The lighter side of the mosque at Ground Zero

I'm sure readers are familiar with plans to build Cordoba House, an Islamic cultural center and mosque, near the site of the former World Trade Center in New York City, destroyed by Islamic fundamentalist terrorists on September 11th, 2001.

I'm neutral on the subject of Islam, having numerous friends of that faith, but also having seen (at first hand) the effects of fundamentalism on certain of its followers. I can respect the good it entails while recognizing and rejecting the bad. Even so, I think the proposed location of Cordoba House is insensitive and likely to be counter-productive. As far as I'm concerned, if it's genuinely needed by the Muslim community (and there's considerable debate about that), let it be built further away from a place that is and will forever be associated with the worst excesses of fundamentalist Islam.

That said, there's a funny side to the ongoing debate. The inimitable Iowahawk has this take on the matter:

Charges of racism, sexism, and religious discrimination filled the air this afternoon outside the just-completed Cordoba House, the gleaming new $100 million 15 story mosque and Islamic cultural center near the ruins of New York's World Trade Center, following a tense 5-hour standoff prompted by the mosque's refusal to host a wedding between a lesbian African-American woman and her blind white transgendered partner.

Over 200 NYPD officers and multicultural crisis counselors were bused to the site to quell the simmering 17-way tensions between Muslim, Black, LGBT, immigrant, disabled, and lawsuit community activists. The scene was punctuated by outbursts of pushing and shoving, including a brief confused intramural scuffle among members of Reverend Louis Farrakan's Nation of Islam, but the only serious injuries reported was a hernia suffered by a legal aide distributing plaintiff's briefs. The incident resulted in one arrest, a 7-year old girl who was seen operating a lemonade stand without a permit.

There's more at the link. Go read the whole thing for a good laugh.

Not to be outdone, Greg Gutfeld has a proposal that he thinks is bound to produce meaningful dialog between Islamic and US 'values'.

As an American, I believe they have every right to build the mosque - after all, if they buy the land and they follow the law - who can stop them?

Which is, why, in the spirit of outreach, I've decided to do the same thing.

I'm announcing tonight, that I am planning to build and open the first gay bar that caters not only to the west, but also Islamic gay men. To best express my sincere desire for dialogue, the bar will be situated next to the mosque Park51, in an available commercial space.

Again, there's more at the link - also giggleworthy.



Peter