The mosque proposed for Staten Island has been voted down by the church that was going to sell the property to The Muslim American Society [MAS].

You’ll recall that the pastor of the church had quietly signed a contract to sell the old convent to MAS, and then some Staten Island locals (i.e. NYC rednecks) caught wind of it, and held ugly protests to stop it, because it would have “made it difficult to find parking.” It’s also probably too close to Ground Zero, and would stab poor Sarah Palin in the heart. Or as one protester put it, “We just want to leave our neighborhood the way it is – Christian, Catholic.”

The church’s pastor changed his mind in the midst of the uproar, and since the contract stipulated that the sale had to be approved by the board of trustees of St. Margaret Mary’s Roman Catholic Church, today the decision was reversed, according to SI Live. Chalk another one up for Real America! The church won’t get its $750,000, the convent will remain empty and fall into disrepair, and the residents of Midland Beach will never be terrorized by an anti-American lack of parking.

Gothamist, 22 July 2010

For an alternative view, see “VICTORY! No Muslim Brotherhood MAS Mosque in Staten Island”, Atlas Shrugs, 22 July 2010

Muslim American Society Statement

St. Margaret Mary’s board voted today against the pending sale of the vacant convent in Midland Beach to the Muslim American Society (MAS).

The Muslim community, including MAS, is disappointed with the Archdiocese’s decision to back away from this sale.  This denial reinforced an unfortunate notion that the pressures of bigotry and Islamophobia triumphed over a good, long-standing relationship between the Archdiocese and the Muslim community.  It is indeed a setback.

Every person and religious institution has a right to build a house of worship, including the Muslims in the South Shore of Staten Island. It is a travesty that a public official subjected MAS to an investigation simply because it chose to exercise its constitutional right to establish an Islamic center. The results of the investigation proved false all the inflammatory accusations against MAS – something already clear to everyone who has worked closely with us.

While we continue to pursue our religious and constitutional rights, we will not hesitate to reach out to the Staten Island community at large, to establish mutual understanding and to protect freedom of religion.

MAS is determined to serve all communities across the nation including Staten Island and is currently studying all available options in response to the Archdiocese’s decision.

Islamophobia must be recognized for what it is, a social cancer as unacceptable as anti-Semitism, a threat to the very fabric of our democratic, pluralistic way of life.

The line that distinguishes Islam from those who commit violence and terror in the name of Islam – between the majority of mainstream Muslims and the acts of a minority of Muslim terrorists – must be maintained.

Blurring these distinctions risks the adoption of foreign and domestic policies that promote a clash rather than co-existence of cultures and threaten the rights and civil liberties of Muslims.

John Esposito writes in response to the “Ground Zero mosque” controversy.

CNN, 20 July 2010

See Huffington Post, 18 July 2010

Palin’s stand has won her the enthusiastic support of mad Pamela Geller: “Gd, I love this woman! … She has spine, character, ethics, integrity, and above all, true grit. If she runs, I’ll be right behind her.”

A conservative political action committee blasted the CBS and NBC networks Wednesday for rejecting its ad imploring Americans to fight the mosque proposed for Ground Zero.

Titled “The Audacity of Jihad“, the commercial intersperses graphic footage of the 9/11 attacks with armed Muslim militants and the sounds of Muslims praying.

The narrator of the 60-second spot proposed by the National Republican Trust says, “On Sept. 11, they declared war against us. And to celebrate that murder of 3,000 Americans, they want to build a monstrous 13-story mosque at Ground Zero.”

In e-mails to the group, CBS and NBC officials said the ad did not meet the networks’ standards and guidelines for broadcast.

NRT executive director R. Scott Wheeler accused the networks of being two-faced, arguing they have run ads by such left-leaning groups as MoveOn.org.

Wheeler described the networks as “a very weak media that seems to be interested in only defending Muslims as poor victims.”

He said his group was planning to pay the networks more than $50,000 to run the ad.

CBS and NBC Universal corporate officials confirmed the ad was rejected by both networks.

New York Daily News, 15 July 2010

Anti-mosque marchers proudly paraded their opposition for a mile along East Main Street to the Public Square on Murfreesboro Wednesday. They carried flags of America and Israel, sang, “God Bless America,” and carried many signs, including: “Mosque leaders support killing converts. Tell it!”

While the crowd from both protesters and counter protesters appeared to number 500 to 600 at its peak, protest march organizer Kevin Fisher estimated that several hundred marched in his group alone from Central Magnet School to the County Courthouse.

There, they encountered hundreds more of counter protesters carrying signs with messages such as, “All you need is love” and “Freedom for all religion” and “Tolerance.”

“Ignore their hate,” Fisher told his participants as they turned the east corner of the Square on their way to the west side of the County Courthouse.

The marchers included other people seeking public office, such as congressional candidates George Erdel, who calls himself “a tea party Democrat”, and Lou Ann Zelenik, a Republican. Many Zelenik supporters proudly displayed signs and T-shirts with her name on it.

Erdel also helped organize the march, using a bullhorn to give instructions before the parade began. He also handed the bullhorn to Dusty Ray, the pastor of Heartland Baptist Church at Walter Hill where Erdel attends.

Ray led the large group gathered on the Central Magnet School grounds in prayer about their march in opposition to the plans of local Muslims. “They are about oppression,” Ray said in his prayer. “Lord, we’re trying to stop a political movement.”

Tennessean, 15 July 2010

See also “Counter protesters turn out in force too”, DNJ.com, 15 July 2010

A city hearing yesterday on the historical significance of the downtown Manhattan site of a proposed mosque quickly turned into a raucous – and at times ugly – debate about whether an Islamic center should be located so close to Ground Zero.

About 150 people crowded into the Hunter College Auditorium in Manhattan for the Landmarks Preservation Commission hearing, held to see if the 152-year-old building at 45-47 Park Place in lower Manhattan had the cultural or architectural consequence worthy of being landmarked.

Those who opposed the construction of the 13-story mosque and community center, called the Cordoba House, accused their opponents of being unpatriotic and insensitive to the thousands who died on 9/11. But attendees who want to see the $100 million project completed accused their challengers of being racist and encouraging conflict with Muslims.

One protester, shouting, “Down with this McCarthyistic witch hunt against Muslims,” was escorted out after interrupting speakers against the mosque.

Joseph Reichling of Ridgewood, Queens, said, “Our forefathers are turning in their graves. Have we forgotten what happened on 9/11? We must never forget 9/11.” Andrea Quinn echoed his sentiments. “The plan to build a 13-story mosque on that site is ludicrous,” said Quinn of Queens. “Not to preserve this building is to allow for a citadel of Islamic supremacy to be built in its place.”

Zead Ramadan – who said his wife was a first responder on 9/11 – testified for the mosque. “We are picking and choosing which houses of worship can open at which streets and we are opening a can of worms,” he said, adding, “It’s called Islamophobia.”

Rozanne Delgado said, “I’m ashamed of the racism. There’s lots of hatred here.”

New York Post, 14 July 2010

Sajid Master wants the phone calls and angry letters to stop. He wants people to quit coming into Perfume Planet in west Houston to yell at his workers. He’d especially like folks to stop castigating his landlord.

Nearly a year after the Internet painted Master as an Al Qaida sympathizer, outrage toward the store at the Harwin Central Mart shows no sign of waning. “They’ve threatened to kill me; sometimes they’re cursing when they call,” a resigned Master said Thursday in his shop.

Trouble is, all the indignation is the product of a massive misunderstanding, illustrating the awesome – and sometimes damaging – power of the Internet. Master, who describes himself as a proud American citizen, isn’t a terrorist sympathizer. He’s just a shopkeeper who inadvertently touched a very raw nerve.

It started when the Muslim merchant posted a sign at his shop during Ramadan explaining the store would be closed Sept. 11 to remember the death of Imam Ali, a sacred Muslim figure. Master failed, however, to explain that Ali, who is remembered on a different date each year during Ramadan, died in 661 A.D. and was in no way related to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Someone snapped a picture of the sign and started sending it around online, claiming Imam Ali was one of the Sept. 11 hijackers. Before long the photo went viral, showing up on countless conservative Internet forums and prompting statements like this one that appeared at 2Aforum.com: “Picket, protest, and through lawful means, strangle their business.”

Soon the phone calls started, befuddling and overwhelming store manager Hasan Kolsawala, who tried to explain that no offense was intended. People also called Master’s cell phone to denounce him.

He probably could have shrugged off the incident as a temporary annoyance, but 10 months later the consequences of that sign still reverberate. Phone calls to Perfume Planet often come in waves as people send around new e-mail chains urging recipients to voice their anger.

Houston Chronicle, 8 July 2010