Bill Carmichael: 9/11 anniversary: Islam's dilemma

For evidence of this look no further than the increasingly bitter

debate over the proposal to build a mosque and Islamic cultural centre close to "Ground Zero" – the site of the murderous assault on the World Trade Centre. The plans have divided the US, with the political and cultural elites on one side of the argument and the majority of ordinary Americans on the other.

Everyone from President Barack Obama and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to the New York Times have come out strongly in support of the mosque, citing the First Amendment to the US Constitution that guarantees freedom of religion.

They point out that the intentions of the mosque builders are entirely lawful and that it is unfair to associate the majority of peaceful Muslims with a savage atrocity committed by a few misguided fanatics.

This argument clearly cuts little ice with ordinary people – a poll showed that two-thirds of those questioned oppose the plans. Many are uncomfortable with the decision to build an Islamic centre so close to the site where thousands of innocent people were slaughtered in the name of Allah.

Some even see it as a "Victory Mosque" where Islamists will dance on the graves of 9/11 victims. Of course they've been smeared as knuckle-dragging racists and "Islamophobes" by the mosque supporters – but don't they have a point?

Take, for example, another story making headlines in the US – the decision by a Florida clergyman to hold a "Burn the Koran Day" tomorrow. Pastor Terry Jones has invited supporters to send him copies of the Muslim holy book, which he intends to put on a bonfire to mark the 9/11 anniversary.

Everyone from Tony Blair to the White House and the Vatican has condemned Pastor Jones's stunt – and there is little doubt he is being obnoxiously provocative.

Some fear it will badly damage community relations and could even put the lives of British and American troops at risk. But like the mosque builders in New York, Pastor Jones is doing nothing illegal and is perfectly within his rights. The same First Amendment that guarantees the rights of Muslims to worship in the US protects his freedom to burn books, too.

For what it's worth, I believe that both Pastor Jones and the Ground Zero mosque builders should shelve their plans in the name of sensitivity, compassion, tolerance and good manners. What both need to learn is that because you have the right to do something, it doesn't necessarily mean it is the right thing to do.

Italian cheers

ACCORDING to medical opinion in the UK, the best way of combating binge drinking is by increasing the cost of alcohol.

The reason people get so drunk, so the doctors insist, is simply

because alcohol is so ridiculously cheap in the UK, with ruinous consequences for public health.

I've just returned from a break in Italy where I discovered a

delightful kind of shop called a fiaschetteria. My favourite sold local products such as herbs, honey and olive oil and around the walls were large stainless steel containers filled with wine made by the owner

from grapes grown in his vineyard on the outskirts of town.

Local people – including children on errands for their parents – turned up with plastic bottles that were filled with red and white wine. Some had little wheeled trolleys to carry large containers which must have held five litres or more.

It was about 9pm by the time I'd finished shopping and the town was

full of families enjoying the cool of the evening – chatting, eating, drinking and (what horror!) smoking. No one was fighting, staggering around drunk or vomiting into the gutter.

Perhaps one of our clever doctors can explain to me how this can be so when the two-litre plastic bottle in my shopping bag, filled with a delicious sangiovese red wine, cost me the grand total of three euros – or about 1.23 per litre?