The principal goals of Cordoba House, as outlined by Feisal Abdul Rauf in the Times, are to promote “recognition of the rights of others, tolerance and freedom of worship”; to facilitate “building bridges between religious groups”; “to strengthen relations between the Western and Muslim worlds”; “to help counter radical ideology”; to serve as “a center for unification and healing”; and to undermine “the ability of anti-American radicals to recruit young, impressionable Muslims by falsely claiming that America persecutes Muslims for their faith.”

It would be hard to imagine a more powerful, pointed, passionate rebuke to Al Qaeda’s brand of twisted Islamism than for an open-hearted cultural and religious institution representing the tolerant, democratic Muslims of New York to be part of the risen World Trade Center.