Quote:
Originally Posted by Fast_Eddie
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
Seems pretty clear to me. Wanna exercise your religion by building a Mosque? Constitution says you can. Not a lot of gray area there.
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No one is disputing that. Even the pollsters have found that those who oppose the mosque being built agree that the Cordoba folks have a constitutional right to pursue their faith, and build a mosque anywhere they want. However, there's also the free speech part of the 1st Amendment that suggests that folks have a right to voice opposition, question motives, inquire about funding, etc.
Maybe the question needs to be different:
For the sake of discussion, let's suppose that the press discovered that the funding for building the mosque / community center largely was sourced from the Middle East. Saudi Arabia, for instance. Many of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudi. Or maybe traced to Hamas? This might suggest that the stated purpose of the mosque as an "outreach center" was a sham, and instead an "in your face" to the people of this country, and the families of the workers, fire fighters and others who died on 9/11. What then?