21 at 6:30 PM, the Ground Zero Mosque will open its doors to show a photo exhibit in its community space. 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