Ellison: Anti-mosque activists are the ‘radical extreme’

Rep. Keith Ellison spoke out against calls to halt construction of any new mosques in the United States on Countdown with Keith Olbermann on Wednesday. Several right wing groups, including Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association, have called on the government to deny permits to build new mosques following controversy over a Muslim community center slated to be built in New York City several blocks from Ground Zero.

“I think it’s important for Americans to put these folks in the box of the radical extreme which they are. The mainstream idea is that all Americans have a first amendment which protects their right to worship as they see fit,” Ellison told Olbermann.

Fischer of the American Family Association said last week, “Permits should not be granted to build even one more mosque in the United States of America, let alone the monstrosity planned for Ground Zero. This is for one simple reason: each Islamic mosque is dedicated to the overthrow of the American government.”

Ellison said to undermine the myth that the West is at war with the Islamic world is simply to support the American tradition of religious freedom. He said statements like Fischer’s help to reinforce the view that America is anti-Muslim.

Fischer is a featured speaker at the upcoming Values Voter Summit in mid-September. Ellison said Republicans who attend the summit are “embracing clearly bigoted organizations” and “lending credibility” to those ideas.

Rep. Michele Bachmann is the only Minnesota leader scheduled to speak at the summit. The Minnesota Independent has contacted Bachmann’s office for comment on Fischer’s statements. We will publish any response we receive.

Here are Ellison’s full comments on Countdown:

Related:

Minnesota’s Chemberlin decries ‘xenophobia, bigotry’ of opponents of Islamic center near 9/11 site

Muslim leaders call on Pawlenty to retract statement on Ground Zero-area mosque