Community center should be built to preserve American ideals

Count me among the minority of Americans who support the construction of the "Ground Zero mosque."

Actually, since I happen to be a supporter and politically conservative, make that the extreme minority. Thankfully I live in a country that, while certainly ruled by majorities, has a Constitution that respects the rights of the social outcasts in the minority.

Well, kind of. When it's a good minority, and we (that would be the majority) don't feel too threatened by whatever it is that particular group has planned.

But when backstabbing terrorist sympathizers decide they want to plant a war memorial on the site of the worst terrorist attack in American history, who cares about what our most important founding document and the combined weight of American jurisprudence and legal tradition suggest is the right course of action. This is an outrage, an affront, a sacrilege.

And so it might be, if that was actually happening.

Yet, outside of Newt Gingrich's hyperbole that "America is experiencing an Islamist cultural-political offensive designed to undermine and destroy our civilization," nothing of the sort is occurring.

Consider this: The "Ground Zero mosque" is actually a large community center complete with a swimming pool, gym, restaurant, 500-seat auditorium, day care center, library and yes, an attached mosque, called Park51.

It's not located at Ground Zero, or even visible from the site. It is being built at the site of an old Burlington Coat Factory about two blocks away, and since it will stand only about 15 stories, in New York City, it is dwarfed and easily swallowed up by the surrounding skyline.

The original name for the center was the Cordoba House, which was intended to invoke images of the tolerance, cultural mixing and inter-faith acceptance that existed in the capital city of Muslim Spain during the 13th century.

The Muslim cleric responsible for the project is Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, a moderate who rejects violence and authored a book titled "What's Right with Islam is What's Right with America."

Conservative commentators have attempted (without a shred of evidence) to label Rauf a terrorist sympathizer or connect him to terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, despite the fact that an FBI investigation determined no such links exist, and the State Department selected him as the leader of a foreign service mission to the Middle East to promote moderate Islam and U.S. relations with the Islamic world.

Rauf has released several statements explaining that one of the goals he has for Park51 is to "push back against extremists" and "elevate the discourse about Islam." He hopes to demonstrate that an Islamic facility isn't always a terrorist factory, but instead it can serve in the same capacity as many Christian (or Jewish or Mormon) facilities do in communities across the country.

The legal arguments against Park51 are weak to non-existent, so its opponents have turned to emotional ones.

Newt Gingrich said he'll support the mosque as soon as Muslims allow a church or synagogue near Mecca – because obviously America needs to take a lesson in religious tolerance from Saudi Arabia.

Others claim Ground Zero is a sacred site, and a mosque (even just in the general vicinity) somehow befouls or desecrates it. A recent Charles Krauthammer column spelled this one out in the most tactful way possible, by referencing the legal notion of "time and place concerns."

I won't dispute the emotional resonance of Ground Zero, but the power of this argument dissipates quickly when one realizes that at least two strip clubs, a sex shop and a large off-track gambling parlor exist within a block of the World Trade Center footprint. If these racy sites do not cast a shadow over hallowed ground, how does a place of reflection and worship manage to do so?

Other popular lines of attack include "the feelings of the Sept. 11 families should be given paramount consideration" and "just because you can do something doesn't mean you should."

Yet both arguments miss their marks.

There is no clear consensus among the relatives of Sept. 11 victims about Park51: Some vigorously oppose it, while others strongly support it. And their opinions only matter (more than yours or mine) if one interprets the mosque's location as a provocative shot directed at them, which it clearly is not.

The latter argument acknowledges that by no reasonable legal standard should the construction of Park51 be prevented but implies that the wave of public sentiment that considers the mosque to be in "bad taste" and an affront to many people's sensibilities should be enough to discourage Rauf and his compatriots from following through with their plan.

I could not disagree more with this position. In this situation, I hope that instead Rauf embraces a motto of "because I can, I will." Let the Park51 community center and mosque become a symbol to the world of America doing more than just paying lip service to our core values and principles.

Let it be a lesson on the protections afforded to all by a nation that respects the rule of law.

Let it help us understand that when we protect the rights of minorities, especially those who unsettle or disturb us, we reinforce the precedents that protect our own.

Let Park51 remind the world that America is the land of the free – not because we call ourselves that, but rather because we live it.