Religion: Six Flags over Islam

Controversy erupted when Muslims went looking for fun, but the event was a moment of harmony

FOR HALF AN HOUR AT ABOUT 2 P.M. LAST Friday, the main attraction at Six Flags New Jersey was not the Nitro, the "tallest and fastest roller coaster in the East," or the Superman Ultimate Flight ride. Within sight of the front gate, not far from the faux Revolutionary battlements of Fort Independence, a succession of blue tarps had been stretched. Prostrated on them, facing Mecca (and, unintentionally, the Cannonball Lemonade Stand) were hundreds of men, heads to the ground in sajda, Islamic prayer's gesture of submission to Allah. As hundreds more entered the park and took note, many set up...

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