A mosque in New York? The president of the United States answered that question on Aug. 22, 1790, when he wrote "Happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens..."

At that time the question was laid to rest as to whether a synagogue may exist in Rhode Island. A later president of the United States reaffirmed that view on Sept. 15, 1963, saying "no better tradition exists than the history of Touro Synagogue's great contribution to the goals of freedom and justice for all."

If we start picking and choosing which groups deserve American freedoms, then any group may be the next to be excluded.