my turn

A few days ago my friend PM over at Captain's Log weighed in on the "ground zero mosque" issue.

Now I'll take a turn.

Defenders of the so-called 'ground zero mosque' have emphasized that it's not a mosque, it's a community center.
My take: this is entirely beside the point.
What if it WERE a mosque??? - a full-fledged, dedicated place of worship for Muslims.

Would the underlying issue be fundamentally different? No!

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.
[emphasis added]

Congress - and by extension, state and local governments - shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.

Seems to me that 'free exercise thereof' bit pretty much prohibits government - federal, state, local - from denying right to Islamic community to build a mosque ANYWHERE that is currently appropriately zoned. [... and re-zoning the property solely for purpose of denying the Islamic community this right would be an unconstitutional ex post facto law... and would probably also constitute an unconstitutional bill of attainder (U.S. Constitution, I.9.iii)]

Gen. Colin Powell addressed the issue of Obama's non-existent Muslim faith similarly several years ago.

Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he's a Christian. He's always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's no, that's not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president?
[Colin Powell on Meet the Press, 19 Oct 2008]

Exactly! "So what if he WERE?" Recall:

"... no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."
[U.S. Constitution, Article VI, section 3]

Again: I believe the defenders of the so-called 'ground zero mosque' miss the point when they insist that "it's not a mosque, it's a community center". What if it WERE a mosque? Would their case be any less compelling??? - a case based solely on the United States Constitution? - our founding document? The document that our esteemed conservative friends claim to hold near & dear to their hearts?

What if it WERE a mosque?
So what???