Asia-Pacific

NY archbishop worries about tone of mosque debate

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-08-25 11:45

NEW YORK - The intense debate over a proposed Islamic community center and mosque near ground zero has jeopardized New Yorkers' sense of tolerance and unity, the leader of the area's Roman Catholics said Tuesday.

A man holds a sign during a rally held to support a proposed Muslim cultural center and mosque near the World Trade Center site in New York August 22, 2010. Supporters and opponents of a proposed Muslim cultural center and mosque near the World Trade Center site rallied in downtown Manhattan on Sunday, kept blocks apart by a heavy police presence. [Agencies]

"We're just a little bit apprehensive that those noble values may be a bit at risk in the way this conversation and debate about the site of the mosque is taking place," Archbishop Timothy Dolan said after a meeting with Gov. David Paterson about the issue.

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A national survey underscored the complex views of Americans toward the mosque project, with 51 percent agreeing with opponents of the Muslim center, while 34 percent said they supported it. The poll of 1,003 randomly chosen adults was conducted by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center and showed that a majority, 62 percent, also said Muslims have equal rights to build houses of worship.

Dolan said both sides of the debate have legitimate stances.

Critics say the building is too close to where Islamic extremists destroyed the World Trade Center in 2001 and killed nearly 2,800 people. Supporters say religious freedom should be protected. Dolan said both sides have legitimate stances.

Dolan doesn't have "strong feelings" about where it should be, he said, but he expressed willingness to be part of the dialogue if asked.

In an impassioned speech at a dinner Tuesday in observance of Iftar, the daily meal in which Muslims break their fast during the holy month of Ramadan, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said not allowing the mosque to be built two blocks from ground zero would be "compromising our commitment to fighting terror with freedom."

"We would undercut the values and principles that so many heroes died protecting," Bloomberg said at the event, which was attended by about 100 people, including members of the Muslim community and city officials such as police Commissioner Raymond Kelly.

The mayor said he understood the "impulse to find another location for the mosque" but a compromise won't end the debate.

"The question will then become how big should the no-mosque zone around the World Trade Center be," Bloomberg said. "There is already a mosque four blocks away. Should it, too, be moved?"

Bloomberg, a billionaire philanthropist, said earlier Tuesday, in response to a question, that he was unlikely to donate money to the mosque effort. Bloomberg, who is Jewish, said most of his donations to religious causes tended to be his mother's temple and his temple.

Sharif el-Gamal, the mosque site's developer, and Daisy Khan, a co-founder of the group planning the mosque, attended the dinner. After Bloomberg spoke, el-Gamal said he was "very honored and blessed" to be an American and a New Yorker.

"Mayor Bloomberg's speech embodied the values and the mores that we as Muslim Americans live and cherish," he said.

Paterson has yet to meet with anyone from the Cordoba Initiative, the project's organizer. Its co-founder, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, is on a Mideast trip funded by the US State Department. He alluded to the controversy at a dinner Sunday night for student leaders at the US ambassador's residence in Manama, Bahrain.

"The fact we are getting this kind of attention is a sign of success," he said.

"It is my hope that people will understand more. ... This is something we are doing for your generation."

Rauf also thanked President Barack Obama, who has said Muslims had the right to practice their religion and build the Islamic center in lower Manhattan. The president later said he wasn't endorsing the specifics of the plan.

The White House on Tuesday said that Obama would have no further comment on the issue and that the administration will not get involved in talks about relocating the facility. Republicans have vowed to make Obama's supportive comments a campaign issue in this fall's midterm elections.

Rauf, who has rarely spoken publicly about the project, said that he was leery of the media and that it is portraying a negative image of Muslims to the West. He also said he doesn't like Muslims portraying a bad image of the West to the Muslim world.

In an interview published Monday with the Bahrain newspaper Al Wasat, Rauf said he was trying to get Islamic scholars to agree on laws that will encourage Muslims to be "more effective members of their communities."

He said Muslims can remain faithful and be engaged in the affairs of the countries where they live.

"I see that every religious community faces challenges, but the real challenge lies in keeping true to the core values of the faith and how to express these values in a specific time and place," he was quoted as telling the newspaper.

He added that he wanted to see Muslims in the US have "complete nationalism" and fulfill their rights and duties to the larger community.