From NPR: NYC Islamic Community Center, Mosque One Step Closer To Construction...

Last week, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) joined a loud chorus of opposition to such a facility near Ground Zero, whose ranks include Sarah Palin and several other politicians and activists.

"Some legitimate questions have been raised about who is providing the funding to build it, and what connections, if any, its leaders might have with groups whose ideologies stand in contradiction to our shared values," the ADL said in a statement.

Ultimately, this is not a question of rights, but a question of what is right. In our judgment, building an Islamic center in the shadow of the World Trade Center will cause some victims more pain unnecessarily, and that is not right.

Many critics of the community center, which is also known as the Cordoba House and Park51, say that there is no reason it needs to be built so close to Ground Zero.

Sarah Palin's facebook page contains her thoughts on this subject...

An Intolerable Mistake on Hallowed Ground

Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 8:47am

Earlier today, Mayor Bloomberg responded to my comments about the planned mosque at Ground Zero by suggesting that a decision not to allow the building of a mosque at that sacred place would somehow violate American principles of tolerance and openness.

No one is disputing that America stands for – and should stand for – religious tolerance. It is a foundation of our republic. This is not an issue of religious tolerance but of common moral sense. To build a mosque at Ground Zero is a stab in the heart of the families of the innocent victims of those horrific attacks.....Many Americans, myself included, feel it would be an intolerable and tragic mistake to allow such a project sponsored by such an individual to go forward on such hallowed ground. This is nothing close to “religious intolerance,” it’s just common decency.

- Sarah Palin

Personally, I have to agree with Mayor Bloomberg. I agree that government "shouldn't be in the business of picking" one religion over another. Would any one care if the Catholic Church where attempting to construct a Parish a few blocks away from where the WTC used to be? What if a new Synagogue were being built in one of the high rises over looking the 9/11 Memorial? My guess is no, no one would care.

What we all have to do is take a deep breath and realize that the entire Muslim community didn't bring the twin towers down. Extremists did. To judge and condemn a whole group of people due to the acts of a few individuals is called bigotry. To use the government to suppress any religion is un-American.