Why all the fuss about the mosque?

If you believe Americans are preoccupied these days with issues such as the economy, jobs, troop withdrawal from Iraq and the war in Afghanistan, you may be wrong. Cordoba House, the proposed Islamic center to be built two blocks from Ground Zero, the World Trade Center site in New York, is the hot issue in the country at the moment.

On Sunday morning I stood in the rain at Park Place, between West Broadway and Church Street in New York, and watched as those for and against the proposed development waved banners and shouted their views.

While freedom of assembly is a constitutional right in the United States, what surprised me was the high turnout of people against the Islamic center, although perhaps I shouldn't have been, considering several recent public opinion polls have revealed that most New Yorkers and most Americans oppose the project.