Ground Zero Mosque Opposition Signals A Troubling Trend, Says Activist

The head of a major Muslim advocacy group claims that the heated opposition to the construction of an Islamic community center near the site of the 9/11 terrorist attacks is just one sign of mounting anti-Muslim sentiment across the U.S.

“There is a growing pattern of opposing Mosques … all over America,” Mahdi Bray, the Executive Director for the Muslim American Society, said during a press conference Tuesday at the National Press Club.

Bray said that construction of mosques are being challenged in other parts of New York as well as Tennessee, Wisconsin, Alabama, Florida and California. Brady also noted that there has been in increase in vandalism among Islamic religious centers, and pointed to a botched pipe bomb that went off in a Florida mosque this May.

Brandishing a pocket-copy of the Constitution, Bray decried opponents for encroaching on the Muslim community’s religious freedoms. 

Bray was joined by a collection of inter-faith leaders, including representatives from the Jewish and Catholic faiths.