Just Say Yes, Imam

The whole ministry of Faisal Abdul Rauf, the imam behind Cordoba House, is based on interfaith dialogue. Here's an opportunity to have some. Pastor Terry Jones of Gainesville, Florida probably wouldn't have been his first choice. Cardinal archbishops and Episcopalians make much more presentable table mates when you're planning lunch at the club. But sometimes the spirit of God chooses our conversation partners.

Rauf shouldn't be expected to bargain away his controversial lower Manhattan site to keep an oddball pastor from gratuitously insulting every Muslim in the world and putting our troops at risk. But he'd earn the respect of many Americans, and some additional leverage in his battle to make his vision a reality, by taking the meeting.