Since a private group last week won the right to tear down a New York building just two blocks from the destroyed World Trade Center with the intention of building a mosque, the project has deeply divided Americans and politicians.
The building at 45-47 Park Place in Lower Manhattan is near enough the horror site of Ground Zero to have been damaged by the crash of a plane's landing-gear assembly through two empty floors during the fateful September 11, 2001, of the terrorist attacks.
In 2009, a group of Muslims purchased the building and started offering prayers there. With last week's decision that the building is not a landmark and may be torn down, the group wants to build a 15-storey mosque and Islamic cultural centre on the site.
But with the date looming that will mark the ninth anniversary of the terrorist attacks that killed more than 2,700 people, tensions are heating up over the plans.
New York Governor David Paterson supports the idea of a mosque, but far away from Ground Zero. Mayor Michael Bloomberg disagrees and says the government should not interfere with freedom of religion.
Bloomberg has variously preached and tried to persuade opponents since New York's Landmarks Preservation Commission voted 9-0 last week against granting landmark status to the building.
The decision opened the way for renovation of the 152-year-old building now known as "Park51" by the developer, The Cordoba Institute. It intends to spend 100 million dollars on building the cultural centre, a mosque, gym and other facilities. "I'm just telling you, I've always believed the government should not be involved in deciding who you pray to, what you say, or where you say it," Bloomberg said Wednesday in a joint appearance at City Hall with Paterson.
Paterson entered the fray by offering a state-owned property away from the site in an effort to defuse the growing opposition to the "Ground Zero mosque" as it is dubbed by opponents.
Opponents plan to mount a campaign with posters throughout New York City's vast subway and bus network before September 11. Critics of the mosque include Sarah Palin, the 2008 vice presidential candidate, some members of the conservative Tea Party movement, the Jewish Anti-Defamation League, as well as families of those killed in the terrorist attacks. "We're not talking about mixing church and state," Paterson said. "I hope that the type of cultural understanding that they're trying to promote when they build the centre can be practised right now."
"What I wanted to do was to have a conversation about how other people are feeling," Paterson said. "We really are all victims, and perhaps we just need to understand each other." Paterson said New Yorkers were still suffering from the 9/11 attacks and the idea of an Islamic centre close to Ground Zero would "ignite tremendous feelings of anger and frustration."
The project launched by a long-time New York imam, Feisal Abdul Rauf, and his wife, who have been promoting the idea of an Islamic centre for years. They plan to apply as a non-profit organisation with the government and raise the funds to build.
When the Cordoba Institute won the right to renovate Park51, Rick Lazio, a Republican candidate for New York governor, said: "This project raises serious, serious questions that must be answered." "Where does the funding come from for a 100-million-dollar mosque?" Lazio said. "The imam who's in charge of this has said America was responsible for the attacks on 9/11. In fact, his words were (that) we were an accessory to the crime of 9/11. He has said Osama bin-Laden was built in the US. These are not the words of a bridge builder." But an inter-faith group defended the plan for a mosque, saying it would open the way to heal wounds. The American Society for Muslim Advancement's Daisy Khan said the new Islamic centre's board would include members of other religions. She does not rule out an interfaith chapel at the site. "We want to repair the breach and be at the front and centre to start the healing," Khan said.