Farrakhan Supports Planned Mosque Near Ground Zero‎

Farrakhan supports planned mosque near ground zero‎

In an announcement that should surprise no one, Nation of Islam Leader Min. Louis Farrakhan voiced support for a planned mosque and cultural center near Ground Zero in lower Manhattan, even though public opinion polls continue to show a majority of New Yorkers oppose the plan.

The $100-million project has been roundly criticized by a majority of New Yorkers who see building a mosque so close to where Muslim extremist terrorists killed more than 1,500 people in the World Trade Center attacks as disrespectful to families of the survivors.

But Farrakhan, who was joined by a group of black Muslim at a press conference, said Ground Zero also represents a hallowed place for Muslims who also suffered in the 9/11 attacks.

The controversial plan, known as Park51, has drawn its strongest support from the Muslim community, but it is by no means monolithic. Even within the Muslim community, opinions differ on the question of building the mosque and Islamic cultural center.

Despite Farrakhan's pronouncement, a majority of New Yorkers continue to voice opposition to the plan, according to a new poll.

Even though New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has made an impassioned defense of the project at its current proposed site, two-thirds of New York City residents want Park51 to be relocated to a site farther away from Ground Zero, according to a New York Times poll released today.

The poll results back up a reality that neither Farrakhan nor Bloomberg can deny: the wounds of 9/11 still run deep in New York, the most diverse and tolerant city in the nation.

It is unfortunate that Park51 has grown from a building project into a referendum on how Americans feel about 9/11, the war on terrorism and Muslims in general, but the genie is out of the bottle and the majority of people have made their feelings known that they would feel better if the mosque project was moved.

Park51 builders should listen.

To continue on the current building plan, as mosque developers have pledged to do, is to ask for an ugly fight when a small compromise would foster good will and harmony in a city that needs it.