Battle Brews over Lower Manhattan Proposed Mosque

Washington, DCThe American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), which represents a New York firefighter who survived the 9-11 attack on the World Trade Center, is pursing all avenues to prevent a mosque from being built near Ground Zero is lower Manhattan. "We are not opposed to mosques in general," says ACLJ chief legal counsel Jay Sekulow. "We are, however, opposed to this mosque."


The ACLJ opposes its construction for two reasons. The building at 51 Park Place, between West Broadway and Church Street, has been on the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) list of potential historic sites since 1989. The fact that the landing gear from one of the planes that crashed into the twin towers went through the roof of the building now confirms it as historic, if not hallowed, Sekulow argues.

The proposed mosque would stand 13 stories and is designed to be a center for worship and gathering place for the community. The ACLJ, which says it represents thousands of Americans who are opposed to the construction of the mosque location, claims that the mosque's imam condones terrorism.

"If the Muslim community really wanted to build this kind of community center, they would not chose this kind of imam to lead the mosque," says Sekulow.

"Imam Feisal Rauf is a radical. He has said that the US was an accomplice to 9-11 and that the US has to acknowledge the harm it has done to Muslims or terrorism won't end."

Rauf is the founder of the American Society for Muslim Advancement, a professor of Islamic Studies at St. Joseph's College's Brooklyn Campus in Brooklyn, and the imam of a Tribeca mosque.

Sekulow maintains that Rauf has ties to controversial organizations outside the US and that funding for $100 million project is coming from radicals.

"This is just the beginning of this fight," he says.

New York City has already approved the project. Ensuring that the building is declared a landmark historical site may the only way to stop the building of the mosque. The LPC will make its decision later this summer.

The American Center for Law and Justice is a pro-religious rights organization that deals with constitution law. It is based in Washington, DC.