New York's iconic Empire State Building is to be lit up green from Friday in honor of the Muslim holiday of Eid, the biggest festival in the Muslim calendar marking the end of Ramadan, officials said.
"This is the first time that the Empire State Building will be illuminated for Eid, and the lighting will become an annual event in the same tradition of the yearly lightings for Christmas and Hannukah," according to a statement.

Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the fasting month, is expected to be celebrated in New York from Friday, depending on when the new moon is sighted, and the city's tallest skyscraper will remain green until Sunday.

Built in the early 1930s, the 443-meter-tall (1,454-feet-tall) Empire State Building was first lit up with colored lighting in 1976, when red, white and blue lights were used to mark the American Bicentennial.

An estimated seven million Muslims live in the United States.

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Well believe it or not, I actually don't see a problem with this.

New York is a diverse city if they want to light it up for the muslims (like they do for christians and jews) I don't care.

Now if someone were to misuse that (i.e. give a speech inciting violence against the US) I'd shut it down but as long as they are peaceful.....

BTW I wonder how many buildings, in Dubai for instance, the "peaceful religion" of Islam is allowing to be lit up in honor of judaism or christianity??? Oh sorry Mikael, I didn't mean to "hate" on muslims.

well will....thats exactly what makes this country great, most of us actually support religious tolernace and equality. im glad that youre a rational man, i dont see a problem with this either, since like u said, theyve doen this sort of thing for jews and xtians. although i dont foresee anyone publicly displaying a pentacle for me and my fellow pagans, but thats ok...this is a start

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jesus had a great publicist

Gotta keep the towel heads happy so they dont' blow the place up.

And yes junkernaut your religion has been the object of a "CHRISTIAN" double standard for decades now.

Often, for shits and giggles, I'll ask some christian who is protesting the "removal of god from schools" if it would be ok if a pagan led a pagan prayer in school. It's kind of fun to watch the tongue tripping logic defying method by which they say YOUR gods should be excluded but their's included.

thats the thing will....its not a matter of "gods"....even hinduism, which is the most polytheistic faith in the world, in reality only beleives in one true god. all of the other gods that u see them worship is really just a different aspect or characteristic or incarnation of the one true god brahma. christians do the same thing, its called the holy trinity.

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jesus had a great publicist

I am absolutely opposed to the government sponsorship of the celebration of any religion created by a murdering rapist polygamist pedophile.

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"Stop throwing the Constitution in my face. It's just a goddamned piece of paper!"-Dubya Gump

“Verschärfte Vernehmung, enhanced or intensified interrogation, was the exact term innovated by the Gestapo to describe what became known as the ‘third degree.’ It left no marks. It included hypothermia, stress positions and long-time sleep deprivation.”

well then, i guess that youre opposed to the lighting of the christmas tree in central park too then, since thats exactly what happened to "the virgin mary." she was only 14 when she was impregnated by the holy spirit....sounds like pedophilia and rape to me

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jesus had a great publicist

Just out of curiosity junkernaut, where do you get Mary's AGE at the time she was "inseminated" with Jesus?

I'm not a biblical scholar and don't play one on TV, but I was raised devoutly christian and have actually read the book (or most of it) and NOWHERE did I see ANY REFERENCE to Mary's age.

Pardon me for butting in to this discussion. But I have read some stuff on that in Hebrew Historical Record.
It isnt "in the bible", but there are other accounts of Jesus; like his real fathers was Panderas (a Roman Soldier) and that there were several other men with his name in that area of Palestine.
If memory serves, its says something about Mary being in her "18th year".

The following is a copy/paste from the only article i could find relevant.


REAL JESUS

The New Testament Jesus is based on three historical figures, all of who lived prior to the Roman era in Palestine. From their lives was cobbled the tale of Jesus, supposedly crucified by the Roman governor (of which event no historical record exists):

(1) First Teacher of Righteousness
He lived in the reign of antiochus Epiphanes, the Seleucid (Greco-Macedonian) ruler of Greater Syria. The Teacher�s name was �James theJust�, brother of one Jesus. He was murdered in 175 B.C. on the instigation of the �Wicked High priest� in Jerusalem.

(Sources: Dead Sea Qumram; Vision of Enoch; Jubilees; Testament of Levi; Book of Noah; Apocalypse of Lamech; Words of Moses; Lost Book of James the Just).

The Maccabee Revolt of Judeans established a shaky Jewish dynasty in Jerusalem in ca. 164 B.C. In 120 B.C., the semi-independent Jewish priest-king John Hyrcannus conquered the northern land of Galilee (�circle of the heathen�, or �Gentiles�) and forcibly converted the populace to Judaism. Hyrcannus ruled by the force of his Pisidian and Cilician mercenaries from Anatolia. He was succeeded in 105 B.C. by his brother Alexander Janaeus, who with Thracian mercenaries crushed a Judean revolt with mass crucifixions.

2) Second Teacher of Righteousness
He lived in the time of the Jewish king Alexander Jannaeus, the �Lion of Wrath� who �hangs men up alive.. in Israel.. a man crucified on a tree.�

3) Third Teacher of Righteousness
Jesus ben pandera (Jesus, son of Pandera) was born in 90 B.C. in Galilee, during the reign of Alexander Jannaeus. He was hanged in 70 B.C. in Jerusalem by the Jewish Queen Regent Salome Alexandra, widow of Jannaeus (died 76 B.C.)

Souces: Celsus (fl. A.D. 14); Talmud; Toledot Yeshu; Sepher Toldus Jeshu.

CELSUS; Aulos Cornelius Celsus (fl. AD 14), Latin encyclopedist. Quoted by Origen (AD 185-254) in Contra Celsum.

Jesus was the bastard son of a lower-class Galilean Jewess by a soldier named Pandera (Pantheras; Doric Greek personal name, meaning �hunter� � as in �panther�. common name among Macedonians).

Note: possibly a Macedonian with the Seleucid forces, or one of the Thracian mercenaries serving Alexander Jannaeus. See Toledoth Yeshu and Sepher Todus Jeshu below for further account of Jesus ben Pandera, as recounted by Celsus.

TOLEDOT YESHU and variant SEPHER TOLDUS JESHU:

Yashua be Pandera (Jesus son of Pandera) was the son of Miriam (Hebrew/Aramaic for Maria or Mary) by one Joseph Pandera (or Pandara), a libertine who cuckolded Maria�s husband, John. The latter took his wife and the baby to Egypt to escape the scandal.

Jesus was initiated into the secret doctrine by priests in Egypt. He returned to Palestine, smuggling a sacred talisman concealed beneath an incision in his skin. He gave himself up to magic; for a time he was favored by the Queen Regent, Alexandra Helena. Expelled from Galilee for the shame of being the illegitimate son of a whore, he took revenge by entering the Temple in Jerusalem and profanely copying down the sacred, unspeakable name of the lord (YHWH), hiding the scrap in an incision in his skin. With it he wielded great powers and became a miracle-worker. Jesus returned to Galilee and stirred up the populace. With 300 followers he returned to Jerusalem on the Eve of the Passover. He entered disguised and riding on an ass. Intent on revolt, he was betrayed by a Judean disciple, Iudah Is-Kariot. Jesus was condemned as a Thief of the Temple by the sages of the synagogue, the Great and Little Sanhedrins. Jesus ben Pandera was hanged. The corpse was taken down and disappeared, stolen by his followers. The disciples of Jesus claimed he had ascended to Heaven, but would return in glory.

TALMUD: CODIFIED JEWISH LAWS, A.D 200-500. Variant Palestinian and Babylonian Talmuds. Concerning Jeshua Hanotsri (Jesus of Nazarene), the �son of Pandera�, a �fool� and a �leper� who was first stoned, then hanged on the Eve of the Passover: IV Nezikin, IV Sanhedrin� �son of a whore in Lud�. �This whore-born was the son of Pandera�. �His mother was the whore Miriam of Magdala, a ladies hairdresser.. who deceived her husband.� �Jesus seduced and corrupted and destroyed Israel.� He was caught in a ruse and they �hanged him on the eve of the Passover.�

II MOED, I Schaboath 104b: The �whore son practiced Egyptian magic by cutting into his flesh�. � this wore-born son of Pandera.�

III NASHIM, IV Gittin 57a: �Jesus is in hell and is being punished by being boiled in hot semen. Notrim (Nazarenes=Christians) are boiled in shit.�

BOOK OF JOHN (sidrad �Yahya): holy book of the Mandaean Jews of Mesopotamia; the Nasonians, Sabaens, Subbi, or Johanits who practice water-baptism and venerate John the Baptist.

Jesus was the disciple of the Devil, who fooled John the Baptist. The �liar� Jesus tricked John into baptizing him by use of a satanic ruse that seemed to come from heaven. �Yahya (John) baptized the liar in the Jordan�, he baptized �the false prophet Yishu Meshiha (Jesus the Messiah), son of the devil Ruha Kadishta.�

Mandaean Book of Adam : Jesus was the son of a devil, a perverter of the true doctrine, who disseminated iniquity and perfidy over the whole world.

The Mandaean Book of John was incorporated into a so-called �Gospel of St. John� used by the Knights Templar and Johanite Masonry. The Templars held that Jesus was the Thief on the Cross pardoned by God; after his side was pierced, he repented of claiming he was the �King of the Jews� and God forgave him.

GOSPEL OF THE HEBREWS: earliest known Gospel, possibly source of the Gospel , possibly source of the Gospel of Matthew. Condemned as heretical by Church. Major book of the Ebionites, a Jewish Gnostic sect. They rejected the miracul9ous conception, the three wise men, the miracles of Jesus, the divinity of Christ. Believed Jesus was a prophet � possibly possessed by the Holy Spirit on his baptism in the Jordan. The Gospel of the Hebrews was also used by the Jewish Gnostic Cerinthus, who some exegetists claimed wrote the Revelations of St. John the Divine. Cerinthus believed YHWH (Jehovah) was one of a lower order of inferior spirits, an aeon, possessing some elements of divinity. Jesus was not the Son of God, but an aeon called Christ united with Jesus at the time of his baptism, abandoned him on the day of execution.