Ms. Irshad Manshi, professor of leadership at New York University, is working on a book that promotes the advance of liberal reform within Islam. In today's Wall Street Journal she poses some questions regarding the Ground Zero Mosque. In the interest of tolerance she would like to know:
• Will the swimming pool at Park51 be segregated between men and women at any time of the day or night?
• May women lead congregational prayers any day of the week?
• Will Jews and Christians, fellow People of the Book, be able to use the prayer sanctuary for their services just as Muslims share prayer space with Christians and Jews in the Pentagon? (Spare me the technocratic argument that the Pentagon is a governmental, not private, building. Park51 may be private in the legal sense but is a public symbol par excellence.)
• What will be taught about homosexuals? About agnostics? About atheists? About apostasy?
• Where does one sign up for advance tickets to Salman Rushdie's lecture at Park51?
Don't hold your breath waiting for an answer.
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