Quote:
Originally Posted by MMM
Let's get the facts straight.
What is being proposed is an Islamic community center that would be built in an old Burlington Coat Factory a couple blocks from where the World Trade Center used to stand.
The Constitution answers the question for us. Of course this should be allowed. The fact that the question would even come up shows the intolerance that exists in the US.
|
A mosque or church requires government approval before being built just like any other kind of building. The government will not allow churches to be built in some places for various reasons, such as zoning regulations and the like. In most places in the country, it would be very hard to build a church in place zoned for retail use (like a Burlington Coat Factory), and permission to build a church or a mosque in such a place would be a rare exception, not something which would be normally approved.
New York City would not be intolerant in saying "no" to building an Islamic community center in a retail area, in this case they are bending over backwards to be tolerant. An Islamic community center, being a religious facility belonging to an organized religion, would of course be tax exempt, and allowing such a center (or even a Christian church) will greatly reduce the tax revenue generated by the property.
The crux of the argument is that getting permission to build a Christian (or Jewish, or Buddhist) church or large religious center anywhere in Manhattan is next to an impossibility, but building an Islamic community center somehow gets wide approval from everyone from Mayor Bloomberg to President Obama himself. Critics of the community center see this as "special" treatment based upon religious preference, which is also considered patently unconstitutional.