The Jawa Report: Let them build their mosque at Ground Zero

The Jawa Report: Let them build their mosque at Ground Zero

I agree with Rusty on this--using government to prohibit the construction of a house of worship represents all that liberty-loving Americans should stand against. Yes, having a shrine dedicated to the deity in whose name a horrific terrorist attack left thousands dead located so near the site of the attack is offensive. But so are any of a number of other exercises of First Amendment liberties.

Take pornography, for example. The burning of the American flag. Christian religious symbols desecrated and presented as "art." Good and moral people unanimously find these expressions of liberty to be an affront to decency, but until three quarters of the states ratify amendments to the Constitution forbidding them, they're protected from the power of government to stop them.

So then, what is stopping the construction of an even larger shrine to those who lost their lives on that fateful day, on a spot right next door to the proposed mosque? Why couldn't a massive, permanent facility be constructed near ground zero, with artifacts, artwork and interpretive displays pointing out the fact that the followers who worship in the mosque next door carried out those horrific attacks in the name of a religion that uses force and violence to subdue and conquer?

Extra Point: Perhaps the New York Times could hold a cartoon contest. Whoever comes up with the funniest depiction of the prophet Mohammed gets to have his or her creation displayed on the floor of the new facility, so that visitors could walk upon the face of the man who called his followers to jihad.