Ellison: There's room for Islamic center near ground zero

NEW YORK - Standing three blocks from the World Trade Center site on the eve of Sept. 11, Rep. Keith Ellison looked out over more than 1,500 people wearing white and holding candles in support of a proposed Islamic center and mosque near ground zero.

"The whole world is watching you," Ellison told the mosque supporters. "You emphatically say we are together, and we can't be torn apart based on religion."

Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, has never shied away from talking about his Muslim faith, but until now has not attempted to be a spokesman for it. Now, as he tries for a third term, he has jumped into the front line of a controversy that has sparked the biggest anti-Muslim backlash since the terrorist attacks of nine years ago.

In the past month, Ellison has appeared more than a dozen times on national television, calling the mosque's detractors "proponents of religious bigotry" and lumping them with those who claim that President Obama is not a U.S. citizen.

The fervor surrounding the debate, he says, has prompted him to ramp up his efforts on religious tolerance in the United States.

"This series of events has given me a new shot and a renewed commitment to make sure America's doors stay open, and we won't ever say we have somebody we want to throw under the bus," Ellison told the Star Tribune. "Not the Japanese, not the Catholics, not the Jews, and now not the Muslims. We're not going to do that. We're going to stay a country that prizes its diversity."

The controversy reached fever pitch last week, thanks to dueling protests in lower Manhattan and a threat by a Florida pastor to burn copies of the Qur'an.

First Muslim in Congress

Ellison's religion has put him under the microscope before.

During his 2006 campaign, opponents attempted to link him to the Nation of Islam and Louis Farrakhan. His election garnered international attention, particularly in the Muslim world. Even his swearing-in was controversial -- Ellison created a stir when he used a Qur'an owned by Thomas Jefferson instead of the more traditional Bible.

Later, under President Bush, the State Department promoted Ellison's election in the Mideast as proof that the United States was not at war with Islam.

Ellison was one of five members of Congress arrested for protesting at the Sudanese embassy in Washington after nongovernmental groups were kicked out of Darfur.

"My advocacy on this question is not rooted in my own religious beliefs," he said. "If this were happening to some Jews, or some Christians, or some Baha'i people, I would be saying they can build their temple where they please, where they have a legal right to do so."

Haris Tarin, Washington director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, said the Muslim community lauded Ellison's election, but it doesn't necessarily look to him to be an authority on Muslim issues.

"They say, 'We don't want to see him as a Muslim guy, we just want to see him as Keith Ellison, a congressman who happens to be Muslim,'" Tarin said.

Ellison's biggest effect among U.S. Muslims has been advancing civic engagement, said Osama Siblani, publisher of the Arab American News. "He encourages other people who say, I could be Muslim and I could be in Congress," Siblani said.

Overlooking ground zero

"There is enough room in this neighborhood for an Islamic center," Ellison told the assembled crowd that night. "We don't say there's not room or they're unfit or they're not worthy to be around. They're our fellow Americans, and we make room for fellow Americans."

The next day, Sept. 11 victims' families remembered loved ones lost, before protests again returned to the area surrounding ground zero.

Ellison said he's not surprised by the backlash the mosque has started.

"Scapegoating, fear and prejudice are all very human," he said. "But reaching out to people different from you in moments like this is divine."