FORMER BNP election candidate Michael Stewart says that “building a mosque where Muslim terrorists killed nearly 3,000 innocent people could be like dancing on their graves.”

(HAS, Sept 14) Some may see it that way, but, fortunately, many do not. The project is supported by many New Yorkers, including Mayor Michael Bloomberg (who is Jewish) and some of the families of the victims of 9/11 Cordoba House will not be a mosque, nor at “Ground Zero,”

but two blocks away. It will be an Islamic community centre, incorporating shared spaces for community activities such as a swimming pool, classrooms and a play space for children. It will also have separate prayer spaces for Muslims, Christians, Jews and men and women of other faiths, and a multi-faith memorial dedicated to victims of the September 11 attacks.

Chairman of the Cordoba Initiative, Feisal Abdul Rauf, says that his mission is “to strengthen relations between the Western and Muslim worlds and to help counter radical ideology.”

This is a clear repudiation of the vicious ideology of al Qaeda.

Building Cordoba House should be seen as cocking a snook at the terrorists and reaffirming America’s commitment to religious freedom.

Pete Winstanley, Durham