Initially it was simply amusing that those proudly sporting the slogan 'Freedom isn't Free' could, at the same time, want to restrict others' freedom of religion: witness the furor over the Muslim community center in New York. But now it's simply absurd; many of your readers seem willfully bent on miseducating themselves and anyone who will listen.

Protesting against the community center/mosque because it is initiated by Muslims makes about as much sense as not flying the airline which carried the terrorists that fateful 9/11. It's not a particularly bright response. The latest letter writers, a group of Indian Muslims ("Indian-American Muslims: Relocate mosque away from Ground Zero," Readers Respond, Aug. 25) seem to want to give in to hypocrisy and political pressure and quietly relocate the center rather than educate, advocate, and maybe even fight for the right to build it as planned. That seems exactly the wrong approach, and seems akin to complicity with those who are against our fundamental freedoms.

Either way, the outcome of this "mosque discussion" will reveal the character of our country. Thankfully, many of those I speak with are far more thoughtful than the army of anonymous bloggers and occasional angry, misinformed or bigoted letter writers.

Omar Khan, Baltimore