As Ron Kampeas noted earlier, U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley came out in a big way in support of the proposed Islamic community center and mosque two blocks from Ground Zero. The news is sure to surprise some because of her record of staunchly supporting Israel and generally being on the side of those preaching a hardline against Islamic fundamentalism. (For example, Berkley is a regular at the annual dinner of the Zionist Organization of America, which has issued a blistering attack against the imam behind the project.)
According to The Las Vegas Review-Journal, here’s what she said on the topic:
"Given the fact that my family and people in my religion have suffered so much from religious persecution, I cannot see how I can speak out against other minority religions in this country and their free exercise of their own religion," said Berkley, D-Nev., whose Jewish grandparents emigrated from Europe to escape the Holocaust.
On the flip side, New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who previously defended the project on religious-liberty grounds, now says he thinks it would be best for the center to be built at a different site. The New York Post reports:
"I believe they have a right to build a house of worship," Silver said.
"What I’m suggesting is in the spirit of living with others, they should be cognizant of the feeling of others and try to find a location that doesn’t engender the deep feelings that currently exist about this site."
The speaker, whose district includes the World Trade Center site but not the planned Park51 Islamic cultural center two blocks north, said the proposal had caused unrest rather than the interfaith dialogue developers say they want.
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