WILL BUNCH: This much is clear in the great national debate that continues to smolder in lower Manhattan: Never before has there been such a controversy over what to do with a former Burlington Coat Factory. But in 21st century America, few things are easy – not when the Islamic faith, memories of the 9/11 terror attacks or sound-bite politics are involved. And so, the once obscure proposal by a Muslim group called Cordoba House to build a community center, including a prayer space, at a site roughly two blocks from a corner of the former World Trade Center has become the current focal point of U.S. politics. It’s also become a kind of Rorschach test for how Americans view the place of Islam in U.S. society, and the nation’s more-than-two-centuries-old traditions of religious freedom and tolerance. But are people debating this so-called “Ground Zero Mosque” even armed with the basic facts? Here are some questions and answers…MORE
RELATED: This idiotic foofaraw could be a distraction only if the GOP rank-and-file actually cared more about the size of government than the cultural politics of American identity. But they don’t. It’s not even close. American conservatism is a movement consumed by protecting and asserting a certain fabricated conception of the traditional American way of life against imaginary enemies. MORE
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