Here is a good timeline to get started.
Rachel Maddow shows how conservative media personalities worked with the Imam for the mosque near Ground Zero and praised him as a moderate Muslim even though they now represent him as a radical supporter of terrorism:
1st blogpost against NYC mosque near Ground Zero
2nd blogpost: "This is territorial. This is Islamic domination and expansionism. The location is no accident. Just as Al-Aqsa was built on top of the Temple in Jerusalem. And what about the Hagia Sophia, the ancient cathedral of the church of Constantinople, one of the great buildings of the world, the grandest church in Christendom at that time and for 1000 years thereafter -- and now a mosque? The Aya Sofya mosque -- they didn't change the name, just Islamified it."
Since critics of the community center invoke its proximity to the sacred ground of the WTC, it's worth noting that 9/11 victims' family members have different views on the mosque near ground zero.
Here are links to mosque controversies in other states, which shows that opposition to building mosques is not just about Ground Zero, but rather a national phenomenon that spans coasts and urban/rural areas:
Kentucky mosque
Tennessee
California
Chicago
Brooklyn
Staten Island
Others blame Muslims in the US for how certain Muslim majority countries treat Christian minorities. Newt Gingrich, for example, claims that no mosque should be built near Ground Zero until churches are allowed in Saudi Arabia
While opposition has mostly consisted of protests and speeches, a Bangladeshi Muslim cab driver was stabbed by a white American male who had recently made a documentary while embedded with US soldiers in Afghanistan. The Muslim cab driver has met with NYC mayor Bloomberg to call for the anti-Islamic rhetoric to stop, as part of a call to end violence.
Keith Olbermann provided on overview of Islamophobia here:
Rachel Maddow shows how conservative media personalities worked with the Imam for the mosque near Ground Zero and praised him as a moderate Muslim even though they now represent him as a radical supporter of terrorism:
1st blogpost against NYC mosque near Ground Zero
2nd blogpost: "This is territorial. This is Islamic domination and expansionism. The location is no accident. Just as Al-Aqsa was built on top of the Temple in Jerusalem. And what about the Hagia Sophia, the ancient cathedral of the church of Constantinople, one of the great buildings of the world, the grandest church in Christendom at that time and for 1000 years thereafter -- and now a mosque? The Aya Sofya mosque -- they didn't change the name, just Islamified it."
Since critics of the community center invoke its proximity to the sacred ground of the WTC, it's worth noting that 9/11 victims' family members have different views on the mosque near ground zero.
Here are links to mosque controversies in other states, which shows that opposition to building mosques is not just about Ground Zero, but rather a national phenomenon that spans coasts and urban/rural areas:
Kentucky mosque
Tennessee
California
Chicago
Brooklyn
Staten Island
Others blame Muslims in the US for how certain Muslim majority countries treat Christian minorities. Newt Gingrich, for example, claims that no mosque should be built near Ground Zero until churches are allowed in Saudi Arabia
While opposition has mostly consisted of protests and speeches, a Bangladeshi Muslim cab driver was stabbed by a white American male who had recently made a documentary while embedded with US soldiers in Afghanistan. The Muslim cab driver has met with NYC mayor Bloomberg to call for the anti-Islamic rhetoric to stop, as part of a call to end violence.
Keith Olbermann provided on overview of Islamophobia here:
