Suburban residents with ties to 9/11 react to N.Y. mosque proposal

Debate is raging across the country about a proposal to build an Islamic cultural center a couple of blocks from the World Trade Center memorial in New York City.

Critics say it's an insensitive, offensive idea to build the center so close to the place that was the target of a terrorist attack planned and executed by a group of militant Islamics, while proponents say the building would be a symbol of freedom of religion and religious tolerance.

What do Chicago-area residents who were directly touched by the 9/11 terrorist attack think of the proposal? The Daily Herald made calls to more than a dozen people we've profiled in the past. Here is what the ones who responded had to say.

Naperville resident Pat Shanower's son, Navy Cmdr. Dan Shanower, was killed at the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.

"I feel that freedom of religion should be honored and the mosque should be permitted to be built. I think the terrorists who were responsible on 9/11 were a small group of a very large religion, just as there are many Christians who have done things for which we are not all proud of. I do understand those who lost loved ones at ground zero and view it as a grave site see this a little differently. But it's not as if the mosque is being built right there; it's a few blocks away. If we don't permit other religions to build places of worship, we are not expressing our belief in that freedom."

Former St. Charles resident Spencer King's brother, Andrew Marshall King, 42, died at the World Trade Center.

"Personally, if I were Muslim, I would not (build the mosque) because should any future terrorist, radical or fundamentalist be in any way connected to that, Islam may implode in the U.S. I'm not anti-Muslim, yet I am anti-Islam, therefore, I have mixed feelings," said King, who now lives in Nogales, Ariz.

Jonathan Swindle's friend Jason Oswald was killed while working for Cantor Fitzgerald in the World Trade Center. Swindle, 37, president of Waveland Property Group in Oak Brook, met Oswald when they were both freshmen at Wheaton College in 1991.

"One of the many strengths of the United States is that we champion the belief that many groups, including religious groups, can coexist peacefully and respect each other's religious freedoms. That's something that's sacred to our country. Denying a mosque does more to show our intolerance rather than to parade our Constitution. If we were to deny that we'd be saying, 'They are right. We are in a religious war.'"

Marion Kminek is the mother of Mari-Rae Sopper, who was 35 years old when hijackers crashed the plane she was on into the Pentagon. Sopper, a Navy lieutenant and military attorney, grew up in Inverness and was a star gymnast at Fremd High School.

"I don't know what everybody's so upset about," said Kminek, who now lives in Florida with her husband Frank. "The thing that gets me is that devout Muslims did not fly the planes into the World Trade Center, Pentagon and Pennsylvania field; it was extremists. It's like saying Christians kill abortion doctors."

She thinks it might be a good idea to move the Islamic community center farther away from ground zero - for the safety of the people utilizing the facility. "There are so many nuts out there, you don't know what they're going to do. I hate to see how all this hate and racism bubbled to the surface."

Chicago television reporter Carol Marin was at the World Trade Center when the attack occurred.

"When we ran for our lives that morning at the World Trade Center, it was not from Muslims. It was from terrorists. Hate-filled jihadists who hijacked Islam for their own twisted purposes. Innocent people - members of many religions including their own - were murdered as a result. Though I have no vote in the matter, if I did, it would be in behalf of more - not less - religious tolerance."

Tasneem Osmani of Woodridge, vice chair of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago, offered this reaction to the controversy.

"It does bring out the worst in people. I don't understand how people are connecting terrorists to (all) American Muslims. I think it's wrong to make that connection. If you don't make that connection, there's no reason not to (build it). - I think it has everything to do with elections and the political atmosphere right now. It's been a mosque. They've been praying there for over a year. It's unfortunate and I see a lot of negative comments - so much Islamophobia and bigotry."

• Staff writers Burt Constable, Ted Cox, Jake Griffin, Madhu Krishnamurthy, Kim Pohl

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