Resolved: An Islamic Cultural Center should be built near Ground Zero.

My opponent begins this round with some assertions such as "if the builders choose to build it, it is not religious tolerance for Muslims." I am unsure of what this means or how this relates to the debate. "Since the majority of the American people are against the Islamic Cultural Center, building it would mean going against the will of the American people." --- Rule of the majority is a bad thing, which is why our government has laws which protect the rights of the individual citizen. Going against the will of a group of people has been the cornerstone of our government for 2 centuries because we realize mob rule is not a good thing. Therefore, I find this reasoning not sufficient for this debate. Moving on... Rebut to Contention 1) ---It is not insensitive to the many Muslims who died that day. It is not insensitive to the Muslim first responders who worked to dig bodies out from the rubble. You are equating a building with a radical extremist ideology, which is not a good thing to do. In this country we allow the feelings of everyone to be considered, we do not ban certain ceremonies because they offend the majority. Rebut to Contention 2) ---My opponent provides no citations for any of his statistics or speculation, so this argument is null. Rebut to Contention 3) --- Con's argument only goes to show that the builders of the ICC are having their rights violated. Moving the ICC on their own accord is one thing, but having to do it because violent people are threatening them is NOT a free choice. It is not the ICC or the builders fault that these acts of hatred are happening; it is the people performing them. My Contentions 1) My opponent assumes that the Imam choose the location to purposely offend others, while the citation he provides describes the opposite. Con assumes that since the Masjid mosque was intended for prayer that this new ICC will be for something... different *que dramatic music*. My opponent also does not address the amount of fear mongering being played out by the mainstream media. 2) The best way for Muslims to assume guilt that isn't theirs would be to move the ICC. This is basically what my opponent is saying. He then says, without citation, that most of America disagrees with me. In fact, I can show that most of this nonsense is probably due more to religious motivations than anything else. in this [1] Gallup poll, Americans of different religions were polled about the ICC. What is interesting to note is that voters with no religious obligation voted more in favor of the ICC than against it, making this more and more look like a deep seated religious prejudice than anything else. 3) In one of your arguments you use the source [2] that says that Muslim worshipers have been meeting at the proposed ICC location for years now to pray. This is a great example of the need for more prayer space. You have people gathering in an old Burlington Coat Factory to pray. If there was another spot, why are they all crowding into there? If there isn't a need for more space, why is an abandoned building being used as a house of worship? Your source which says there is no need for space leads me to a message saying the article cannot be found. Update it please. 4) I am not following your logic on this. "It would actually prove the opposite, that Americans continue to stand opposed to the ideology." ---So by being threatened into moving the mosque, this upholds the First Amendment? "Similarly, moving the Islamic Cultural Center would not be a violation of rights, but rather a voluntary and compassionate move by the builders." ---Its not voluntary if people are threatening you with violence. That's called "intimidation". Summary My opponent fails to address the points of: 1) Muslims murdered on 9/11 and the Muslim first responders. 2) Use of fear and intimidation to move the mosque 3) The correlation that all Muslims are terrorists, which is false. All in all, my current arguments still stand. [1] http://www.gallup.com... [2] http://www.nytimes.com...