In the shadow of the Christian cross. A new thought on why the Florence mosque site was sold.

Three years ago a group of Muslims in Florence purchased a 5.5 acre parcel of land for $200,000 located on Cayton Road between a residential neighborhood and the highly developed Florence Mall shopping area. Two years later the group, called The Mercy Foundation, announced their plans to build a mosque on this land and in spite of the residential community becoming very alarmed the City of Florence did nothing. Then, last week, the news came out that The Mercy Foundation had sold this property to the New Plan Property Holding Company, a division of Centro Properties, one of the developers of the Florence Square group of stores, for a whopping $950,000. In the midst of this economic recession Centro Properties said they plan to expand their commercial development onto this property which sits on the side of Cayton Road right behind their stores on Mall Road. See the map from the Property Valuation Administration. Click the image for a larger view.

Speculation arises why this property suddenly increased almost 5 times in value in just three years during one of the worst economic downturns in history. One thought that came to mind was that the developer who owned the stores did not want a large mosque built next to their business and basically bought the property out of desperation to keep it vacant. Then I read a story about an event that took place half way around the world in Egypt that shed some light on this situation. You may have read some whitewashed version in the local press. Hundreds of outraged Muslims had stormed out of a mosque in Egypt last week and burned down a Coptic Christian church killing dozens of innocent people because this church was installing some Christian symbols during a government-approved renovation. It was the installation of crosses that had caused the Muslims to burn down the church because “the cross irritates Muslims and their children”. Columnist Diana West wrote about this on her web site:

Destruction of Copts Is Islamically Correct

Written by: Diana West
Friday, October 14, 2011 3:28 AM

Raymond Ibrahim, an Islam specialist, Arabic speaker and author of "The Al Qaeda Reader" (Broadway, 2007), catalogs the key sequence of events that turned a church renovation project into terror and flames. With repair work in progress, he writes online at Hudson New York, "It was not long before local Muslims began complaining, making various demands, including that the church be devoid of crosses and bells – even though the permit approved them – citing that 'the cross irritates Muslims and their children.'"

So I went back to Google Maps and looked at the area where this property was located on Cayton Road in Florence, Kentucky and discovered that it was surrounded by Christian churches all adorned with crosses. The same cross that is hated so much in the Islamic religion and causes Muslims so much discomfort and fits of murderous rage. Here is a satellite view of that same area on Cayton Road showing the churches. Click the image for a larger view.

The three churches in this photo are only a few of the many in the area. Google lists more than a dozen. But the proximity to the original mosque site gives weight to the speculation that if “the cross irritates Muslims and their children” here in America as well as it does in the Middle East but you can't burn down the church in America you need a different solution. So an exorbitant offer to buy the property by a developer who may have just wanted to keep a mosque away from his business plus a possible desire to avoid being surrounded by crosses was a win win situation and the good people on Cayton Road and the surrounding neighborhoods all got to enjoy the results. No one in their right mind (except Barack Hussein Obama who called it the "most beautiful sound he ever heard" and every other Muslim in America) wants to hear the amplified call to prayers that come from these mosques 5 times a day, 7 days a week.  If you are not familiar with that daily ear-splitting event that begins in the middle of the night, here is a recording for you to listen to.

See my original blog post on October 9, 2011
Planned mosque in Florence, Kentucky put on hold. Land sold for hefty profit.