NEW YORK — In a building damaged by debris from the Sept. 11 airliners that brought down the World Trade Center and soon to become a 13-story mosque, some see the bridging of a cultural divide and an opportunity to serve a burgeoning, peaceful religious population. Others see a painful reminder of the religious extremism that killed their loved ones.
Two Muslim organizations have partnered to open the mosque and cultural center in lower Manhattan, saying the $100 million project will create a venue for mainstream Islam and a counterbalance to radicalism. It earned a key endorsement this week from influential community leaders.
But some 9/11 victims’ families said they were angered that it would be built so close to where their relatives died.
“I don’t like it,” Evelyn Pettigano, who lost a sister in the attacks, said during a phone interview on Thursday. “I’m not prejudiced. . . . It’s too close to the area where our family members were murdered.”
