As per the latest reports nearly 18 percent or rather one out of every five Americans feels that Obama practices Islam. The numbers have alarmingly risen from the 11 percent people who said so in March 2009, according to a poll released today. The number of people who say he is a Christian is down to 34 percent.
The largest number; 43 percent of people said that they didn’t know his religion which is an increase from 34 percent who said so in March 2009.
The survey, conducted by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center and its affiliated Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, is based on the interviews conducted before the controversy over whether Muslims should be permitted to build a mosque near the World Trade Center site.
The poll emerged as the President said he has ‘No Regrets’ over the comments he made about the right of Muslims to build a mosque near Ground Zero. The President was asked about his comments while he was finishing a meeting with the public on the economy of Ohio yesterday which has sparked an outrage by the Republicans and the families of the 9/11 victims. Last week Obama had also commented that Muslims have equal right to practice their religion like any other citizens of America.
Emergency crews like the New York firemen, Police and ambulance workers who dealt with the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks have condemned his support for a mosque near Ground Zero and accused him of deserting them.
Since the terrorist attack by Islamic extremists, many who risked their lives saving others have been plagued by serious health problems. A bill which would give them £4.6billion compensation is stuck in Congress.
John Feal, who heads the Fealgood Foundation supporting emergency workers, said the plight of the Ground Zero workers and their diseases brought on by the toxic cloud over the twin towers had been sidelined.
‘Why have you failed us? We thought you would be our champion,’ he wrote in a letter to Mr Obama. ‘It is disturbing that you have the time and energy to speak in favour of the mosque, but not on the health crisis caused by the attacks.’
The rescuers want Mr Obama to show support for the £4.6billion Zadroga 9/11 health and compensation bill which will guarantee payments to workers who are suffering as a result of 9/11 rescue efforts. The bill was rejected last month by Congress amid accusations by the Republicans that it was a cash grab by New York.
There are renewed calls for an investigation into how the mosque will be paid for as reports suggest it may be funded by cash from regimes with questionable stances on terrorism.
Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, called for an investigation into those opposing the mosque plans. She told a San Fransisco radio station: 'There is no question there is a concerted effort to make this a political issue by some. And I join those who have called for looking into how... this opposition to the mosque is being funded.' But her campaign was immediately rejected by New York Mayor Micheal Bloomberg as ‘un-American’.
According to the Siena Research Institute poll, 63 per cent of New Yorkers polled were against its construction and just 27 per cent were for it. But in the same poll a similar margin - 64-to-28 per cent - said the developers had the constitutional right to built it.
The mosque, previously called Cordoba House but now known as Park51, will be a 13-storey Muslim community centre costing £70million which will include a swimming pool, gym, theatre and sports facilities.
To add insult to injury, in the eyes of the victims’ families and the majority of Americans, approval has just been granted for a mosque to be built two blocks away from Ground Zero as the Construction is due to begin on September 11 next year - the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attack.
Nine years after 9/11, the site of the Twin Towers is still an open sore on the face of New York — a festering reminder of the terror attack which claimed almost 3,000 lives.
What began as a local planning dispute could come to determine the fate of Barack Obama’s Presidency in the coming few months.
Source: Daily Mail
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