The “Ground Zero Mosque” controversy is gradually developing into a national hysteria threatening to shack the image, and potentially the reality, of the United State as an open society and a beacon of freedom and civil liberties. The campaign against the proposed mosque in lower Manhattan has already dwarfed the one mobilized early last year by European far right parties to ban Swiss Muslims from building minarets for their mosques. The anti mosque campaign is a testimony to the growing influence of the American far right in media and political circles and a sad commentary on the ability of Muslim bashers to sway public opinion in the post 9/11 America.

In recent years, the debate over teaching the account of human creation provided by religious texts has intensified in the U.S. Some Christians insist that schools teach “creationism” side by side with the theory of evolution. Most recently this call has been echoed by several Muslim writers, most notably the prolific Turkish scholar Harun Yahya.