Mayor Michael Bloomberg delivered an impassioned speech on religious freedom at a Ramadan dinner at Gracie Mansion Tuesday night, declaring there’s “nowhere in the five boroughs of New York City that is off limits to any religion.”
Mr. Bloomberg, speaking at an annual Iftar dinner, said he understood the impulse to find an alternative location for the proposed mosque and Islamic cultural center near Ground Zero. But this kind of “compromise,” as Gov. David Paterson and others have suggested, will not the end the debate, he said.
“The question will then become, how big should the ‘no-mosque zone’ be around the World Trade Center site? There is already a mosque four blocks away. Should it be moved?” the mayor said. “This is a test of our commitment to American values. We have to have the courage of our convictions. We must do what is right, not what is easy.”
Mr. Bloomberg also defended Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the spiritual leader of the proposed center, while acknowledging that some of the imam’s statements have stoked controversy.
The mayor said, “Let me declare that we in New York are Jews and Christians and Muslims, and we always have been. And above all of that, we are Americans, each with an equal right to worship and pray where we choose.”
When the mayor finished speaking, the largely Muslim audience of nearly 100, including leading organizers of the proposed mosque, rose to their feet and applauded. Guests were dining on hummus, tomato soup and lamb kebab.
“Mayor Bloomberg’s speech embodied the values and the mores that we as Muslim Americans live and cherish,” said Sharif El-Gamal, the center’s developer.
Daisy Khan, wife of the imam and one of the lead organizers, said, “I was almost in tears.”
Across the street from Gracie Mansion, protester Marion D.S. Dreyfus, said she was deeply disappointed with Mr. Bloomberg for supporting the mosque and sponsoring the dinner.
“There is no responsibility of a Jewish mayor of a largely Jewish town to give an Iftar dinner,” said Ms. Dreyfus, a college teacher. “The fact that he is says again that he is sticking a stick in our eye.”
Another protester, Andrew Upton of the Bronx, said, “If the Muslim community in New York was really respectful, they would not push this mosque down at Ground Zero. And if they’re not respectful…we shouldn’t just sort of suck it up and say, ‘Come on over and have dinner with us.’
