The 9/11 Victory Mosque - The 4 Freedoms Library2024-03-29T12:11:37Zhttp://4freedoms.com/forum/topics/the-911-victory-mosque?groupUrl=us&commentId=3766518%3AComment%3A27103&groupId=3766518%3AGroup%3A1416&feed=yes&xn_auth=noFeisal Abdul Rauf's Repellent…tag:4freedoms.com,2010-09-23:3766518:Comment:286872010-09-23T03:35:00.000ZAlan Lakehttp://4freedoms.com/profile/AlanLake
Feisal Abdul Rauf's Repellent Record as a Property Developer<br />
by Stephen Suleyman Schwartz: September 17, 2010 at 4:30 am<br />
<a href="http://www.hudson-ny.org/1549/feisal-abdul-rauf-property-developer" target="_blank">http://www.hudson-ny.org/1549/feisal-abdul-rauf-property-developer</a><br />
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Feisal Abdul Rauf, "spiritual guide" of the Ground Zero mosque scheme, a/k/a "Cordoba House," came back to the U.S. from Malaysia and the Persian Gulf last week. His partner, Sharif El-Gamal, presented as the…
Feisal Abdul Rauf's Repellent Record as a Property Developer<br />
by Stephen Suleyman Schwartz: September 17, 2010 at 4:30 am<br />
<a href="http://www.hudson-ny.org/1549/feisal-abdul-rauf-property-developer" target="_blank">http://www.hudson-ny.org/1549/feisal-abdul-rauf-property-developer</a><br />
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Feisal Abdul Rauf, "spiritual guide" of the Ground Zero mosque scheme, a/k/a "Cordoba House," came back to the U.S. from Malaysia and the Persian Gulf last week. His partner, Sharif El-Gamal, presented as the pragmatic property developer in the project, who changed the name of the intended structure to "Park51," has fallen away from the center of attention. Since his return here, Rauf has again displayed the evasive manner widely discussed in the controversy over the proposed 13-15 storey "Islamic center."<br />
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In the past, Rauf was coyly ambiguous about terrorism, while now he is teasingly vague regarding calls to move the proposed megamosque to another site, declaring in a September 8 CNN interview, "Nothing is off the table." Paraphrasing, in a Monday event at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City, he said "all options are on the table," while dismissing arguments that Ground Zero is hallowed ground, as the area includes "a strip joint around the corner, with betting parlors."<br />
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But Monday, September 13, was important for Rauf and his efforts in another way. The municipal authorities of Union City, NJ, filed a complaint against Sage Development, LLC, and Rauf, the sole officer/director/member of the corporation, for abuses at a 16-unit residential building he owns. According to the city, the suffering inflicted on Rauf's tenants include lack of lighting in hallways, non-functioning smoke detectors, a non-functioning central fire alarm, and failure to provide gas and hot water, all because of nonpayment of utility bills. Further, there are bedbugs in two units, requiring extermination services throughout the building, dirty hallways and garbage storage issues, debris on fire escapes, lack of fire extinguishers, and a rotting floor on one fire escape.<br />
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In sum, Sage Development and Rauf are "clearly not operating the Premises in a fiscally, socially, and legally responsible manner." In 2005, Sage's corporate status was revoked by the state of New Jersey for failure to file mandatory annual reports. Union City officials have asked for the appointment of a custodial receiver to collect rents, pay utility bills, resolve state and local code violations, and provide a fire watch at the property. The complaint adds, "Without the appointment of a Custodial Receiver for the Property, the Property will continue to pose a threat to the welfare of its tenants and the citizens of Union City."<br />
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The contrast between Rauf's continuing sleek performances at high-level venues like CFR, and the squalor present in his New Jersey rental properties, merely adds to the distasteful portrait of his character offered by the widely-acknowledged insensitivity of the Ground Zero Mosque concept, his ambivalence about Islamist radicalism, his admiration for the Iranian clerical dictatorship, and his lack of transparency about the presumptive financial sources for erection of Cordoba House/Park51. His "alternate" role as an oppressive and unresponsive rental proprietor was first revealed by shoe-leather reporters at such print newspapers in New Jersey as the Bergen Record, which first got the story at the end of August, and the Newark Star-Ledger. When their stories broke in New Jersey, Rauf was still away from the U.S., and his wife, Daisy Khan, told the Record his problems with tenants had "'no relevance to the Park51 project. The Imam does not get paid for his spiritual work or work as an Imam,' she wrote. 'He invests in real estate, much as someone would invest in stocks, bonds or other assets to secure one's future and provide an income stream. He has dedicated his life to helping others working as an Imam.'" She went on to claim that tenant problems were fixed as soon as they were brought to Rauf's attention, but Union City's complaint says otherwise.<br />
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Rauf's fundraising activities, which have been presumed to center in the Persian Gulf states and Southeast Asia, have also been prolific and, for him, rewarding in New Jersey. The Bergen Record described how, from the 1970s to the early 1990s, Rauf purchased five apartment buildings in Union City, Bergen, and Palisades Park. He then raised $2.4 million in local and state housing rehabilitation money by schmoozing, among others, then-mayor of Union City, now U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D) and another local official, Robert C. Janiszewski. Menendez has granted political support to the Ground Zero Mosque. But all the Rauf properties designated for refurbishment have been plagued by financial and management problems.<br />
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While New York mayor Michael Bloomberg had praised Rauf for "promoting America and American values," Union City mayor Brian Stack describes him less benevolently. "He's a slumlord," Stack said, as noted by Bergen Record writer Mike Kelly. In addition, Kelly reported that on September 10, utilities were restored to Rauf's building in Union City, but the fire alarms still failed to work – yet another among a myriad of violations of city codes. Since then, Kelly wrote, "a Union City police officer has been assigned to sit in a car outside Rauf's building so he can pound on tenants' doors and guide them to safety in case a fire breaks out."<br />
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Ultimately, Rauf appears as a residential property owner who, unlike El-Gamal, has cleverly used his tainted real-estate income to finance his second career as a prospective intermediary between American Muslims and non-Muslims. Former associates of Rauf in both "his" Masjid Al-Farah ("Mosque of Divine Ease,," in Arabic), at 245 West Broadway in Manhattan – as he has insistently said, only 12 blocks from Ground Zero – and the "New-Age" Sufi group associated with it, have come forward to provide more repellent details from Rauf's biography. Some who have known him intimately, and for decades, confirm a description of him as a man very distant from spiritual concerns. Although they understandably request not to be identified, these former associates of Rauf in the latter's role as a religious leader offer similarly damning aspects of his behavior, all now confirmed by the Union City complaint.<br />
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Two among the former congregants at Masjid al-Farah have disclosed that when Rauf first showed up there, he was associated with a group of Egyptian, Afghan, and Pakistani visitors who tried to steer the small mosque away from Sufi spirituality to Islamic fundamentalism. One informant described being sent by Rauf to work on the properties in New Jersey in the late 1980s. Rauf, the informant said, complained that he received nothing but rent from the buildings and was dissatisfied that he could not increase their value. But he showed little enthusiasm, according to the informant, in basic amenities for tenants.<br />
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One building was badly infested with rats, and the informant confronted Rauf in the Sufi mosque, asking if the latter would let his own daughters live in such an environment. Rauf allegedly replied, "there are not so many rats." An exterminator from India was hired but said the same thing, according to the informant. The informant told Rauf he would debate him in the mosque about the contradiction between the spirituality he preached and the abuses in his rental properties and Rauf allegedly said, "you are not a businessman."<br />
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Can a man who will not abate rats in an apartment building he owns be trusted to exclude radical adherents from a massive and intrusive religious facility in a place he scorns to honor? You couldn't make this stuff…tag:4freedoms.com,2010-08-29:3766518:Comment:277312010-08-29T23:19:18.000ZAlan Lakehttp://4freedoms.com/profile/AlanLake
You couldn't make this stuff up. There's now plans for a 2nd victory mosque even closer to ground zero! I guess they just want to celebrate the victorious deaths of 3000 filthy kuffar with even more good Muslim brothers.<br />
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<a href="http://barenakedislam.wordpress.com/2010/08/29/a-second-mosque-even-closer-to-ground-zero/" target="_blank">http://barenakedislam.wordpress.com/2010/08/29/a-second-mosque-even...</a><br />
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Well, why shouldn't they? It seems its already perfectly…
You couldn't make this stuff up. There's now plans for a 2nd victory mosque even closer to ground zero! I guess they just want to celebrate the victorious deaths of 3000 filthy kuffar with even more good Muslim brothers.<br />
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<a href="http://barenakedislam.wordpress.com/2010/08/29/a-second-mosque-even-closer-to-ground-zero/" target="_blank">http://barenakedislam.wordpress.com/2010/08/29/a-second-mosque-even...</a><br />
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Well, why shouldn't they? It seems its already perfectly acceptable for them to take possession of the sidewalk whenever they want, upto 5 times a day. Can we do that by any chance? Sorry, silly question!<br />
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Americans, if you were thinking of snapping, now is the time. Thanks Alan for the letter an…tag:4freedoms.com,2010-08-29:3766518:Comment:277252010-08-29T22:39:08.000ZKinanahttp://4freedoms.com/profile/Kinana
Thanks Alan for the letter and link to AIFD: American Islamic Forum for Democracy<br />
i read most all of their website and sent them them following message:<br />
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No where on your website do I see a religious basis of your position that Islam can actually be separated from political hegemony and the establishment of Sharia law on non-Muslims. I would like to see an exegesis on the multiple dozen of texts and hadiths which encourage (and indeed require) Muslims to rule over non-Muslims. (e.g. Qur'an…
Thanks Alan for the letter and link to AIFD: American Islamic Forum for Democracy<br />
i read most all of their website and sent them them following message:<br />
<br />
No where on your website do I see a religious basis of your position that Islam can actually be separated from political hegemony and the establishment of Sharia law on non-Muslims. I would like to see an exegesis on the multiple dozen of texts and hadiths which encourage (and indeed require) Muslims to rule over non-Muslims. (e.g. Qur'an 9:29) Am I missing something?<br />
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Thanks "Your follow-up stating that…tag:4freedoms.com,2010-08-29:3766518:Comment:277202010-08-29T21:28:47.000ZAlan Lakehttp://4freedoms.com/profile/AlanLake
<i>"Your follow-up stating that 'you will not speak to the wisdom of the construction of that mosque and center' indicates a passive-aggressive meddling on your part that only marginalizes those Muslim and non-Muslim voices against it while pretending to understand both sides of the debate."</i><br />
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This phrase is just beautiful! I wish I'd written it.<br />
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And when Obama goes thru his "I'm a dignified president" charade whilst reciting his nebulous catch-all lines, he's beginning to look more and…
<i>"Your follow-up stating that 'you will not speak to the wisdom of the construction of that mosque and center' indicates a passive-aggressive meddling on your part that only marginalizes those Muslim and non-Muslim voices against it while pretending to understand both sides of the debate."</i><br />
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This phrase is just beautiful! I wish I'd written it.<br />
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And when Obama goes thru his "I'm a dignified president" charade whilst reciting his nebulous catch-all lines, he's beginning to look more and more like a robot - especially as we get used to his packaged library of gestures and can see them coming. American Muslim organization…tag:4freedoms.com,2010-08-29:3766518:Comment:277192010-08-29T21:24:15.000ZAlan Lakehttp://4freedoms.com/profile/AlanLake
<b><u>American Muslim organization says President Obama is wrong</u><br />
August 15, 2010<br />
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AIFD: American Islamic Forum for Democracy</b><br />
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PHOENIX (August 15, 2010) - Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, a devout Muslim and the president and founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy issued the following statement regarding remarks from President Obama on the proposed mosque and Islamic Center at Ground Zero:<br />
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"As an American Muslim whose family fled persecution in Syria and as someone who has stood in the…
<b><u>American Muslim organization says President Obama is wrong</u><br />
August 15, 2010<br />
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AIFD: American Islamic Forum for Democracy</b><br />
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PHOENIX (August 15, 2010) - Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, a devout Muslim and the president and founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy issued the following statement regarding remarks from President Obama on the proposed mosque and Islamic Center at Ground Zero:<br />
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"As an American Muslim whose family fled persecution in Syria and as someone who has stood in the face of some resistance to the building of many of our houses of worship in the U.S., I fully understand the value of standing for religious freedom in America. But President Obama's statement about the Ground Zero mosque at last night's White House Iftar dinner is the latest example of political correctness gone awry.<br />
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The President commented that:<br />
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<i>"Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country. And that includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in Lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances. This is America."</i><br />
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Yes, Mr. President, this is America and you have fundamentally misunderstood the stakes in this discussion and the sentiments of the American people. Instead, you have focused on the very issue that the Islamist propagandists wish you to-- the narrative that Americans somehow need lectures about Islam, Muslims, and religious freedom.<br />
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Your message to Americans will be spun on Al Jazeera and by Islamists across the world that President Obama reassured a friendly global Muslim audience at the White House Ramadan dinner that he was going to remind Americans about the principles of religious freedom for Muslims since they seem to be trampling over those principles in the local dispute at Ground Zero in New York.<br />
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Mr. President this is not about religious freedom. It is about the importance of the World Trade Center site to the psyche of the American People. It is about a blatant attack on our sovereignty by people whose ideology ultimately demands the elimination of our way of life. While Imam Faisal Rauf may not share their violent tendencies he does seem to share a belief that Islamic structures are a political statement and even Ground Zero should be looked upon through the lens of political Islam and not a solely American one.<br />
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As a Muslim desperate to reform his faith, your remarks take us backwards from the day that my faith will come into modernity. I do not stand to eliminate Imam Rauf's religious freedom; I stand to make sure that my children's religious freedom will be determined by the liberty guaranteed in the American Constitution and not by clerics or leaders who are apologists for shar'iah law and will tell me what religious freedom is.<br />
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'Park 51', 'The Cordoba House' or whatever they are calling it today should not be built, not because it is not their right to do it - but because it is not right to do it." Mr. President, your involvement in this issue is divisive not uniting. Your follow-up stating that 'you will not speak to the wisdom of the construction of that mosque and center' indicates a passive-aggressive meddling on your part that only marginalizes those Muslim and non-Muslim voices against it while pretending to understand both sides of the debate.<br />
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Contact: 602-254-1840<br />
(office), email: info@aifdemocracy.org, web: <a href="http://www.aifdemocracy.org" target="_blank">www.aifdemocracy.org</a><br />
<br />
<b>About the American Islamic Forum for Democracy</b><br />
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T<i>he American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) charitable organization. AIFD's mission advocates for the preservation of the founding principles of the United States Constitution, liberty and freedom, through the separation of mosque and state. For more information on AIFD, please visit our website at <a href="http://www.aifdemocracy.org/" target="_blank">http://www.aifdemocracy.org/</a>.</i> tag:4freedoms.com,2010-08-29:3766518:Comment:277152010-08-29T21:17:28.000ZAlan Lakehttp://4freedoms.com/profile/AlanLake
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/oJQ4bwGPRuk?fs=1&hl=en_GB"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="false"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="never"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/oJQ4bwGPRuk?fs=1&hl=en_GB" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="never" allowfullscreen="false" width="480" height="385"></embed> </object>
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/oJQ4bwGPRuk?fs=1&hl=en_GB"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="false"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="never"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/oJQ4bwGPRuk?fs=1&hl=en_GB" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="never" allowfullscreen="false" width="480" height="385"></embed> </object> Should be a good demo on 9/11…tag:4freedoms.com,2010-08-17:3766518:Comment:272462010-08-17T19:12:30.000Zadrian panthershttp://4freedoms.com/profile/adrianpathers
Should be a good demo on 9/11 in New York. Will try to get the cash to go. Perhaps Cameron will sponser us?
Should be a good demo on 9/11 in New York. Will try to get the cash to go. Perhaps Cameron will sponser us? Obama attacked over NY mosque…tag:4freedoms.com,2010-08-16:3766518:Comment:272172010-08-16T17:00:46.000ZAlan Lakehttp://4freedoms.com/profile/AlanLake
<u><b>Obama attacked over NY mosque</b></u><br />
By Daniel Dombey in Washington<br />
Published: August 15 2010 20:47 | Last updated: August 15 2010 20:47<br />
<a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a20e07a0-a8a0-11df-86dd-00144feabdc0.html" target="_blank">http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a20e07a0-a8a0-11df-86dd-00144feabdc0.html</a><br />
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US president Barack Obama and his family take a boat trip in Florida to encourage tourists to visit the gulf region. However, most media coverage has been on his comments on the building…
<u><b>Obama attacked over NY mosque</b></u><br />
By Daniel Dombey in Washington<br />
Published: August 15 2010 20:47 | Last updated: August 15 2010 20:47<br />
<a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a20e07a0-a8a0-11df-86dd-00144feabdc0.html" target="_blank">http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a20e07a0-a8a0-11df-86dd-00144feabdc0.html</a><br />
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US president Barack Obama and his family take a boat trip in Florida to encourage tourists to visit the gulf region. However, most media coverage has been on his comments on the building of an Islamic centre near Ground Zero, New York<br />
<p style="text-align: left;"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/54801463?profile=original" alt=""/></p>
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Republicans have assailed Barack Obama over his response to plans for an Islamic centre close to the site of the September 11 2001 attacks in New York, after a weekend in which the White House sought to clarify the president’s stance on the issue.<br />
EDITOR’S CHOICE<br />
Opinion: Obama’s brave remarks reveal a true patriot - Aug-15<br />
Obama backs New York mosque project - Aug-14<br />
Zero tolerance and Cordoba House - Aug-13<br />
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The proponents of the centre, which would include a prayer space, include Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York City, who says it will be a symbol of US commitment to religious freedom.<br />
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Republican opponents, such as Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker, and Sarah Palin, former vice-presidential nominee, say the plans are disrespectful to 9/11 victims.<br />
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“This is such a raw wound and they [the plan’s champions] are just pouring salt into it,” Pete King, a Republican congressman from New York, told CNN on Sunday.<br />
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At a dinner with foreign diplomats on Friday to mark breaking the Ramadan fast, Mr Obama stepped into the fray, arguing that freedom of religion in the US “includes the right to build a place of worship and a community centre on private property in lower Manhattan in accordance with local laws and ordinances”.<br />
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However, within 24 hours the president appeared to pull back in comments he made to a television journalist while on a trip to Florida. “I was not commenting and I will not comment on the wisdom of making a decision to put a mosque there,” he said. “I was commenting very specifically on the right that people have that dates back to our founding.”<br />
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The White House subsequently issued a further clarification, insisting that “we are not backing off” from the president’s comments.<br />
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The sequence of events has overshadowed a trip intended to highlight recovery efforts in the Gulf of Mexico after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. It also appears to put the president at odds with public opinion at a time when Democrats are seeking to avoid big losses in Congressional elections this November. In a CNN poll last week, only 29 per cent of respondents supported the plans for the Islamic centre, while 68 per cent said they opposed it. Republicans say it will become an election issue. I was wrong above, Alain Wagn…tag:4freedoms.com,2010-08-16:3766518:Comment:271972010-08-16T16:27:43.000ZAlan Lakehttp://4freedoms.com/profile/AlanLake
I was wrong above, Alain Wagner calls the mosques "Town Halls".<br />
Since they are in competition with the secular town halls, we should chant "No more Islamic Town Halls!"
I was wrong above, Alain Wagner calls the mosques "Town Halls".<br />
Since they are in competition with the secular town halls, we should chant "No more Islamic Town Halls!" Precisely. I like to copy the…tag:4freedoms.com,2010-08-16:3766518:Comment:271912010-08-16T09:56:32.000ZAlan Lakehttp://4freedoms.com/profile/AlanLake
Precisely. I like to copy the phrase of Radu Stoenescu of the Riposte Laique and refer to Islam as the Political Project, as discussed here:<br />
<a href="http://4freedoms.ning.com/group/argumentation/forum/topics/radu-stoenescu-vs-tariq" target="_blank">http://4freedoms.ning.com/group/argumentation/forum/topics/radu-sto...</a>
Precisely. I like to copy the phrase of Radu Stoenescu of the Riposte Laique and refer to Islam as the Political Project, as discussed here:<br />
<a href="http://4freedoms.ning.com/group/argumentation/forum/topics/radu-stoenescu-vs-tariq" target="_blank">http://4freedoms.ning.com/group/argumentation/forum/topics/radu-sto...</a>