the exclusiveness of religious freedom

Many are upset that permission has been given to proceed with the construction of the Islamic Cultural Center in New York near Ground Zero, and view it as a slap in the face to those who last their lives on 9/11, as well as the families of said victims, by giving a place of honor of some sort to the terrorists right next to where they committed their biggest crime against America and the American people,  despite the fact this Cultural Center is sponsored by The Cordoba Initiative, which promotes "multi-cultural and multi-faith understanding across minds and borders", and "will include a September 11th memorial and quiet reflection space where people of different faith traditions and beliefs, sacred and secular, can find quiet time and solace. [It] will also include general spaces and world-class facilities for all New Yorkers to benefit from, whether that's a Hebrew class meeting weekly or a yoga studio looking for space on a regular basis. We'll have an auditorium to engage large audiences, and sophisticated classroom space as well." (Read more: http://blog.beliefnet.com/cityofbrass/2010/07/qa-with-sharif-el-gamal-about.html#ixzz0wayagFHA)

And here lies a fallacy of the right; if one Muslim is a terrorist, they all must be terrorists, and this "cultural center" will serve as a staging center for terrorists acts against the United States.  The conservatives have no ability to draw a distinction between the one and the many.  Based on this logic, one could make the case that Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber, was a Christian, and the abortion clinic bombers are Christian, therefore anyone who's a Christian must be a terrorist.  But for some reason, that doesn't apply. 

Even though there are victims groups, New York City leaders, and even jewish groups who all support the construction, there have been protests not only in New York, but all across the country involving people who have no more connection to 9/11 than what they saw on television that day. And they aren't just protesting the New York site, but all mosques everywhere.  Many of these muslim communities have been in existence for quite some times, and are merely trying to create a larger, more amenable place to worship. However, right-wing fear mongers have drummed up the masses to protest the construction in Murfreesboro, Tennessee and Temecula, California.  According to these protestors, Islam is a religion that not only advocates violence against those of other faiths, but actively promotes it.  Never mind that the same thing could be said about Christianity.  I'm pretty certain the individuals who bomb abortion clinics aren't getting thier "instruction" from the Koran.
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The protests against the New York Islamic Cultural Center, as well as the centers in Tennessee and California, is a blatant disregard of the right to religious freedom as spelled out in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights.  I find it interesting that the conservatives are the loud enough  when they feel the Constitution is subverted by the left, but seem to have no problem in doing it themselves (At this writing, the flashing header above the linked article is a plea to join the fight to stop the mosque in New York. Hypocracy at it's finest!)  The settlers who first landed on these shores, among other things, wanted to establish a society where they could be free to worship as they chose.  The Founding Fathers understood this, and that's why they made protection of religious freedom the number 1 amendment in the Bill of Rights.

One of the most annoying arguements I've run across in the comments section of many an article regarding this cultural center is that Islamic countries wouldn't allow a church to be built in their cities, so why should we allow a mosque in ours?  Again, I refer to the principals of freedom upon which this country was based, and that which they lack.  Do we really want to become a country like that?  Isn't that why we are shedding blood in Afghanistan, to prevent this very sort of intolerance the Afghan people are subjected to?  I submit that the prevention of this cultural center grants a victory to the very terrorists these protestors are afraid of by limiting the freedoms our country was based on, and instills an intolerance that they themselves have espoused.

EDIT: The imam behind the construction of the cultural center is being branded as a radical cleric who blames the U.S. for the 9/11 attacks.  However, he has been in the employ of the FBI since the "glory days" of Bush/Cheney.