[Fundamentally Fair]

Any guesses as to why no one has ever heard about Muslims praying at the Pentagon -- let alone cared? It's almost as if the entire "ground zero mosque" controversy was whipped up out of nothing by a right-wing tabloid and politicians in search of a wedge issue ...

Comparing a place for Muslims who work at the Pentagon to pray inside the Pentagon is hardly the same as a Mosque/Cultural Center at Ground Zero.

[nuconvert]

“Comparing a place for Muslims who work at the Pentagon to pray inside the Pentagon is hardly the same as a Mosque/Cultural Center at Ground Zero.”

Exactly. But the newbie just signed up today to post this

[Fundamentally Fair]

Comparing a place for Muslims who work at the Pentagon to pray inside the Pentagon is hardly the same as a Mosque/Cultural Center at Ground Zero.

It's hard to believe that English is my first (and only) language, eh? I should have written:

Comparing a place for Muslims who work at the Pentagon to pray inside the Pentagon to a Mosque/Cultural Center at Ground Zero is wrong.

Folks, catsup is a troll trying to discount concern over the Ground Zero Mosque as a right wing wedge issue.

No, Mr. Troll, it is true and reasonable concern.

[dalebert]

well what are they doing there?

[muawiyah]

Except that the Pentagon itself is a "ground zero" situation. On the other hand there's not always been a "chapel" of some kind somewhere in the Pentagon ~ this one is new and is located near where the airplane crashed into the building.

Of note, the Pentagon is a huge building and there's nothing else near it. No churches, no synagogues, no drugstores, no restaurants, etc. Whatever you need you need it already inside the Pentagon. This chapel has regularly scheduled Jewish services, Catholic Mass, etc.

I don't believe the fellows in New York planned to allow any religious observances by anyone but Moslems insider their 14 story thing.

[ml/nj]

Comparing a place for Muslims who work at the Pentagon to pray inside the Pentagon is hardly the same as a Mosque/Cultural Center at Ground Zero.

I guess that depends upon how long it has been there. If it only appeared after 9/11, it certainly is an outrage, just like these Iftar dinners at the White House are absolute OUTRAGES.

ML/NJ

[catsup]

But the Pentagon was hit on 9/11. It’s a Ground Zero in its own right.

[Mr. Silverback]

Comparing a place for Muslims who work at the Pentagon to pray inside the Pentagon is hardly the same as a Mosque/Cultural Center at Ground Zero.

Three short points to back up my FRiend FF:

1. The Ground Zero mosque is a problem not so much because it is a mosque, but because this effort to "build bridges" is lead by a guy who blames us for 9/11 (saying only 19 days after the attack that we were "accessories" to the attack and Osama was "made in America"), has no problem with Hamas, has denigrated the idea of religious freedom in foreign language publications and appears to follow the practice Islamists have of building mosques on the site of Islamic victories. It is not a place of worship, it is the radical side of Islam giving us the finger.

2. Even if this mosque was well-intentioned as its backers claim, comparing the two is silly because the people who worship there (the Pentagon mosque) are the exact sort of people bin-Laden intended to kill with the Pentagon attack. They don't need to build a bridge, they already love America and live in peace with Christians and Jews. One also wonders if a space provided by an employer to fit a need for loyal employees and a facility built despite warnings from thousands of peaceful and tolerant people that it is throwing salt in a very deep wound could be much more different.

3. Liberals want to have it both ways, and so do you, catsup. They want to call us intolerant because we oppose the Cordoba Group giving the 9/11 families the finger with their mosque, but they tell us we're hypocrites unless we tell Muslim military officers they can't pray in their workplace. What an enormous load of horse pucky.

Oh...and I'm pretty sure I'm IBTZ.