Over 80 Long Island Faith Leaders Call On Peter King To Cancel ‘Muslim Radicalization’ Hearings

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http://thinkprogress.org/2011/02/17/faith-leaders-king/

Long Island Faith Leaders Call On Peter King To Cancel ‘Muslim Radicalization’ Hearings


As Rep. Peter King (R-NY) prepares to hold a congressional inquiry into the “radicalization of the American Muslim community and homegrown terrorism,” faith leaders in and around his district are forcefully asking him to cancel the hearings. Over 80 representatives of Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, and Hindu congregations on Long Island signed a letter to King expressing their concern that his hearings will “only further divide our community and undermine our nation’s highest ideals.”

While King has said he does not “want anything said at my hearing that could justify someone throwing a brick at a mosque,” his isolation of Muslim extremism as the only domestic terror threat, along with a history of troubling statements about Islam — he once said there are “too many mosques in this country” — concerns the faith leaders:

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King has already dialed back some of the more blatantly Islamophobic aspects of his hearings. He cancelled planned testimony from witness who believes “Islam is a cult,” and is refusing to call several hateful right-wing fearmongers despite some conservative pressure to do so.

Nevertheless, his narrowly focused inquiry is still potential red meat for an impressionable segment of Americans who hold anti-Muslim sentiments. A new poll by the Public Religion Research Institute found a “significant correlation” between evangelical Christians who watch Fox News and negative attitudes towards Islam. Fox News has for weeks been giving King a platform to promote and defend his hearings.