America was founded on the freedom to practice one's own religion. In these days, as in those, we recognize that certain freedoms must have limits. The free exercise of a religion mandating human sacrifice would be as unthinkable, as utterly intolerable, in America as we believe it would be anywhere in the modern world.
Islam neither mandates, nor encourages, human sacrifice either willingly or by force.
What Islam does mandate, on the other hand, is prayer. One of the Five Pillars of Islam (moral guidelines for Muslims, similar to the Ten Commandments) is Salah; the daily regimen of prayers. Muslims are obliged to give prayer five times per day. The free exercise of this aspect of the religion is something with which, we feel, no American should or will take exception.
Islamic prayers are quite humble compared with their Judeo-Christian counterparts. The Muslim supplicant bows low before Allah, and kneels. The daily prayers involve touching ones head to the ground. This requires the person to have a comfortable amount of space in an out-of-the-way location, or else it could cause an unsafe situation.
This mandate of prayer has a measurable effect on the daily lives of Muslim Americans, and on Muslims around the world. In order to be free to practice their religion, Muslims need a low-traffic space in which they can pray in comfort without fear of injury.
Which brings us to the problem of Park 51. A community center that serves the Muslims of New York must be allowed to have a prayer room. To say otherwise would violate the rights of the Muslim community to freely practice their religion. It becomes incumbent upon us as Americans to recognize this fact; not having adequate space to pray infringes on the practice of Islam.
To those who oppose the "mosque" at "Ground Zero" -- though it is neither a mosque, nor at Ground Zero -- but defend the American value of religious freedom, we ask you this; how is your argument not self-defeating? How does touting your staunch defense of religious freedom excuse your rationalization for the selective enforcement of it?
In America, we guarantee rights to everyone, not just to the people we like.