NYC Mosque Reaction Example of Islamophobia?

(CBS)  Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly quoted New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly. The correct quote was added at 10:45 p.m. ET.

Plans to build an Islamic center, including a mosque, two blocks from Ground Zero have become the subject of a red-hot national debate.

A CBS News poll released Wednesday night finds seven of 10 Americans oppose building a mosque there. The poll also found that only 24 percent of Americans have a favorable impression of Islam while 39 percent have an unfavorable view.

Poll: Most Say "Ground Zero Mosque" Is Inappropriate

Supporters of the Islamic center gathered near ground zero again Wednesday, but in a different part of Manhattan last night, police say anti-Islamic sentiment turned violent, CBS News Correspondent Jeff Glor reports.

A 21-year-old man was in police custody Wednesday night charged with attempted murder. New York police say he attacked a cab driver after asking if he was a Muslim.

"He "He said 'Asalaam Alaikum' and stabbed the driver," police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

That alleged hate crime took place in the shadow of a heated and divisive debate over whether a mosque should be built near Ground Zero.

But it's not just the protesting near Ground Zero.

The sentiment against building new mosques has reached from New York's Staten Island, 15 miles away from where the World Trade Center towers stood, to Tennessee, where a nasty debate over a proposed mosque near Nashville has raged all summer.

"It is not about religion," one unnamed female protester said. "It is about stopping Tennessee homegrown terrorists."

Other controversies over new mosques in Wisconsin and Kentucky have led some to question is America becoming Islamophobic?

"It's beyond Islamophobia," Daisy Khan, a co-founder of the group planning the center, said on ABC's "This Week." "It's hate of Muslims, and we are deeply concerned."

A recent Time magazine poll found that 43 percent of Americans hold unfavorable views of Muslims and 46 percent believe that the Islamic religion is more likely than other religions to encourage violence against nonbelievers.

"Incidents like the Times Square bomber or the Fort Hood gunman should be expected to amplify people's anxieties," professor Richard Lloyd of Vanderbilt University said.

In this election season, politics is driving the argument as well.

"Nazis don't have the right to put up a sign next to the Holocaust Museum," former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said on Fox News.

It's become a wedge issue in campaigns from North Carolina to New York.

But with nearly 7 million Muslims and more than 1,200 mosques already in America, Muslim leaders say that fear is unnecessary.

"I'm very sad because we know that America is the most tolerant country in the world," said Mohammad Shamsi Ali of the proposed center in Lower Manhattan.

In New York, families of 9/11 victims insist their opposition doesn't make them islamaphobic. Instead, they're just trying to heal.

"I feel strongly about it, the mosque," said Ken Fairben, whose child died on 9/11. "I understand their religious beliefs. I understand that they should have a place to pray, an educational center. I have no problems with that whatsoever. But not there, definitely not there."

A city commission gave final approval to the Islamic center earlier this month. Opponents vow to continue their fight in court.

[kila_j]

okay its really annoying they keep using this "Nazi analogy" -_- Nazi's were professed Christians ..No one would stop a church being built a couple blocks down from the holocaust museum...how did muslims have there "chance to speak up" when people were so cruel to them after the attacks

[1ChristianWoman]

Islamophobia," the invented term Islamic supremacists use to try to stifle realistic analysis of the global jihad in all its manifestations." It is not at all established that "Islamophobia" really is growing. In fact, the FBI has recently released data establishing that hate crimes against Muslims are comparatively rare. But if there is any actual suspicion of or negative feelings toward Muslims in the United States, it is solely and wholly the responsibility of Nidal Hasan, the Fort Hood jihadist; Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Christmas underwear jihadist; Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, who killed one soldier and murdered another in a jihad shooting outside a military recruiting station in Little Rock, Ark.; Faisal Shahzad, the Times Square jihadist; Khaled Sheikh Mohammed and Osama bin Laden on 9/11; the London jihad bombers of July 7, 2005; and so many others." "Yet Ihsanoglu, with an evasion of responsibility that is characteristic of Islamic supremacists, pretends that non-Muslims are growing more suspicious of Muslims and Islam not because of this, but because of some gratuitous bigotry.", "[designed precisely to divert attention from Islamic jihad attacks and to shame and discredit those who would dare stand up to jihad (both violent and stealth) and Islamic supremacism in the West". "Without any reference to the pandemic of jihad violence either in the U.S. or worldwide, Ihsanoglu referred instead to a "pandemic of Islam vilification" in the U.S. and Europe, and declared: "We need an all inclusive effort of OIC member states to stem this menace. That is why I firmly believe that this question of Islamophobia should figure prominently on the agenda of all OIC member states whenever they deal with their Western counterparts."...from jihadwatch.org

[raoulduke47]

i found this picture and it looks a lot like the purposed site for the mosque but im not sure. anyone know?

http://911digitalarchive.org/REPOSITORY/IMAGES/PHOTOS/1232.pjpeg

[MORDECHAYAYRIELY]

1: Stop using Islamic cultural centers to disconnect people from their connection to governments and promote Islam worldwide

2: Muslims are fighting all cultures and religions worldwide.
Islamic mosques and cultural centers are recruiting agencies

From:-- India to Russia--Philippines to England--Thailand to New York--Uganda to Nepal--Argentina to China--France to Kenya-all 58 Muslim countries

Islamist worldwide kill attacks summary
15.929 Islamist attacks since 9/11
503 in 16 days of Ramadan
1060- Jul
556-Jun
742- May

Have you seen any Muslim demonstrating against this ideology and demanding to end this endless war?
Silent supporters of the Islam over all ideology

[JayAdler1]

I refuse to believe the idea that New Yorkers are haters of Muslims and that is a central theme in the opposition to a Mosque built on Ground Zero, that is false. Most people in the country do not want the Mosque built at the site of 911 because they feel that it is necessary to avoid a perceived lack of compatibility with the convictions of those who lost loved ones there.I share this emotional reason because I worked in WTC1 in 1973 although I realize that emotional reasons without legal president or existing code do not hold up in court. I lived in Manhattan and Brooklyn for thirty years before departing and I can give you a silent majority reason which has nothing do to do with any **** sapiens. New York is impossible if you think about convenience. Going to a movie, getting to work, waiting in lines, crowds.If that Mosque goes up in Ground Zero no matter what your position is, the marching, the crowds, the phony communications are going to shut down or inconvenience Lower Manhattan for days on end. New York will be drenched in more people having difficulty getting to work and even getting totally stuck downtown. It may play out the the developer has the green light to build there but the objection that the City will be blocked up as nothing to do with siding with the current positions expressed. I took my wife in from where we live to see a physician on the East Side and I went straight to a garage, the thought of actually parking in the street never entered my mind.

[010sonny]

Patrio the families directly effected have voiced their opinions on the matter. Either you missed that information or you choose to ignore their responses and feelings on the matter. To continuously bring it back up as a media issue to them is insensitive on your part.
American hating media? Where did that come from? Perhaps from that deep TEA POT you have been sipping on.?
Direction of debate is favoring the conclusion that at the bottom of this are bigots. Comprised of narrow minded individuals. Apparently this is not to your liking.
Then you, your self, admit that a dialogue of a grieving widow was introduced, yet again not to YOUR liking? Contradiction of yourself.
Precisely, what is bothering you, I can only speculate, for your info is contrary and lacks cohesion. Perhaps it has something to do with the direction that the debate is proceeding to? With that in mind perhaps what is effecting this deductive rational that is now embracing the general populace is that they are beginning to become aware, that they have been led astray, of their core principles of democratic evolution, by irrational agendas. Such as for one example; A terrorist comes to town and inflicts pain and suffering. Terrorist runs away crying, Islam, Islam. Are they to believe a terrorist? Is it not his job to control the peoples through fear and vengeance? Mob gathers with passions of emotions which is to his liking for they will serve him well. Now he says attack me here, oh no attack me there, hate this or that and they do. FOX can see an opportunity to keep the mob agitated and teaches the mob how to chase their own tails. Now the Fox and osamabinladen can rest on the lush green, green profits that the confused mob has bestowed on them. Mob are now following their new masters. As those with intelligence come to perceive this, reconstruct their abilities to seek rationality. Those that do not are then beginning to be exposed as bigots of irrational ideologies, with no solutions other than to hate and fear as they continue to chase their tales for the amusement of their masters.
Like the story? Would you now care for a spot of TEA?

[PatriotMike2]

Fascinating how our uber-liberal media never asks if the controversy indicates Muslim insensitivity to the families of those who were murdered on 9/11. Oh no, our America-hating media have to cast the debate in terms of American intolerance, American bigotry. They quote the muslims at length, then give a grieving widow who objects to the mosque one line of mention in a back-handed manner. Who is the editor at CBS, Michael Moore?

[cparker483]

Let's take a reality check here.

1. It was Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda (terrorists) that attacked the World Trade Center, not all of Islam. All this hate and anger is misdirected.

2. Be VERY careful of what you wish for, it may come back to haunt you. Any restrictions you impose on one group, applies to ALL groups. That is the way our laws work, equality for all.

3. The goal of the Terrorists, is to inspire fear. I thought that we as Americans, said we would never let them win! Yet here we are trying to take away the rights of, not just them, but all citizens (remember #2). We are treating people as guilty, without the benefit of a trial. And we are not only allowing, but asking our government to invade our privacy, so we can feel safe. Guess what? the terrorists have already Won!!!

Food for thought:
"If we restrict Liberty to attain Security we will lose them both" - Benjamin Franklin
Would our Founding Fathers be proud of this action?

[010sonny]

Obama exemplified his ability to lead. Unlike republicans that bow to the hysterias of the weak minded mob mentality. Laws and principles were written down for a reason. To remind us that this has been examined in the past and through trial and tribulations their findings were written down as to a course to maintain when mob hysteria rants their 5 minute wisdoms.
Osamabinladen comes to town, harms us runs away saying Islam, Islam and the mob gives chase seeking vengeance motivated by hysterics. Mob believes this terrorist.! Reason and a rational approach to a solution is discarded for emotional hatred. Now they have played right into the hands of their nemesis. He points and says attack and the mob does. Running amuck in futility, as their nemesis enjoying there confusion and how well, they will serve him. Their Fox teaches them how to chase their tails and on and on they go. Serving their masters, with their easily manipulated emotions.

[Todd-Debt-Free]

Mr. O is no Leader.
Mr. Bush was a fool.

Mr. O can not make any inteligent comments without a battery of advisors and writers.

Mr. Bush could not keep his foot out of his mouth.

In truth, I trust Mr. Bush more, Why? Because he was not being sneaky.
He was a fool and the world knew it.

Mr. O is a SNAKE in the GRASS. No one will ever really know what he is thinking and that scares me more than a FOOL.

[JayAdler1]

I have gone on the record as expressing my desire for a compromise. It may not be the ideal set of circumstances but moving the Mosque is a better idea then the ongoing civil unrest and suspicion that I think will continue into perpetuity if the the Mosque is erected at Ground zero. As of now there does not seem to be a legal maneuver that can stop the developer from going ahead with the project. A concession in negotiation is not necessarily giving up ones principles. Some innocent guy got slashed today. I would think this story has the potential of escalating.I say, sit down and talk, try to work it out. Cool off.