From WNYC in New York, this is NPR's On the Media.

Brooke Gladstone is away. I'm Bob Garfield.

Well, the Ground Zero Mosque controversy continues to grow.

Supporters are screaming freedom of religion.

Opponents are making it a campaign issue.

Political news this week was dominated by the so-called Ground Zero Mosque, the proposed Islamic Community Center, being developed in a former discount clothing store two blocks from New York's hallowed Ground Zero.

Conceived not only as a Muslim version of the famous 92nd Street Y, including an auditorium and athletic facilities, the project has been

described by its sponsors as an explicit symbol of Muslim anti-extremism in the former shadow of the fallen twin towers.

It is, however, not located at Ground Zero.

It's two blocks away in a neighborhood that already includes two active storefront mosques,

and if the project is completed, the mosque within would only be one of its multiple functions.

I believe that Muslims have the right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country.

If President Obama thought a reminder of America's founding principles and the Bill of Rights

would quell the controversy, he was mistaken.

Politicians, mostly Republicans, jumped into the fray.

Mainly, they accused the project's sponsors of insensitivity to the families of 9-11

victims and Americans at large, a narrative that dovetails nicely with GOP talking points on

political correctness and softness on terrorism. Nazis don't have the right to put up a sign

next to the Holocaust Museum in Washington.

There's no reason for us to accept a mosque next to the World Trade Center.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

The furor has been an unseemly, if unsurprising spectacle of disinformation, political opportunism, political cowardice, and bigotry,

...