US President Barack Obama has endorsed the plan for building a mosque near Ground Zero, saying Muslims' "religious freedom" should be respected.
Obama made the remarks at a White House Iftar meal for Muslims breaking their Ramadan fast on Friday.
"As a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country," he said.
"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," Obama stated, adding that "this is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable."
It isn't whether they have the right. Of course they do.
It's whether it is appropriate. Which it isn't.
We wouldn't build a Shinto shrine next to the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor. Nor should we build a mosque next to WTC. |
The plan to build the "Cordoba House" -- a 100-million-dollar Islamic center and mosque -- near New York City's Ground Zero, where the Twin Towers were destroyed on September 11, has evoked uproar from some parties in the US.
Obama's support for the plan comes at a time that confidence in him has plummeted in the Muslim world.
According to surveys released by the Pew Global Attitudes project in June, people in seven countries with substantial Muslim populations -- Indonesia, Lebanon, Egypt, Turkey and Pakistan, Nigeria and Jordan -- say their confidence in Obama has dropped since last year.
More than eight out of ten people in Egypt, Turkey and Pakistan don't trust the United States and its president at all, according to the poll. |