US president Barack Obama has backed the construction of a proposed mosque and Muslim cultural centre near the site of the September 11th attacks in New York - a project opposed by US conservatives and many New Yorkers.
"As a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country," Mr Obama said to applause at an event attended by diplomats from Islamic countries and members of the US Muslim community last night.
"That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community centre on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances," he said, weighing in for the first time in a national debate that has grown increasingly heated in recent weeks.
Earlier this month a New York city agency cleared the way for construction of the community centre, which will include a prayer room, two blocks from the site of the September 11th attacks, known as "Ground Zero."
"This is America and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable," said Mr Obama, who has made improving ties between the United States and the Muslim world a cornerstone of his foreign policy.
He was speaking during an Iftar dinner he hosted at the White House. Iftar is the evening meal when Muslims break their daily fast during the holy month of Ramadan.
About 2,750 people were killed in the September 11th attacks, when al Qaeda hijackers crashed two passenger planes into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre. The attacks deeply traumatized Americans and sparked the US invasion of Afghanistan and the Bush administration's "war on terror."
Many families of those killed in the attacks have mounted an emotional campaign to block the community centre, calling it provocative and a betrayal of the memory of the victims.
Conservative politicians such as former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich, a Republican former speaker of the House of Representatives, also have called for the project to be scrapped.
Mark Williams, a spokesman for the conservative Tea Party political movement, said the centre would be used by "terrorists".
In his remarks last night, Mr Obama preached the need for religious tolerance and noted that the First Amendment of the US Constitution had established the freedom of religion, "and that right has been upheld ever since."
The president also stressed that al Qaeda was not synonymous with Islam.
"Al Qaeda's cause is not Islam - it is a gross distortion of Islam," he said. "These are not religious leaders - these are terrorists who murder innocent men, women and children."
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has firmly supported the community centre project as have many religious organizations in the city. However, 53 per cent of New Yorkers oppose it, according to a Marist Poll this week.
Reuters