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Vol. 74/No. 36      September 27, 2010

 
Letters
 
Confusion on mosque debate
Thank you for supporting the center's constitutional right to exist. But your articles perpetuate the confusion that has characterized this debate, by referring several times to Park51/Cordoba House as a "mosque." This is the language used by opponents to generate hysteria, and it is inaccurate. As you note once or twice, the proposed building will be a cultural center; it will include a mosque, but the center will include many other facilities as well, and be open to people of all (or no) faiths. This is an important distinction, but your subsequent references to the "mosque" are unhelpful, to say the least.

Also, could you please explain this sentence, from your editorial: "Despite claims of the center’s sponsors that they are building near the World Trade Center to promote interfaith reconciliation, the resulting controversy was inevitable and easily foreseen." You seem to blame Park51 founders, at least in part, for the racist outcry they've encountered. Your suggestion that Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf is somehow a tool of U.S. foreign policy further qualifies your purported support for the center's rights.

I have occasionally read your paper online in recent years, but have noticed a conspicuous inability to discuss anti-Muslim bigotry, which has intensified substantially in recent years. Socialists and other anti-racist activists have a duty to discuss and forcefully combat Islamophobia.

Jack McReynolds
Brooklyn, New York
 
 
Related articles:
March counters protest against Islamic center in Manhattan
Socialists join action against banning mosque
Oppose rulers’ assaults at home and abroad
Defend workers rights! Hands off mosque in N.Y.C.  
 
 
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