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strong>April 4, Online/AP

A city board on Thursday gave a Muslim group the go-ahead to remove six crosses from the roof and spires of a century-old former Catholic church so the now-vacant Gothic structure can be used as a mosque.

More than 200 people had signed an online petition calling on the Syracuse Landmark Preservation Board to deny an application by North Side Learning Center, the church'€™s new owner, to remove the crosses and build a 6-foot (1.8-meter) chain-link fence.

Your comments:

When the Catholic church sold it, the building ceased to have a religious purpose.

Since Muslims purchased the property it'€™s really up to them what they do with it. European history has plenty of examples of where churches became mosques and mosques became churches.

Jagera

In a real progressive modern society professing religious freedom changing a building from Christian to Islamic is fine.

Especially when they go through the motions of getting it done legally and the government actually gives it an equal weight.

Imagine if an Islamic building here was bought by a non-Muslim group and wanted to change it.  I can hear the people scream now.

Deddy K

They are just buildings made of bricks and stones built by humans.

Hence, there is absolutely nothing holy or sacred about it.

People can remove all the crosses or even ban entire church buildings like what they did in some places in
Indonesia.

The point is, Indonesian authorities must learn from its Syracuse counterpart how to listen and treat minorities fairly and properly.

Robby Kaware