Former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura gave his support to Park51 , arguing that the First Amendment allows for a mosque to be built near Ground Zero . Ventura also argued that denying the right for a mosque to be built near Ground Zero would be similar to removing churches from Oklahoma City , where the Oklahoma City bombing occurred ( the deadliest act of terrorism in the United States prior to 9/11 ) , if Timothy McVeigh , the man who perpetrated the attack , was a Christian . Ventura also demanded that opposition to the Ground Zero Mosque should be ignored because " people need to remember , the Constitution and the Bill of Rights should be written in stone . You can not subject them to the popularity . They are there to protect unpopular things , like the First Amendment . The First Amendment is to protect unpopular speech simply because popular speech does n't need to be protected . It 's as simple as that . And you ca n't , you know , bend the Constitution to the blowing winds of whatever polls might say , otherwise it 's a worthless , useless document which in many ways they 're turning it to that anyway . " Ibrahim Hooper , Communications Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations ( CAIR ) , charged that the controversy was " manufactured " by " bigots " . He also asserted that only a vocal minority was complaining . And Nihad Awad , CAIR 's Executive Director , said that the opinion of Republican Congressman Peter King " should not be considered , because his ideas are extreme " . Fareed Zakaria , '' Newsweek '' journalist and CNN host , also strongly supported the project , and returned a prestigious award he received in 2005 from the Anti-Defamation League , saying he was " personally and deeply saddened " by their opposition towards the project . He wrote : " ... Rauf , is a moderate Muslim clergyman . He has said one or two things about American foreign policy that strike me as overly critical – but it 's stuff you could read on '' The Huffington Post '' any day . On Islam , his main subject , Abdul Rauf 's views are clear : he routinely denounces all terrorism – as he did again last week , publicly . " The Muslim Public Affairs Council also supported the project
Oklahoma City bombing
Oklahoma City bombing
Park51