Quote:
Originally Posted by Sangetsu
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.
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I live in nyc. When I'm walking which I used to do very often. I would pass a number of churches. Several churches are in very high traffic areas. There is one on Broadway about 1 block south of WTC and another further down. There is a temple near chambers which is about 3 blocks or less from WTC in a retail area with many stores and a few resturants on west broadway.
The reason people are saying no to this is not because of zoning, or because it's a religious building in a retail area (there are a number of those) it's because it's Islam and it's near WTC. That's it. There is no other reason. I don't see heated debates saying "oh well the zoning and you know, century 21 is right there! we can't have that!" No, it's more like "it's insulting, they killed our family" Theses are the type of statements that shouldn't be made and all the more the reason why it should be built. Whilst, yes the government has to step in for it to be built, that is, in a way irrelevant. You can't quite build something out of nowhere and not expect the government to get involved. It is intolerant when the reasons given are not ones of zoning or retail but ones of hate and intolerance.
MMM = Completely right.