Exactly how far can you build a mosque from Ground Zero?

Schwartz continued: “If the Rauf-El Gamal plan goes forward, it should be located in a place where it will not call attention to the horrors of September 11 and not stir conflict over Muslim/non-Muslim relations. Such a location could still be in lower Manhattan — but it must be carried out without the associations with 9/11 that Rauf and El-Gamal, I think naively, have attached to it.”

As for the rest of the country, a recent CBS News poll found that 71 percent of Americans do not think that building a mosque so close to Ground Zero is appropriate, though 67 percent acknowledge that the group has a constitutional right to do so.

Email Chris Moody and follow him on Twitter