Bloomberg Reminds Everyone Again About Religious Freedom

Mayor Bloomberg during the Ramadan dinner at Gracie Mansion (NYC Mayor's Office)

During last night's Ramadan dinner at Gracie Mansion, Mayor Bloomberg took the opportunity to once again remind New York (and the country), "America is a nation of immigrants, and no place opens its doors more widely to the world than New York City. America is the land of opportunity, and no place offers its residents more opportunity to pursue their dreams than New York City. America is beacon of freedom, and no place defends those freedoms more fervently, or has been attacked for those freedoms more ferociously, than New York City." And, specifically getting to the issue of the summer:

"The wounds of 9/11 are still very much with us. And I know that is true for Talat Hamdani, who is here with us tonight, and who lost her son, Salman Hamdani, on 9/11. There will always be a hole in our hearts for the men and women who perished that day.

"After the attacks, some argued - including some of those who lost loved ones - that the entire site should be reserved for a memorial. But we decided - together, as a city - that the best way to honor all those we lost, and to repudiate our enemies, was to build a moving memorial and to rebuild the site.

"We wanted the site to be an inspiring reminder to the world that this city will never forget our dead and never stop living. We vowed to bring Lower Manhattan back - stronger than ever - as a symbol of our defiance and I think it's fair to say we have. Today, it is more of a community neighborhood than ever before, with more people than ever living, working, playing and praying there.

"But if we say that a mosque or a community center should not be built near the perimeter of the World Trade Center site, we would compromise our commitment to fighting terror with freedom.

"We would undercut the values and principles that so many heroes died protecting. We would feed the false impressions that some Americans have about Muslims. We would send a signal around the world that Muslim Americans may be equal in the eyes of the law, but separate in the eyes of their countrymen. And we would hand a valuable propaganda tool to terrorist recruiters, who spread the fallacy that America is at war with Islam."

You can read his entire remarks here. Both Sharif El-Gamal, developer of the controversial Park 51 mosque and community center project, and Daisy Khan, the wife of its imam, attended the dinner: El-Gamal said, "Mayor Bloomberg's speech embodied the values and the mores that we as Muslim Americans live and cherish," while Khan said she was "almost in tears."

However a protester across the street told the Wall Street Journal, "There is no responsibility of a Jewish mayor of a largely Jewish town to give an Iftar dinner. The fact that he is says again that he is sticking a stick in our eye."

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on August 25, 2010 10:42 AM

Comments [rss]

maggie

Damn, I wish Bloomberg would stop making me agree with him so much. It just feels so odd, I'm not prepared.

gattopardo

Bravo.

Now are we sure he's not running in 2012? I much prefer this response to Obama's half-hearted, backtracking bullsh*t.

Mordicai

Haters can say what they want, but Bloomberg is handling this anti-Park51 bigotry like a champ. Admirable.

Guest

yeah, but what if the mosque allows smoking and has a mcdonald's or even a dallas bbq in it?

grandzu

FYI, the meal at the breaking of the fast is called iftar.

FelixtheCat Christine Quinns

Slush fund bytch can't even write her own speeches? Bytch can't do anything but scre us taxpayers.

youngpro

yeah i HATE it when i get scre-ed.

FelixtheCat Christine Quinns

as if anyone would scre*ed you?

youngpro

looks like your comment went right over your head.

jpeditor

This mosque IS about imposing Sharia:

From wannabe Ground Zero Mosque "Imam" Rauf:

"Throughout my discussions with contemporary Muslim theologians, it is clear an Islamic state can be established in more than just a single form or mold. It can be established through a kingdom or a democracy. The important issue is to establish the general fundamentals of Sharia that are required to govern."

mistermarkdavis

we should stop sharia law and while we're at it lets stop Christians from using the bible to inform public policy and stop jews from trying to institute Talmudic law as the law of the land.

how come those that are most scared of sharia law are the first ones to embrace the creeping theocracy in America?

Sulayman

You're really reaching to find dirt aren't you? That quote is about how Muslims can practice their religion and live in democracies.

Sharia means general stuff like eating Halal meat and praying 5 times a day. When I talk about Jewish law, it doesn't mean imposing it but what practicing people follow. Don't try to spin it as something evil, he is talking about Muslims and not the Saudi-style wahhabism you are probably thinking about

hotstepper

great point, thanks for bringing that to our attention.

but it begs the question: is it hard to type with your head so far up your ass?

glen glenn

we're gonna need a better quote than that

psquire

You're an idiot, plain and simple. Heck, even completely out of context that statement doesn't even say what you want it to say. Jackass.

John L

I wonder how much Bloomberg'ds speechwriter makes.

We know Christine Quinn's speechwriter made $12,000 for a totally unremarkable speech, this speech by Bloomberg is fantastic so I wonder what the going rate is for good speechwriters.

Bloomberg should've slipped in an apology to the Indians while he was at it.

hotstepper

will someone cram a stick in her eye already?

FelixtheCat & Christine Quinn'

I would like to remind the mayor about democracy and term limits which he and the speaker slush fund queen Quinn overrode. Now the charter commission gave all the city council a grandfather clause and term limits won't be enacted till 2021.

youngpro

they did not 'override' term limits, they only increased them to 3 to be like every other elected official in the city. but you conveniently choose your words carefully to sway opinion.

classy, felix... classy.