I don't know what the motives behind the "Ground Zero" Mosque are, but it certainly don't seem to be an outreach toward understanding and tolerance. As Leon de Winter rightly notes, a Christian church or a synagogue in Mecca would be a true sign of understanding and tolerance. As Stephen Schwartz has written, Islam today has two faces, the peaceful pious one that belongs to most Muslims and the ugly one of the Salafist sect which is supported by the Saudis who have build thousands of mosques around the world and furnished imams to preach in them in an effort to take over the religion. This shares roots with the terrorists driven by the belief that the Muslim duty of jihad requires the violent murder of anyone who disagrees with them. It is partly because of this militancy that the erstwhile peaceful Shiites have begun to assert themselves in Iran, Iraq and other Muslim countries, in an effort to challenge the Saudis, largely by being more radical and demagogic.

Contrary to President Obama's lecture to us the other day, Muslims have the right to practice their religion only to the extent that their religion doesn't exhort murder and terrorism. If we knew who was providing funding for this mosque or what kind of sermons are likely to be preached there, it might be less controversial, but so far, Americans have seen very little from Muslims to indicate a genuine willingness to renounce terrorism and the death cult of Al Qaeda. Instead they use our own political correctness as a weapon and a reason to lecture and hector us about our values, while those in effect in their own most prominent nations are never criticized, except to urge more radicalism.

The mosque will probably be built as politicians abase themselves to appear tolerant to everyone but their political opponents. Nothing good can come from this. Either Americans will see this as the last straw and respond with resentment and anger or the mosque will be viewed elsewhere as a symbol of the weakness of this country, encouraging and inspiring more terrorism. This is all the fruit of the foolish adoption of sophistries by our courts which have given anyone and everyone a veto over the religious activities of the majority in any public setting. The result has gone far beyond the setting of schools and local government where it could apply and has put the Christian religion on the defensive everywhere else in society, rather than enhancing our tradition of tolerance and respect for each others' beliefs. The official policy of the courts is one of viewing our differences as a threat to our various rights, and that has become a source of division rather than the unity on which our society depends. I grew up before this jealous attitude of taking offense wherever possible. Certainly, we should be sensitive, and seek those things that unite us rather than divide us, but making insults a matter of lawsuits and cease and desist letters is hardly an improvement.