This newsroom is focused on Arkansas politics and government. We're not going to spend much space talking about issues outside Arkansas.

But we're going to make an exception for the Ground Zero mosque controversy, because frankly, it needs all the common sense it can get.

If you haven't kept up with the story, a group of Muslims wants to build a 13-story, $100 million building about two blocks from the former site of the Twin Towers in New York City.
[EDIT: Contrary to popular belief, and as we discovered upon further research, the building is not a mosque, but a Muslim community center that will include a mosque. This is an important distinction; as one columnist puts it, "calling the entire building a mosque is a bit like referring to the Empire State Building as a 103-story Walgreens because the pharmacy chain has a store on the ground floor."]
They would build it on their own private property, using private funds.

Their plan has upset a lot of Americans, who are offended at the idea of a mosque being built so close to where the 9/11 hijackers killed thousands of people in the name of Islam. A Fox News poll from Friday showed that 64% of Americans think the mosque should not be built at its proposed location.

Many citizens and politicians are calling for the Muslim group to be forced or pressured into moving somewhere else. A vocal group of New Yorkers called for the NYC Landmarks Preservation Committee to give landmark status to the site, which would prevent anything from being built on it. The committee, however, voted unanimously against landmark status for the mosque site.

President Obama is facing a political firestorm after he defended the Muslim group's right to build the mosque on its own property, then had to clarify that he wasn't stating an opinion on whether it was appropriate for them to do so. The Republicans are making hay out of "Obama supporting the Ground Zero mosque," while a lot of Democrats are also condemning his comments.

Sorry, folks, but the president is absolutely correct. These Muslims have the right to build a mosque on their private property. Period.

It doesn't matter if it's tasteless and offensive for them to do it two blocks from the site of a terrorist attack that was perpetrated by members of their religion. (It is tasteless and offensive, by the way.)

It doesn't matter if the imam who is spearheading the mosque's construction has himself expressed religious intolerance and has refused to say that the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas is a terrorist group. (This is true, by the way.)

It doesn't matter if the building of a mosque at the site of a battle is a Muslim tradition for celebrating victory in jihad. (This has been claimed by opponents by the mosque.)

It doesn't matter if it upsets the families of the thousands who died at Ground Zero.

It doesn't matter if it upsets you.

This is America. We have freedom of religion. We have a right to private property. Even if we're jihadists and even if we're right next to the site of the World Trade Center.

This group probably should move its proposed mosque somewhere else. Millions of Americans will be provoked and offended by it -- and rightfully so.

But that's part of the price you pay for allowing everyone equal rights. It means they have the right to offend you, and that sometimes they will.

So deal with it, America. Be offended, be upset, be mad, tell them they should move the mosque, that's all fine. But don't try to suppress it, don't try to get rid of it, and don't act like your being offended is a reason to circumvent someone else's constitutional rights.

They have the freedom to offend. So let them.

Editor's Note: For more info on what the proposed building will contain (including a 9/11 memorial), read this column from US News & World Report. It's important to always check facts, and I must admit I didn't do a good job of it prior to publishing this post.

Editor's Note #2: For a more refined view on the "Ground Zero mosque," check out the letter from the editor in the September 2010 issue of the magazine.