Then over 3 months later and suddenly there is a petition on the 10 Downing Street site against the plan (and as far as I can tell it's one individual organisations plan with no Government backing nor planning permission).
The petition is framed with the statement:
"We the Christian population of this great country England would like the proposed plan to build a Mega Mosque in East London Scrapped. This will only cause terrible violence and suffering and more money should go into the NHS."
I am not even going to start on their use of the word "England". Dear Constant Readers will know how much that word annoys me.
I think the 268,840 people who signed the petition should be ashamed of themselves. Why? Because they are the kind of dumb arses who haven't even researched a subject that they supposedly feel so strongly about.
Here's Ken Livingstone's response.
Here's a part of the message I sent Russell which I stole from somewhere and can't remember where so sorry to the source!
Quote from LCGB forum in response to similar thread. Make of it what you will
“I've seen similar stories over the past year.
It's only right to point out that Ken Livingstone is NOT planning to use tax/ratepayers' money for such a mosque. And he has nothing to do with it either way.
Although no formal planning application has yet been made (and it may never be made), any decision would be taken by the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation, a body formed on the basis of laws passed in 1980 under the previous Tory administration and used back then to set up the London Docklands DC.
IF it were ever approved in its talked-about form by the LTGDC, a big if, the organisers are planning to build it using private donations.
The mosque is planned to hold 10,000 worshippers, not 70,000 as has been mentioned, although up to 70,000 might fit in the grounds.
Slightly smaller numbers of up to 50,000 people can fit in the grounds of the Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in north west London, the largest Hindu temple in the West, so something of this size is not unknown. I lived in the area both when it was built and for a couple of years afterwards and it never bothered the people of NW London in any way.
Moreover, this is an old story, which has become embellished over time by some people who, for their own reasons, don't have much time for Ken Livingstone.
Here is a link to the story, which first appeared in 2005: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article597161.ece
Sometimes I wonder if democracy is a good idea...
2 comments:
I think the petition just goes to show how narrow minded and stupid so called Christians can be, mind you I have met quite a few narrow minded and biggoted moslems as well. Come to think of it there are some dodgy athiests and agnostics out there too.
But to paraphrase a well know quote, democracy is the worst form of government, apart from everything else.
I'm quite happy for people to be critical of the concept of multiculturalism and to make protest votes in this way, but I also wish they'd get the story right first.
Just having a new mosque is a debating point alone regardless of who's paying for it, and people shouldn't need to feel put off what they have to say by liberal fascists who may well label them all racist.
By the way, I'm too hooked on this new blog.
James
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