YOU live in the middle ages. NOT ME. Don't worry, sharia law will be here on top of you before you know it. Then we'll just see how much religious tolerance YOU can tolerate.

The Mosque at "ground zero" is just the tip of the "iceberg" what the Media is failing to talk about is the real healing and rebuilding the area that is not happening. Lets talk about reaching out those that want to rebuild the Greek Orthodox (Christian)Church, built in the early 1900's, The Port athority needs to give permission to rebuild and the Muslim Community needs to reachout and help them. That would be true tolerance not living, "under the relatively tolerant Cordoba caliphate" or any other caliphate.

I say we have a pig roast at Mecca and Medina. They (Muslims) could tolerate that...couldn't they.

Jacob--take off your blinders. This is not about religious freedom. It's about the difference between common decency, and jihad and dominance.

Jacob (Dipwad) Sullum said; "Feisal Abdul Rauf -- is a stealth jihadi, there is not much evidence to support that view."

Your an idiot and your willfully ignorant. I'm done with you.

"Although Gingrich implies that the imam behind Park 51 -- Feisal Abdul Rauf -- is a stealth jihadi, there is not much evidence to support that view".

Why not rephrase that sentence and say "there is SOME evidence to support that view..." or are you discounting what he HAS said?

Tolerance is one thing while blind ignorance is another. Take a look at Europe and what the muslims have done to it. Now take a look no further than Dearborn,MI and you will see the overtaking of a city. Step by step, Jacob.

Get in step.

I agree that they have a right to build the Mosque, but just because you have the right to do something, does not mean it is the right thing to do. Maybe you should read the August 3rd column by William McGurn of the Wall Street Journal title WTC Mosque, Meet the Auschwitz Nuns for enlightenment. The catholic church opened a convent in the shadows of Auschwitz, and felt the same heat and outrage as the builders of this mosque are receiving today; and this occured 50 years after the fact, not 9 years. People, like yourself and Rauf, need to use comon sense when it comes to the building of this Mosque. Especially, since the design calls for two 13 story towers. You do not think that is more than coincidence?

another classic example of the left "hate" of the right or conservative opinion. The obvious has been pointed out, building such an opulent Muslim education center at the site of one of the most tragic terrorist attacks on our soil, with plans to innaugurate it on the 10 yr anniversary of 9-11. Ge theat 2x4 out of your eye before you start picking on the splinter in other American patriots eyes. Sharia is here. 10% or more of the 1.2 B Muslims are estimated to be radicalized. All efforts to accomodate, facilitat, placate and incorporate muslim businesses and organizations into our American society are being made by Obama. He had a choice to keep his mouth shut at hte white house dinner. Not only did he not take that option, but he endorsed, and further emboldened our radical muslim friends, by making the comments he did. Our friends in the middle east have never been more fearful of the radical elements in Iran and Syria, than they have ben in the past 12 months, much due to our lack of interest or innaction in reigning in Iran and in telling Israel to piss off. THE 83% unfavorable rating of Bush has now risen to 85% of those in the middle eastern states now have an unfavorable opinion of The USA, largely due to the lack of leadership Obama has demonstrated. He is either incompetent or all is proceeding according to his plan for his post American world. Our greatest danger is from within and Jacob, the sooner you and yours open you reyes and accept this the sooner your anger at the right for pointing out the realities of the present (as opposed to the last 8 years of Bush).

MoeLarryCurly - I say we make that weenie roast nuclear. If we melt enough sand into glass and reflect enough sunlight, we can solve global warming, too!

Mr. Sullum is right on this one. I am offended by Muslims. Period. They reject the savior of the world, Jesus Christ. I am also offended, to a lesser degreee, that they want to build a mosque NEAR ground zero. I also realize that UN-free countries would likely deny Christians a permit to build a church. But it is BECAUSE we are free, BECAUSE our founders didn't create a theocracy, and BECAUSE we allow things that offend many of us (like tatoos, smoking, porn, Hindus, atheists, Democrats, etc).

1) As a Christian and an American, I refuse to deny private property rights using force.

2) Shame on them for wanting to build a mosque there.

It is the statist only that cannot agree to both of those statements.

Jacob Sullum, my friend, you need to be enlightened.

Please read below entirely.

In July 2010, journalist Andrew McCarthy revealed that Feisal Abdul Rauf's 2004 book, "What's Right with Islam Is What's Right with America" was originally published in Malaysia under a different title: "A Call to Prayer from the World Trade Center Rubble: Islamic Dawa in the Heart of America Post-9/11". >>> Note the term "Dawa".

"What's Right with Islam" was produced after the original, with Feisal’s cooperation, by the Islamic Society of North America and the International Institute of Islamic Thought. Both of those organizations are American tentacles of the Muslim Brotherhood. McCarthy explains the meaning of the term "dawa", from the book's title:

"Dawa, whether done from the rubble of the World Trade Center or elsewhere, is the missionary work by which Islam is spread.... [D]awa is proselytism, but not involving only spiritual elements — for Islam is not merely a religion, and spiritual elements are just a small part of its doctrine. In truth, Islam is a comprehensive political, social, and economic system with its own authoritarian legal framework, sharia, which aspires to govern all aspects of life....

"The purpose of dawa, like the purpose of jihad, is to implement, spread, and defend sharia. Scholar Robert Spencer incisively refers to "dawa" practices as 'stealth jihad,' the advancement of the sharia agenda through means other than violence and agents other than terrorists. These include extortion, cultivation of sympathizers in the media and the universities, exploitation of our legal system and tradition of religious liberty, infiltration of our political system, and fundraising.

This is why Yusuf Qaradawi, the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood and the world’s most influential Islamic cleric, boldly promises that Islam will 'conquer America' and 'conquer Europe' through dawa."

I wonder if Mr. Sullum would support a white supremacist worship and education center next to The King Center in Atlanta.

With many things in today's society, just because it's legal doesn't make it right. This is what we get when we separate law from morality so as not to offend someone's delicate sensibilities.