The Conversation: Gray in the 'Ground Zero Mosque' Debate

A Mother of a 9/11 victim and an Islamic Scholar Share Their Views of the Debate

ByABC News
August 17, 2010, 9:40 AM

Aug. 17, 2010— -- A plan to build an Islamic community and prayer center two blocks from the World Trade Center has sparked a heated debate across the nation, with everyone from Sarah Palin to President Barack Obama weighing in.

Today on the Conversation, we hear from two people on opposite sides of the debate, who come to the table with unique viewpoints.

Donna Marsh O'Connor, who supports the so-called Ground Zero mosque plan, lost her daughter in the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center.

Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, who opposes the plan, is a devout Muslim and an Islamic scholar who has worked to build mosques across the country.

O'Connor's daughter, Vanessa, was four-months pregnant when she died on 9/11. For O'Connor, the pain from her loss is still raw.

"My family life profoundly changed after that day," she tearfully told ABC News. "I'll never have the benefit of seeing my grandchild."

Opponents of the plan evoke the pain felt by 9/11 families like O'Connor's to fight against the proposal. But O'Connor feels that her individual loss should not supercede the nation's principles of religious freedom.

"The mosque doesn't hurt me," said O'Connor. "What hurts me is seeing what has happened to my nation."

Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, chairman and founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, opposes the proposed location of community center for different reasons. He says building a 15-story Islamic cultural center so close to Ground Zero is in bad taste.

"I'm not in any way against their right to do this," said Jasser. "But it is not a testimony to the humility of us as Muslims."

Jasser says the Cordoba Initiative, the organization behind the planned community center, has political and financial connections to countries suspected of having ties to terrorism. To Jasser, that link gives ammunition to those who try to connect Islam to terrorism.

"It becomes part of that narrative whether they intend it to or not," he argues.

Watch today's Conversation for more on the debate.

Click here to watch more from the Conversation series.

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