Freedom Tower and WTC 7 would easily by viewed from the top-floor mosque of the planned 15-story Cordoba House

Does Mayor Michael Bloomberg unequivocally support the Cordoba House being built within the kill zone at Ground Zero? You’d likely think so if you read the New York Post today (and you might be wrong):

In his fiercest defense yet of the mosque proposed near Ground Zero, Mayor Bloomberg declared yesterday that it must be allowed to proceed because the government “shouldn’t be in the business of picking” one religion over another.

“I think it’s fair to say if somebody was going to try, on that piece of property, to build a church or a synagogue, nobody would be yelling and screaming,” the mayor said.

“And the fact of the matter is that Muslims have a right to do it, too.”

Placing the proposed mosque two blocks from the World Trade Center site has led to an outcry from opponents, including family members of 9/11 victims, who contend the holy place at 45 Park Place would defile the memories of those who perished in the worst terror attack in US history.

Further down, the Post added this quote from him:

“… If you are religious, you do not want the government picking religions, because what do you do the day they don’t pick yours?“

The ‘Cordoba Initiative’ seeks to “pick” one religion to govern you with: Islam. Imam Feisel Abdul Rauf advocates that the adjudication of legal matters involving Muslims be conducted using Shariah law here in America (for now, only those Muslims here in America who willingly accede to the Shariah court’s authority would be subject to the court’s rulings). Thus, a discriminating government within America’s government would be established by placing the words in the Koran — the traditional teachings of Islam — above the equal rights and protections of our Constitution.

In addition, Imam Rauf wants grants, presumably from public and private entities, to help build and operate the Cordoba House. After all, he says it would only be a “Muslim cultural center.” His wife Daisy Khan adds the neighborhood near Ground Zero needs the “party space.” (Hey, we fund senior centers so what’s the difference?) Politicians in New York City are falling over each other at microphones to tout it as a jobs program as allegedly 150 full-time and 500 part-time jobs would be created. Beyond the establishment of religion by government, liberal foundations are traditionally loathe to contribute towards the building of religious facilities; that is why the Cordoba Initiative removed from its web site that it would be a mosque (screen shot of removed page here).

The owners of the property refuse to open their books to show where the $4.85 million in cash to buy the unused Burlington Coat Factory came from. While Imam Rauf tries to intimate the money came from the local community, the New York Post found that, “Imam Abdul Rauf … told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Islamic center will be financed through contributions from Muslims in the US, as well as by donations from Arab and Islamic countries.” And they are hiding from the general public the professional renderings they had made in line with their concepts:

Last Monday, representatives of 9/11 FSSA met with Sharif El-Gamal, owner and CEO of Soho Properties, the corporation that purchased the two buildings where the mosque will be built at 43- 45 Park Place, and asked him to name the investors in the mosque project. Mr. El-Gamal refused, citing the advice of his attorneys, stating that “this is private property” and that “we can build this ‘as of right.’” The property was purchased with $4.85 million in cash.

Imam Rauf is now publicly stating in a professionally-organized PR campaign that the building will be a community center, “not a mosque.” However, Mr. El-Gamal showed 9/11 FSSA members architectural renderings in which a mosque, located on the top floor of the 15-story building, would have a commanding view of the entire Ground Zero neighborhood.

Should government officials advocate for the furtherance of political Islam? Should government use public funding and electorate-granted authority to assist in the destruction of an historical building to make way for a political center advocating that Shariah ultimately replace our Constitution as the law of the land? Does not our government, at every level, have an inherent obligation to protect all Americans here against the imposition of oppressive and discriminatory Shariah law?

Before all hell erupts over his remarks yesterday, someone should ask those additional questions of Mayor Mike.