Back in August, I wrote a post criticizing efforts to use government power to stop the building of the Ground Zero Mosque and explaining why I see no good objection to having a Muslim cultural center or mosque near Ground Zero. But I was also highly critical of Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, leader of the […]
Tag Archives | Ground Zero Mosque
Three Issues in the Debate over the “Ground Zero Mosque”
By Ilya Somin on August 31, 2010 1:41 am in Property Rights, Religion, Religion and the Law, Religious Freedom, War on Terror
The ongoing debate over the “Ground Zero Mosque” has generated lots of commentary. But I fear that much of it conflates three separate issues: whether the government should use its power to block the construction of the mosque, whether the construction of any Islamic facility near Ground Zero is objectionable, and whether this particular organization […]
Property Rights, Eminent Domain, and the “Ground Zero Mosque”
By Ilya Somin on August 23, 2010 11:02 pm in Eminent Domain, Property Rights, Religion and the Law, Religious Freedom
A few conservative commentators have advocated using the power of eminent domain to take the land on which the “Ground Zero mosque” is scheduled to be built (see here and here). The idea seems to have originated with New York Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino. Legally, such a taking wouldn’t be as simple as Paladino […]