London mega mosque

This came by email from some friends this week

This calls for urgent action concerning the ' Mega-Mosque ' in East London .

Muslims are voting in droves from all over the country in favour. The Evening Standard will be publishing the results. At present 67 % are in favour and barely 40 % against. Please vote and send out to others to do so. Vote on http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/poll/poll-18791-details/ques-18669-id/%C2%A3100m+mosque%3A+Vote+now/poll.do

I understand that the building of the Mosque entails the compulsory purchase of a large number of houses and some churches around the Mosque area plus the space required to build the mosque. This same mosque has links to a banned group (banned because of terror links) and in addition to this the largest Christian church in the country (in nearby Hackney) cannot get its local council to provide them with a property after their church is compulsorily purchased to make way for the 2012 Olympics, which smacks of double standards to me!

comment: this isn't the 1st concern to be raised about the 'mega mosque', and probably won't be the last. I don't know how much sway Evening Standard polls carry in the scheme of things, but I voted 'no' anyway. In the same week that a prominent Muslim organisation issued schools with dozens of by-laws about the way Muslim pupils should be treated, the accusation that many Muslims are looking for a 'state within a state' within Britain accrues more and more evidence. With a spiritual vacuum at the heart of public life, a government more committed to overtly secular policies, and a political culture which involves bending over backwards to accomodate any religious minority as long as it's not Christian, the clouds on the horizon are building.