Photo of Congressman West by Debra Todd
Cooper Levey-Baker
Florida Independent
2/2/2011
In a letter sent today to Rep. Allen West, R-Fort Lauderdale, national religious leaders called on West to apologize for saying that Muslim congressman Keith Ellison represents the “antithesis of the principles upon which this country was established.”
The letter — signed by the Interfaith Alliance’s Welton Gaddy, the Rabbinical Assembly’s Jack Moline, the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism’s David Saperstein and the Letter+From+Allen+West’s J. Brent Walker — chastises West for his comments about Ellison, and also criticizes his “tendency to offer intemperate comments about Islam”:
In a recent interview with the “Shalom Show,” you underscored that your mission is to represent and uphold the values of your constituents; this is an unquestionably noble goal. However, your subsequent statement that Representative Keith Ellison, one of your colleagues in the House of Representatives, is the “antithesis of the principles on which this country was established” because he is Muslim, shows a frightening lack of understanding for these values. Regardless of the specific “principles” you intended to reference, it is an indisputable fact that one of those principles is religious freedom for all, memorialized in the United States Constitution—including, of course, Article VI’s prohibition on any religious test for public office. Your remarks disrespect not only your Muslim colleagues in the Congress, but also all of your constituents of the Muslim faith. This is neither appropriate, nor true to the American values that you reference.Regrettably, this is just the latest example of your tendency to offer intemperate comments about Islam.…
…West has responded to Gaddy, Moline, Saperstein and Walker’s letter.
“I am neither anti-Muslim nor anti-Islam,” West writes them in response. “I respect every religion, and the Constitutionally-protected right to practice that faith in a peaceful manner.”…
Attempting to explain his comments about Rep. Ellison, West states that he is concerned with the “radical jihadist movement” within Islam, and accuses the Council on American-Islamic Relations of being one of a few American groups “that masquerade as more peaceful moderates” while supporting that movement.
“My comments in regards to my colleague, Representative Keith Ellison, are not about his Islamic faith, but about his continued support of CAIR,” West writes, a point the congressman was unclear about when making his original controversial statement…
Read the entire article at Florida Independent where there is a copy of Rep. West’s letter in PDF format.
H/T Weasel Zippers
