I could not agree more forcefully with Peace Corps volunteer Ben Packard, who bemoans any and all religious intolerance in his discussion (“Intolerance with Muslims shameful,” Sept. 17) of the controversial mosque proposed for New York City.

Of course any intolerance anywhere is wrong on its face. Those of us who marched years ago for civil rights remember only too well what all that meant.

But Mr. Packard and other sincere folks who have entered this unfortunate debate have to know that we in America have not worked to ban mosques as a general rule,

But there is a certain sensitivity about that 9/11 area of the city even if someone proposed a synagogue.

Which opens the door to the reality that there are mosques in Israel but synagogues are banned in Saudi Arabia and some other Muslim nations.

It also raises the concern that some Muslim student associations have heckled, harassed and badly disturbed Israeli and other Jewish programs on college campuses across the nation with little interference and even less media attention.

When one approaches sensitive subjects like this, it is useful to clear all the problem debris and not label those who disagree as all coming from the same body of dissent.

He is right that people must be free to believe what they believe.

Accepting that premise as morally and simply correct, why do we also remain reticent in the face of those with whom we deal and trade without demanding or at least encouraging them to provide similar privileges in their own countries as their religious leaders demand of us? It surely would not hurt.

Moreover, whatever deservedly critical words were published around the world about the Gainesville, Fla. pastor’s threat to burn Korans, I can think of no sane Americans who saw this media snookering as acceptable in any form.

And that true even if the same American had some disagreement with the proposed facility in Manhattan that is a 13-story combination of swimming pool, 500-seat theater, restaurant and a mosque.

What helped also to spark this debate over a location in a city with numerous mosques already in being was the fact thousands of 9/11 victims’ survivors had filed a trillion dollar class-action lawsuit against the royal family that controls Saudi Arabia because 15 of the 19 perpetrators of that disaster had trained in that nation.

So, while Mr. Packard is not only logically concerned and demonstrating his personal commitment as a Peace Corps volunteers many thousands of miles from home, I would hope he would agree there are many sides to all controversies.

Joseph J. Honick

Olympus Beach