Mosques have more than doubled since 9/11. But Muslims say opposition is fierce.

(RNS) — In late 2009, Daisy Khan and her then-husband hoped to build a place of  healing for a city still grieving over the hateful acts of the 9/11 terrorists.

They called their planned mosque and community center, modeled after Jewish community centers and YMCAs across the country, Cordoba House — a reference to a Spanish city where Muslims, Jews and Christians once coexisted peacefully.

The project was meant to counter extremism and be a powerful testament to the American promise of religious freedom and the resiliency of New Yorkers.

“We are faithful people. We are very good Americans,” Khan, a Muslim nonprofit leader, told Fox News in late 2009, when plans for the center first started to become public, according to The New York Times. “And we need to project a different message of Islam, one of tolerance, love.”

Instead, the community center, which would have been built about a five-minute walk from the former site of the World Trade Center, became a national flashpoint after critics labeled it the “Ground Zero Mosque” and launched a national movement to stop the project.  That led to marches in the streets, with protesters…