Excerpt
JEFFREY BROWN (Newshour): And finally tonight: once again, a Ground Zero debate.
The controversy involves a proposed Islamic center slated to be built where a vacant clothing store now sits, just two blocks from the World Trade Center site.
The Cordoba Initiative, a group that says it aims to promote positive interaction between the Muslim world and the West, plans to build a 13-story community center, including a mosque, on Park Place in Lower Manhattan.
Opposition has come from several quarters, including some families of 9/11 victims.
JIM RICHES, former deputy chief, FDNY: They can have their mosque, but have it somewhere else. I don't want it overlooking the site where my son was murdered that day by 19 Muslim terrorists.
JEFFREY BROWN: A prominent Jewish group, the Anti-Defamation League, also came out against the mosque, as have some politicians, including former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who sent a message on Twitter asking peaceful Muslims to, as she wrote, "repudiate" the mosque.
But the project has also received strong support from many other civic groups and leaders, including New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (I), Mayor of New York: Should government attempt to deny private citizens the right to build a house of worship on private property based on their particular religion? That may happen in other countries, but we should never allow it to happen here.
JEFFREY BROWN: And, last week, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously to allow the construction.
MAN: All in favor.
COMMISSION MEMBERS: Aye.
JEFFREY BROWN: The Ground Zero mosque debate is the most high-profile of several similar battles around the country. In Nashville, for example, a proposal for a large Islamic center has met with angry opposition.
WOMAN: They're taking Christ out of everything. And, you know, with the mosque coming here, and right next door to a Baptist church, I'm afraid this is going to get worse.
JEFFREY BROWN: At the same time, at the Pentagon, another site of 9/11 attacks, the Department of Defense has regularly held Muslim worship services.
The next one will be this Friday afternoon. Meanwhile, the New York City fight isn't over, with lawsuits possible. And, just today, the city's transit agency approved a new ad proposing the mosque that will soon greet commuters on some New York City buses.
And New York's Governor David Paterson offered state assistance to Cordoba if it does decide to move the site further from the World Trade Center.
Many voices have weighed in on this in recent days. We hear from four, including two who lost relatives in the 9/11 attacks. Charles Wolf is a commercial pilot who lives in Lower Manhattan. His wife was at work in an office in the towers. Neda Bolourchi is an Iranian-born American citizen who lives in California. Her mother was on one of the planes that struck the World Trade Center.
Also joining us is Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the largest Muslim civil liberties advocacy organization in the United States, and Michael Medved, a nationally syndicated radio talk show host whose show reaches some four million listeners weekly.
Charles Wolf, I will start with you. You have spoken out in favor of building the mosque as an example of American tolerance. Explain.
CHARLES WOLF, Lost Wife in September 11 Attacks: Exactly.
First of all, I should say I'm not a commercial pilot. I'm a private pilot, but that's not my profession.
JEFFREY BROWN: Sorry.
CHARLES WOLF: I firmly believe in two things. Number one is, I will not paint all Muslims with a broad brush. These were extremist terrorists that did this. And I know many very, very good, upstanding citizen Muslims. And there are millions of them around the country.
So, I will not cast -- I will not stain all of them with what they call guilt by affiliation.
Number two is that we were attacked on this -- on September 11 because of all the tenets in the First Amendment, freedom of press, freedom of religion, freedom -- freedom of speech. And for us to then roll back the freedom of religion, to me, is just falling right into their hands.
I concur with Mr. Wolf's comment. If we believe in our Constitution, the principles in our Declaration of Independence, and freedom in general, we cannot allow fear to degenerate our beliefs.
I most strongly disagree with the "woman" who says, "They're taking Christ out of everything," just because the location is next to a Baptist church. She is essentially saying having a non-Christian place of worship next door is anti-Christian. This is NOT freedom of religion. She is also, in my opinion, demonstrating that she does NOT have true faith in her religion, or she would not fear other religions.
As to the actual location, this is a debate that should be left to those who have a direct stake on this issue.
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