St. Nicholas Church, Destroyed on 9/11, to Rebuild With Byzantine Design - aethists still opposed http://t.co/dBfUNjmU4y

— lawhawk (@lawhawk) October 31, 2013

The church was destroyed on 9/11 and it’s taken years before the church and the Port Authority struck a deal on where and how to rebuild. It’s going to be built near its original location, but moved to accommodate the Port Authority’s construction.

Despite that history, people, namely atheists, are complaining about the construction of a church on the site - we just have to ignore that the church predated the WTC and was destroyed on 9/11. They deserve to be rebuilt, and the site will include a nondenominational bereavement center open to all.

Then, there are some folks who are ignorant about the history of architecture complaining that the renderings look too much like a mosque.

It would ignore that many of the structures these folks identify as mosques, were originally churches, including the Haiga Sophia, which was built as the Church of Holy Wisdom by Emperor Justinian I in 532 on the site of several previous churches. After the fall of Constantinople, it was converted into a mosque. It is now a museum.

The design mixes traditional church styles across the ages and blends them into a modern mix that offsets the glass and steel of the nearby WTC and WFC.