Park51: Difference between revisions

Cordoba House Mosque
Italianate building to be razed for the Cordoba House
Religion
Affiliation	Islam
Leadership	Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf
Status	Planned
Location
Location	45–51 Park Place, Lower Manhattan, New York City, U.S.[1][2]
Geographic coordinates	40°42′49″N 74°00′36″W / 40.71361°N 74.01000°W / 40.71361; -74.01000
Architecture
Type	Mosque
General contractor	Soho Properties; Sharif El-Gamal (Chairman & CEO)
Groundbreaking	Late 2010 (est.)
Construction cost	$100 million
Specifications
Capacity	Over 2,000[3]
Height (max)	13 stories
Materials	Glass and steel
Website
Official website

Cordoba House, also referred to as the "Ground Zero Mosque" and "Park51", is a proposed $100 million, 13-story, glass and steel Islamic cultural center and mosque that is in the planning stage.^[4][5] The plan is to raze an existing 1850s Italianate building that was damaged in the September 11 attacks, and build the mosque in its place. It is to be built two blocks (less than 600 feet, or 180 meters) from Ground Zero in New York City. Groundbreaking is planned for late 2010.^[6][5] It is anticipated that 1,000 to 2,000 Muslims will pray at the mosque every Friday, once it is built.^[7][8][9]

The proposed location of the mosque triggered an intense national controversy.^[10][11][4] Polls indicated that a majority of Americans, as well as a majority of New Yorkers, opposed the mosque being built in that location.^[12][13][14] Many people were upset by the prospect of an Islamic center being built so close to Ground Zero, where Islamist terrorists had killed nearly 3,000 people in the name of Islam.^{[15][16][17][4][18][19]}

Across the United States, families of 9/11 victims, as well as politicians, Muslims, and organizations, came out both against and in support of the mosque being built in the Ground Zero vicinity.^[20][21] Some relatives of 9/11 victims argued that the project was insensitive, while others said that it would be an opportunity for Muslims to demonstrate that there are moderates among them. Some politicians, such as Rick Lazio, questioned the project's source of financing, as well as the project leader's views on 9/11 and terrorism.^[20] Other politicians, such as New York City Mayor Bloomberg, welcomed the mosque as an expression of freedom of religion.^[22] Prominent Muslims split over whether the project was an act of friendship, or an unnecessary and ostentatious provocation.^[20]

Newt Gingrich and others assailed the name of the project. It harked back to 8th century Córdoba, Spain, the Islamic seat of power during its rule and occupation of Spain, after Muslim conquerors defeated Western Christians.^[23][24][18] The name proved to be inflammatory, and the project's investors subsequently renamed the project "Park51".^[25]

During the September 11 attacks, the then-five-story building on Park Place between West Broadway and Church Street, leased to the Burlington Coat Factory, was severely damaged.^[8][26][27] The building is located two blocks (less than Template:Ft to m) north of the former World Trade Center site.^[8][26][27]

Part of the landing gear and fuselage of one of the hijacked planes, which were used to destroy the World Trade Center Twin Towers in the attacks, crashed through the building's roof and through two of its floors, destroying three floor beams.^{[15][22][6][26][28][29]} Investigators said the plane parts were either from American Airlines Flight 11, after it crashed into the North Tower at 8:46 a.m., or United Airlines Flight 175, after it crashed into the South Tower at 9:03 a.m.^{[15][22][6][26][30]}

Kukiko Mitani, the wife of Stephen Pomerantz, who owned the building, attempted to sell it for years, at one point asking for $18 million.^[26] Until its 2009 purchase, however, the building lay abandoned.^[26]

In July 2009, the Muslim-run real estate company Soho Properties purchased the building and property, for $4.85 million in cash.^{[31][32][33][34][35]} The company's Chairman and chief executive officer is real estate developer Sharif El-Gamal.^[31][36][33]

One investor in the transaction was the Cordoba Initiative, a tax-exempt foundation with assets of $20,000.^[34] In the foundation's first five years, from 2004–08, it raised under $100,000.^[34] American Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf is founder, CEO, and Executive Director of Cordoba Initiative, and the project is his brainchild.^{[26][37][38][39]} Abdul Rauf's wife, Daisy Kahn, is a board member of the Cordoba Initiative.^[40]

The project's other investor was the American Society for Muslim Advancement (ASMA), another foundation that is a non-profit organization.^[34][41] Abdul Rauf is also the founder and CEO of ASMA, and it is run by Abdul Rauf and his wife out of the same New York office as the Cordoba Initiative.^[34][33][42] Abdul Rauf's wife is the Executive Director of ASMA.^[40]

The two foundations proposed to use the property as the site for a $100 million Islamic center and mosque.^[34][24] The foundations are working on the project with El-Gamal, their co-developer.^[34][31]

The specific location of the planned mosque, so close to the World Trade Center “where a piece of the wreckage fell,” was a primary selling point for the Muslims who bought the building.^[26] Abdul Rauf said it “sends the opposite statement to what happened on 9/11.”^[26] Groundbreaking is planned for late 2010.^[6] Construction is due to begin on September 11, 2011.^[5]

Claudia Rosett, a journalist with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies who writes a weekly column on foreign affairs for Forbes, devoted a column to raising questions as to the source of the funding for the effort.^[34] Some U.S. politicians such as Republicans Peter T. King and Rick Lazio, and Independent Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman, asked for an investigation of the group’s finances, especially its foreign funding.^[43] King said: "The people who are involved in the construction of the mosque are refusing to say where their [$100 million] funding is going to come from."^[22][44][45] Lazio said: “Let’s have transparency. If they’re foreign governments, we ought to know about it. If they’re radical organizations, we ought to know about it.”^[20]

Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, President of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, also noted:

There should be transparency about who those investors are, whether that money is coming from domestic interest or not, and if it's coming from foreign interests we need to know, because I think that's a liability, and it shows that there is another agenda rather than domestic security and tranquility.^[33]

Abdul Rauf said he would raise money from the local Muslim community, foundations, and bonds, but NBC and The New York Post reported that in contrast he also told a London-based Arabic-language newspaper that he would seek funding from Muslim nations.^[46][47][48]

Abdul Rauf, a Kuwait-born Muslim Sufi of Egyptian origin, is the chief proponent of the mosque project.^{[22][6][3][39]} Some U.S. politicians voiced concerns about his views.^[22][6][3]

On September 30, 2001, shortly after the 9/11 attacks, he told CBS’s 60 Minutes: "I wouldn’t say that the United States deserved what happened. But the United States’ policies were an accessory to the crime that happened."^[45][24] King and Sarah Palin expressed concern about his remarks, when discussing Abdul Rauf as the driving force behind the mosque.^[45][49]

Palin and Lazio criticized his refusal to recognize that Hamas is a terrorist organization, and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani claimed that Abdul Rauf "has a record of support for causes that were sympathetic with terrorism."^{[44][50][50][51][52]} In June 2010, when asked in an interview whether he agreed with the U.S. State Department that Hamas consists of terrorists, Abdul Rauf said: "The issue of terrorism is a very complex question."^[6][49]

Lazio also raised questions as to Abdul Rauf's connections with Islamist extremists, which Abdul Rauf strongly denied.^[6][49] Abdul Rauf also disputed a rumor that he was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood.^[6][49]

New York's Mayor Bloomberg was asked to comment on whether Abdul Rauf is a man of peace, given his background "where he's supposedly supported Hamas, [and] blamed the U.S. for 9/11 attacks".^[53] Bloomberg responded:

My job is not to vet clergy in this city.... Everybody has a right to their opinions. You don't have to worship there.... this country is not built around ... only those ... clergy people that we agree with. It's built around freedom. That's the wonderful thing about the First Amendment—you can say anything you want.^[53]

While the media widely described the center as a mosque, the Initiative's official blog portrayed it as a community center with prayer space, making comparisons to the YMCA or Jewish Community Center.^[54] The plan is for it to have a Muslim prayer room, 500-seat auditorium, theater, performing arts center, fitness center, swimming pool, basketball court, childcare services, art exhibitions, bookstore, a culinary school, and a food court serving halal dishes.^{[15][22][4][45][12][5]}

El-Gamal said he wanted the building to be energy-efficient and transparent, most likely with a glass façade.^[55] Reports indicated that the builders planned various construction milestones to coincide with anniversaries of the September 11 attacks. Some indicated that groundbreaking will be on September 11, 2011,^[56] and others that construction will begin on September 11, 2011,^[6][5]. A similar link was made as part of a political fundraising appeal.^[57] In one media report, however, a leader of one of the foundations driving the project said that a timeline had not yet been determined.^[58]

Daisy Khan, executive director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement and Cordoba Initiative board member, as well as Abdul Rauf's wife, said that it was anticipated that once built, 1,000 to 2,000 Muslims would pray at the mosque every Friday.^[7][8][9]

For several months after its purchase, since September 2009, the building was used as a makeshift Muslim prayer space for hundreds of Muslims, with services led by Abdul Rauf.^{[26][59][6][60]} Remarking on the observation that it was just a stone's throw away from Ground Zero, Abdul Rauf's wife said: "Only in New York City is this possible."^[61]

The project's name raised issues for some, inasmuch as it refers to Córdoba, Spain, the capital of the Caliphate of Córdoba during the period of Muslim rule in Spain, where Muslim conquerors defeated Spanish Christians in the 8th century.^[24][18] In the eyes of some critics, the naming of the project after the seat of power of the centuries-long Islamic occupation of Spain was inflammatory. The project investors subsequently renamed the project "Park51".^[25]

New York Magazine, in a July 2010 article entitled "Ground Zero Mosque Gets Less Muslim-Invasion-Sounding Name", referred to the name change to "Park51", after the location's address at 51 Park Place, observing that it made "it sound like a luxury apartment development. The old name, Cordoba House, alluded to the Moorish ... conquest of Spain—not exactly the most helpful imagery...."^[62]

On May 25, 2010, neighborhood authorities in a non-binding advisory vote backed part of the plans for Cordoba House to be built on the site.^[63][64] The endorsement related only to "the important community facilities [the project] will provide," and the resolution indicated that the board "takes no position regarding the religious aspects or any religious facilities associated with either the Cordoba Initiative or the Cordoba House Project."^[64] The board's chairwoman, Julie Menin, supported deletion of references to the building as a mosque and interfaith center that were in an earlier draft of the resolution, saying: "I personally was uncomfortable with the language that talked about the religious institution. I believe it's not the purview of a city agency to be weighing in on the siting of any religious institution, be it a mosque, synagogue, or church."^[64]

The vote by the Lower Manhattan Community Board 1 was 29-to-1, with 10 abstentions.^{[65][7][22][8][66][64]} The vote did not have any binding effect.^[67]

One obstacle to construction was the potential conferment of landmark status on the building. It had been constructed between 1857 and 1858, in the Italian Renaissance palazzo style.^[13][65][60]

The stone-faced building, designed by Daniel Badger, was originally constructed for a shipping firm of a prominent New York shipping magnate.^[68][69][70] Its Italian palazzo style was a throwback to a prior time of European grandeur, and was intended to evoke images of economic might.^[68] The building is an example of the "store and loft" structures that were prevalent in the dry goods warehouse districts of Lower Manhattan.^[60]

The building was one of only a few stand-alone structures in southern Tribeca that were nominated—but never designated—as individual landmarks, during an effort in the 1980s to create a Tribeca historic district.^[64][60] In September 1989, the Commission had held public hearings and considered the building for landmark status. But it never acted on the matter, and the building was “calendared” ever since.^[64][60][69] The New York Post reported that city building records reflected that out of a group of 29 buildings, including 45–47 Park Place, that were proposed for historic landmark designation in 1989, 23 had been deemed landmarks and 6 (including 45–47) were pending as of August 2010.^[46] New York City has more than 11,000 landmarked buildings.^[71]

On August 3, 2010, however, New York City's Landmarks Preservation Commission voted 9–0 against granting landmark status and historic protection to the building. That cleared the way for it to be razed, and the mosque built in its place.^{[20][13][65][60]} The Commission's members had been appointed by Mayor Bloomberg, a supporter of the mosque.^[60][72]

The following day, Timothy Brown, a firefighter who survived 9/11, filed a suit in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan asking the court to nullify the Commission’s decision.^[73][74][75] He praised 45-47 Park Place, quoting the Commission's own description of it as "a fine example of the Italian Renaissance-inspired palazzi" that flourished in the mid-1800s in the area.^[73] The suit was filed on his behalf by the American Center for Law and Justice, a conservative public interest firm.^[73][74][75]

Polls showed that a majority of Americans opposed building the mosque near Ground Zero, The New York Times reported in July 2010.^[12] A national poll that month by Rasmussen Reports found that 54% of American adults were opposed to a mosque being built near Ground Zero, while 20% were in favor.^[76][77]

In addition, 52% of New York City voters opposed the construction, while only 31% supported it, according to a Quinnipiac University Poll carried out in June 2010.^[13][78][79] At the same time, 46% of Manhattanites supported it, while 36% opposed it. Opposition was strongest in Staten Island, where 73% opposed it while only 14% supported it.^[13][50] A higher percentage of Republicans (82%) than Democrats (45%) opposed the plan.^[80]

Some relatives of victims of the September 11 attacks found the proposal offensive, because the radical Muslim terrorists who committed the attacks did so in the name of Islam.^[7] A group of families of 9/11 victims, called 9/11 Families for a Safe & Strong America, calls the proposal "a gross insult to the memory of those who were killed on that terrible day."^[9] Debra Burlingame, a co-founder of the group whose brother died in the attacks, said:

This is a place which is 600 feet (180 m) from where almost 3,000 people were torn to pieces by Islamic extremists. I think that it is incredibly insensitive and audacious ... for them to build a mosque ... so that they could be in proximity to where that atrocity happened... The idea that you would establish a religious institution that embraces the very Shariah law that terrorists point to as their justification for what they did ... to build that where almost 3,000 people died, that is an obscenity to me.^[33]

Sally Regenhard, mother of 28-year-old firefighter Christian, who died on September 11, said that the center would be “sacrilege on sacred ground”, and that “People are being accused of being anti-Muslim and racist, but this is simply a matter of sensitivity.”^[22] Former Fire Department of New York Deputy Chief Jim Riches, whose firefighter son Jim was killed on September 11, said: "I don't want to have to go down to a memorial where my son died on 9/11 and look at a mosque", and added "I think this is all about location, location, location. It's not about religious freedom ... be sensitive to the families."^[7][25] Michael Burke, whose firefighter brother died at the World Trade Center, wrote: "Freedom of religion or expression and private property rights are not the issues.... Decency is; right and wrong is... [M]any believe that their “rights” supersede all other considerations, like what is respectful, considerate, and decent. A mosque ... steps from ground zero in a building damaged in the attacks is ... astoundingly insensitive".^[81]

Rosemary Cain, mother of firefighter George Cain, who was killed on 9/11, calling the project a "slap in the face", said "I think it's despicable. That's sacred ground", and "I don't want a mosque on my son's grave".^[7][64] C. Lee Hanson, whose son Peter, daughter-in-law Sue, and baby granddaughter Christine were killed in the attacks, said he opposed the center because he felt that building a tribute to Islam so close to the World Trade Center site would be insensitive: "The pain never goes away. When I look over there and I see a mosque, it’s going to hurt. Build it someplace else."^[8][81] Hanson and his wife wrote, further:

It has the trappings of a victory mosque, given its location.... The refusal of ... Abdul Rauf to be specific about who the donors were for the $5 million to buy the building, and will be for the $100 million for construction, is worrisome.... The imam argues that America bears much of the responsibility for 9/11. Even so, Councilwoman Margaret Chin praised the imam ... and accused opponents of being prejudiced or anti-immigrant. We are neither. One of us is the child of Greek immigrants, with a sister married to a Muslim. Our son married the daughter of Korean immigrants. Councilwoman Chin and others need a new argument.^[81]

Evelyn Pettigano, who lost a sister in the attacks, said: "I don't like it. I'm not prejudiced.... It's too close to the area where our family members were murdered."^[40] Rosaleen Tallon-DaRos, whose brother was a 9/11 victim, also urged that the mosque not be put on that site.^[82] Dov Shefi, whose son Haggai was killed on 9/11, said: "the establishment of a mosque in this place ... is like bringing a pig into the Holy Temple. It is inconceivable that in all the city of New York, this site was specifically chosen."^[83]

Tim Brown, a New York City firefighter who survived the attack, protesting the building of the mosque. He said: "The families lost their loved ones to terrorists, Islamic, Muslim terrorists who do not believe in religious freedom."^[84]

The building of the mosque, as well as the initiative itself, was criticized by other Muslims, such as Sufi Muslim mysticist Suleiman Schwartz, director of the Center for Islamic Pluralism, who said that a building built by Abdul Rauf barely two blocks from Ground Zero, is inconsistent with Sufi philosophy of simplicity of faith and sensitivity towards others and "grossly insensitive".^[9]

Zuhdi Jasser, founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, strongly opposed the mosque, saying:

For us, a mosque was always a place to pray, to be together on holidays—not a way to make an ostentatious architectural statement. Ground zero shouldn’t be about promoting Islam. It’s the place where war was declared on us as Americans.^[9]

Hossein Kamaly, a professor of Middle Eastern culture at Barnard College, Columbia University, observed:

After all, it was 19 Egyptian and Saudi Arabian thugs calling themselves Muslims who perpetrated this heinous crime on September 11th. They want to send a message of friendship, but building a mosque where there wasn't one before, is not the most nuanced way of doing that.^[85]

A number of politicians across the United States, many of them Republicans, spoke out against the mosque being constructed next to Ground Zero.

Among them have been Republican 2008 vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin (who called on moderate Muslims to oppose the project, which she called an "unnecessary provocation"), former Massachusetts governor and GOP Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R; "It’s not about religion, and is clearly an aggressive act that is offensive"), Congressman Peter King (R-NY; ranking Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee; "it is offensive to so many people"), former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani (R; a “desecration”), North Carolina congressional candidate Ilario Pantano (R; "It is about ... territorial conquest. This mosque is a Martyr–Marker honoring the terrorists"), NY gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino (R; "The vast majority of New Yorkers and Americans have rejected their idea. If a bridge was their intent, why jam it down our throats? Why does it have to be right there?"), and former NY Congressman and current NY gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio (R).^{[86][87][88][17][44][45][12][49][89][18][70]}

Gingrich wrote:

“Cordoba House” is a deliberately insulting term. It refers to Cordoba, Spain–the capital of Muslim conquerors, who symbolized their victory over the Christian Spaniards by transforming a church there into the world’s third-largest mosque complex... every Islamist in the world recognizes Cordoba as a symbol of Islamic conquest.^[90][91]

William Bennett, Republican former Reagan Education Secretary and Drug Czar under George H.W. Bush, suggested that Muslims should "learn" from the events of the late 20th century at the Auschwitz concentration camp.^[92] At that time, a group of Carmelite nuns opened a convent just outside of Auschwitz, to pray for the souls of all who had died. When Jews protested, and Pope John Paul II ordered the nuns to relocate, they closed the doors of the convent and moved it.^[92] Paul Sipos, a member of NYC Community Board 1, said:

If the Japanese decided to open a cultural centre across from Pearl Harbour, that would be insensitive. If the Germans opened a Bach choral society across from Auschwitz, even after all these years, that would be an insensitive setting. I have absolutely nothing against Islam. I just think: Why there?^[35]

Republican NY Congressional candidate George Demos also objected to the mosque. He said that the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, the only religious structure destroyed in the 9/11 attacks, should be rebuilt before moving forward on building a mosque in the area, and called for an investigation into the mosque's financing.^[93][94][95] Paladino said that if he were elected Governor of New York, he would use the power of eminent domain to stop construction of the mosque, and instead build a war memorial in its place.^[96][97]

A Republican political action committee, the National Republican Trust Political Action Committee, a Washington-based organization, created a television commercial attacking the proposal, saying "we Americans will be heard".^{[12][98][18][99]} Tea Party activist Mark Williams called it a monument to the terror attacks.^[65]

Democratic Independent Senator Joe Lieberman indicated that he felt the project should be halted pending further evaluation of its impact on the families and friends of 9/11 victims, project’s sponsors' intentions, and their sources of funding.^[43] Democratic NY Assemblyman and NY-Attorney-General-candidate Richard Brodsky said it was: “offensive to me ... raises concerns and bad memories, and needs to be dealt with on a human level”, noting that "The murder wasn't an Islamic crime, but it was a crime committed in the name of Islam by people most Muslims reject."^[100]

New York City fireman Tim Brown opposed the mosque, saying: "A mosque ... that's using foreign money from countries with shariah law is unacceptable, especially in this neighborhood". Brown allied with the American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ), a conservative law firm founded by Pat Robertson that champions the rights of Christians to build and worship freely.^[15] Brown is seeking to pressure Abdul Rauf to fully disclose the project's funding sources.^[15]

Pamela Geller, executive director of Stop Islamization of America, said: "We think its an insult. It's demeaning to non-Muslims to build a shrine dedicated to the very ideology that inspired 9/11." More than 20,000 people signed an online petition for the Committee to Stop the Ground Zero Mosque, and unsuccessfully lobbied the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission to give the location landmark status, which would have added a major hurdle to construction.^[15]

Richard Land, President of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, said "putting a mosque ... very close to Ground Zero is unacceptable.... Even though the vast majority of Muslims ... condemned their actions on Sept. 11, 2001, it still remains a fact that the people who perpetrated the 9/11 attack were Muslims and proclaimed they were doing what they were doing in the name of Islam."^[101] Bill Rench, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church which is located near the proposed mosque site, also spoke out against its construction.^[102]

The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish civil rights group in the United States, denounced what it saw as bigoted attacks on the mosque. But its head said that while some of those who oppose the mosque are "bigots", and while the plan's proponents may have every right to build at that location, building the mosque at that site will nevertheless unnecessarily cause more pain for families of some victims of 9/11.^{[103][12][14]}

Valerie Lucznikowska, aunt of Adam Arias, who died in the September 11 attack, said: “I want tolerance. I want inclusion, and there is no better embodiment.”^[22] Bruce Wallace, who lost a nephew in the attack, said: "Here is a chance to allow moderate Muslims to teach people that not all Muslims are terrorists."^[65] September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows also voiced its support.^[64]

Nihad Awad, Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), said that the opinion of Republican Congressman Peter King "should not be considered, because his ideas are extreme."^[3] The Muslim Public Affairs Council also supported the project.^[104][105]

New York City's Mayor Mike Bloomberg (Independent) strongly endorsed the project, saying that Ground Zero was a "very appropriate place" for a mosque, because it "tells the world" that the U.S. has freedom of religion for everyone.^[106] Responding to opposition, he said:

The government should never, never be in the business of telling people how they should pray, or where they can pray. We want to make sure that everybody from around the world feels comfortable coming here, living here, and praying the way they want to pray.^[15][22]

Community Board 1 Financial Committee Chairman Edward "Ro" Sheffe opined: "it will be a wonderful asset to the community."^[7][40] New York City Councilwoman Margaret Chin (D) said: "The center is something the community needs".^[31]

Additional New York politicians supported the proposal. They included Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer (D; "I'll do everything I can to make sure this mosque does get opened"), U.S. Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), NY State Senator Daniel Squadron (D), NYC Comptroller John Liu (D), and NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn (D).^{[8][65][66][107][64]}

Democratic Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick also supported the mosque being built near Ground Zero, saying: "The sooner we separate the peaceful teaching of Islam from the behavior of terrorists, the better for all of us."^[108]

The American Jewish Committee said the center "has a right to be built."^[109] The Jewish political group J Street also supported the construction.^[103] Its President, Jeremy Ben-Ami, released a statement saying:

The principle at stake ... goes to the heart of American democracy, and the value we place on freedom of religion. Should one religious group in this country be treated differently than another? We believe the answer is no.... proposing a church or a synagogue for that site would raise no questions. The Muslim community has an equal right to build a community center wherever it is legal to do so.^[110]

Rabbi Irwin Kula, president of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, spoke out in favor of the mosque, and the Interfaith Alliance also supported the mosque, while indicating that it agreed with the need for transparency as to who is funding the project.^[103][12] The New York Civil Liberties Union and the American Civil Liberties Union supported it as well, citing principles of religious freedom.^[111]

Mark R. Cohen, Professor of Jewish Civilization in the Near East in the Department of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University, opined that "The presence of ... mosques like the one planned near Ground Zero, which will be an educational center as well as a place of prayer, is one good way of transcending ... ignorance [of the "real" Islam]."^[112] Rabbi Geoffrey Dennis, of the University of North Texas Jewish Studies Program said that when it comes to the issue of freedom to practice religion in a private sphere, such as on a piece of private property in Lower Manhattan, freedom of religion is virtually inviolate.^[113]

Boston University Department of Religion professor Stephen Prothero spoke out against the arguments that Cordoba House should not be built near Ground Zero.^[15][114] As did Padraic O'Hare, Professor of Religious and Theological Studies and Director of the Center for the Study of Jewish-Christian-Muslim Relations at Merrimack College, arguing that prayer leads to peace: "Build a Muslim house of prayer near Ground Zero? ... Hand me the shovel."^[115]

Those behind the project, the American Society for Muslim Advancement and the Cordoba Initiative, claim it is intended to foster better relations between Islam and the West.^[7][116] In an interview, Daisy Khan, executive director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement, said: "We decided we wanted to look at the legacy of 9/11 and do something positive." She added that her group represents moderate Muslims who want "to reverse the trend of extremism and the kind of ideology that the extremists are spreading."^[117] Pointing to the fact that ordinary Muslims have been killed by Muslim extremists all over the world, Khan also said about the mosque, "For us it is a symbol... that will give voice to the silent majority of Muslims who suffer at the hands of extremists. A center will show that Muslims will be part of rebuilding Lower Manhattan."^[118]

• Islamic Cultural Center of New York

• Cordoba House
• Coalition to Honor Ground Zero
• "Hey, That's Sacred Ground: Let's Talk About Where to Build that Mosque", The Huffington Post, Rabbi Justus N. Baird, May 28, 2010
• "New York City Voters Oppose Mosque Near Ground Zero, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Does Mosque Foster Understanding Or Insult 9/11 Victims?", Quinnipiac University, July 1, 2010
• "Ground Zero Mosque Property Developer Comes Out; Sharif El-Gamal speaks to CNN", Stephen Schwartz, The Weekly Standard, July 20, 2010
• "A mosque to be built on our principles", Leonard Pitts, The Miami Herald, July 21, 2010
• "Statement on the Proposed “Cordoba House” Mosque near Ground Zero", Newt Gingrich, Newt.org, July 21, 2010
• "Boychuk and Mathis: Should a mosque be built near Ground Zero?", Ben Boychuk and Joel Mathis, Daily News Tribune, August 1, 2010
• "Newt Gingrich, pushing prejudice at Ground Zero", Richard Cohen, The Washington Post, August 3, 2010
• "Conservatives for a More Capricious Landmarks Bureaucracy", Josh Barro, National Review, August 3, 2010
• "An Open Letter on the Ground Zero Mosque; The location undermines the goal of interfaith understanding", Dan Senor, The Wall Street Journal, August 3, 2010
• "Opposition to 'Ground Zero Mosque' Is a Victory for Al Qaeda", John Aloysius Farrell, U.S. News & World Report, August 3, 2010
• "WTC Mosque, Meet the Auschwitz Nuns; Pope John Paul offers a model of tolerance for a heated controversy", William McGurn, The Wall Street Journal, August 3, 2010
• "If He Could, Bin Laden Would Bomb the Cordoba Initiative", Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic, August 3, 2010
• "Not at Ground Zero", Editors, National Review, August 4, 2010
• "Should the Mosque Be Built? -- Follow the Money", Gabe Pressman, NBC, August 4, 2010
• "Liberal Piety and the Memory of 9/11; The enlightened class can't understand why the public is uneasy about the Ground Zero mosque", Dorothy Rabinowitz, The Wall Street Journal, August 4, 2010
• "Glad to live in a country that will allow a mosque at Ground Zero", Thomas Friedman, The Seattle Times, August 4, 2010