Burden of proof that they are not Violent is on the Mosque

Mike Stopa is a libertarian Republican candidate for US Congress, challenging longtime incumbent Democrat Rep. Jim McGovern. Stopa is a physicist and professor at Havard. He has said he's a "loner free marketeer" at the university.

Stopa issued a statement on the Ground Zero Mosque controversy:

Mosques are not exclusively places of worship but are, on some occasions, places where violence is planned.

One major difference between mosques and churches or jewish temples is that anyone may enter a church or a jewish temple. Only muslims may enter a mosque (or at least the principal prayer areas). It is not the bricks and mortar of the mosque building to which people object. Rather, the concern is with what goes on inside. To what extent are they seed beds of terror ? We do not know because we are not allowed to go in and see and hear. This makes the life of Muslims and their mosques rather like secret societies. We know that people like the Fort Hood shooter were indoctrinated in American mosques. We know that there is radicalism in Islam. And we are not allowed in the door to see how much of that is going on.

Islam seeks a world of believers and is willing to put its worldly sword to the task of getting them. I therefore don’t like having Muslims meeting in secret to discuss these things in my neighborhood. The burden of proof that what’s going on inside is all innocent is with the followers of Islam.

Stopa is a self-describred "libertarian" follower of economists Milton Friedman and Frederich Hayek.