RUSH: Matthew in Miami, welcome to the EIB Network, sir. Hello.
CALLER: Hi, Rush. How are you?
RUSH: Very good.
CALLER: I saw the wedding pics on Facebook. They look great.
RUSH: Thank you, sir.
CALLER: I’m a huge fan of the show. Congratulations on the wedding.
RUSH: Thank you very much.
CALLER: Listen, Rush, I agree with you on 99% of the things, your show always brings me back to conservatism, but this one thing that I just don’t agree about the Ground Zero mosque.
RUSH: Hmm.
CALLER: Because I think that the people that are trying to shut it down, they’re trying to infringe on the religious rights, the First Amendment rights of Muslims that are trying to, and I know that it’s offensive, and I know that a lot of people —
RUSH: Now, wait a minute. This is very key here. If you’re gonna bring the First Amendment into it that’s where your argument’s going to fall apart. There are 23 mosques in New York, the Constitution does not guarantee you can put your church anywhere you want, it just says you cannot be denied the practice of worship. There are all kinds of mosques in New York, 23 already. They could put another one anywhere they want. This site is purposefully provocative. There’s nothing good that can come of this. Nothing good. It’s a bad idea all around. Nobody’s against mosques, and the First Amendment does not guarantee you can put one up wherever you want it to go.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Ladies and gentlemen, zoning laws. I’m sure have encountered them. Zoning laws tell churches where they can and can’t go all the time. There’s a group out there called the Alliance Defense Fund. The last few years they’ve been running all over the country suing cities and counties and states over churches being turned down by zoning boards, and they have not yet won a case, I don’t think. So zoning laws already dictate where you — the First Amendment’s got nothing whatsoever to do with building a church wherever you want to put one.