153. SueG,

That’s a remarkable testimony from a Muslim. The proposed centre may purport to be aiming for reconciliation among all faiths but it will be, first and foremost, an Islamic centre. And, as the author indicates, Islam should not be dominant here - especially since 9/11 was an act of Islamic terror and the terrorists will see the centre (including, of course, a mosque) as both a victory and a vindication of their domination of the infidel.

And what about the atheists who died on 9/11? Will this centre embrace their “faith” in the lack of a God as well? Would be good if people who view this as an insensitive hijacking of 9/11 commemorations by the very religion responsible for the atrocity were treated with a bit more respect and understanding.

OK, the centre will not be right on the WTC site, but Islam has a long history of erecting mosques on the ruins of the houses of worship of other faiths and of treating them with scant respect. When the Jordanians took over Jerusalem in 1948, they destroyed the synagogues and used Jewish gravestones as paving stones for roads and to build latrines. And the Al-Aksa mosque is built, of course, on the ruins of the ancient Jewish Temple.

56. PacificLady,

However right now, I would rather be a Jew in Italy than in Yemen or Saudi Arabia.

So would I. Most of Yemen’s Jews were driven out of the country and to this day are not allowed to return. In the case of apartheid Saudi Arabia, the question is academic since there is no way the Saudis would allow a Jew to live there.

33. SanFranciscoZionist,

People is people. There is no such thing as a special religion which changes all the rules.

I disagree. What we see from Islam is mostly intolerance of the infidel and the obsessive striving for domination and the ascendancy of Islam. People cast a bit too much of a benevolent light on Islam. Yes there were periods of harmony but whatever the history, across the Islamic world today there is predominantly violent oppression of those of other faiths.