Wow! It's NOT about religion, it should be about honoring Mother Teresa as an EXCEPTIONAL SELFLESS HUMAN BEING who helped all those that society DISCARDED! I would like to say up front that I would not care to know the owner of the Empire State Building. His monetary wealth means NOTHING to me. Mother Teresa had more WEALTH in her lifetime and beautiful spirit than this man could EVER conceive.
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New York Post
written by David K. Li
June 10, 2010
The owner of the Empire State Building yesterday rejected pleas from religious and political leaders who begged him not to snub Mother Teresa -- and is still refusing to honor the beloved nun on what would have been her 100th birthday.
Real-estate honcho Anthony E. Malkin insisted the landmark has a stand ing policy that allows rec ognition of religious holi days, but not individuals representing a faith.
"The Empire State Building celebrates many cultures and causes in the world community with iconic lightings, and has a tradition of light ings for the religious hol idays of Easter, Eid al Fitr [end of Ramadan], Ha nukkah, and Christmas," Malkin said in a state ment.
"[The building] has a specific policy against any other lighting for re ligious figures or re quests by religions and religious organizations."
While Mother Teresa doesn't rate in Malkin's eyes, the building has had no problem shilling for China's regime, blue M&Ms, Mariah Carey and the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles."
The building went red and gold last year on the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China; turned blue in 1995 for the rollout of blue M&Ms; and glowed purple, pink and white on April 24, 2008, for the release of Mariah's album, "E = MC2."
Even the Ninja Turtles had their night in lights, when the building went green on April 23, 2009, to mark the heroes on the half-shell's 25th anniversary.
The Teresa diss infuriated City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who said, "I just think it's a really wrongheaded decision."
"I don't think this is about religion," she added. "Mother Teresa was a nun, obviously, but she was much more than that; she was a Nobel Prize winner . . . who inspired people of all religions."
Despite Malkin's stance that individual religious leaders are barred from Empire State Building lighting honors, history seems to say otherwise.
The building's lights have been used to mark the deaths of John Cardinal O'Connor in 2000, with the red and white of his position; Pope John Paul II in 2005, when the tower symbolically went dark; and Martin Luther King with red, black and green.
Mother Teresa died in 1997.
The Catholic League first asked in February that the building go blue and white -- the colors of Teresa's order, the Missionaries of Charity.
Its president, Bill Donohue, complained that Malkin's policy "is being made up on the run," and vowed he's "not going to get away with it."
Now the league is applying for a permit to spend Teresa's birthday, Aug. 26, protesting at the building.
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