“Because of the national interest in the project, we felt that we should try to really educate people about what this project is all about and a picture speaks a thousand words, as they say,” El-Gamal told NPR’s Scott Simon.
The project will include much more than a mosque. El-Gamal says the nearly 120,000 square-foot center will include a Sept. 11, 2001, memorial, an athletic facility and other features. The facility, he says, is tailor-made for one of the fastest growing neighborhoods in New York state where there are “more strollers than briefcases.”
“All that we’re looking to do is provide a much-needed community center in Lower Manhattan,” he said.
Taxpayer dollars (taken by coercion) being funneled through a government controlled/owned liberal media outlet (NPR) in support of a specific religion (Islam). Separation of Church and State?
Howls of protest by the ACLU or the Left? So far, just crickets.
How is this in support of a specific religion, in a way that other NPR stories on religious topics (including TEC) have not been? Does the story really even talk about religion at all?
This is a one sided story portraying the mosque as a simple community center with no investigation into funding sources (other than taking the developer’s word at face value), etc. In fact, all this “story” does is present the view of those wanting to build it. There is no counter view provided at all. This is propaganda, not journalism and it is being done with taxpayer dollars in support of the construction of an ISLAMIC (not a generic) community center. Did NPR do a story about the Orthodox Church in lower Manhattan that is trying to RE-BUILD their Church that was destroyed by the Muslim terrorist attack on New York?
The question was asked, how this story is a support of one specific religion?” Well, it is a one sided support piece, with no counter opinion and no in-depth analysis, in favor of building an Islamic Center (that has a Mosque in it). This is not a secular facility or a generic community center. No. This building is being built to advocate for Islam and will have an Islamic religious use, therefore, this advocacy piece by a government news outlet is “establishing” a religion by attempting to influence public opinion to be in favor of a the construction of one specific religion’s construction project. Government is not supposed to be advocating for any religion and this story is an advocacy piece.