CBST has launched a new Social Justice Blog on their site, and in the past two weeks, Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum has posted as many blog posts about current issues. The latest, posted today, is about the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque” and Rabbi Kleinbaum is calling for support for the project. The call to the whole Jewish community is based both in Jewish history, and in the experience of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Jews in New York.

Now, the same debate rages in our Jewish communities as we grapple with the questions of how much religious tolerance is too much tolerance. How close is too close for an Islamic Cultural Center to be to Ground Zero? The answer to both these questions: no such thing. Religious freedom is one of the founding values of this country and it is central to the vibrancy of Jewish communities. Jews have been kept out of neighborhoods, clubs, universities, political organizations, entire countries even! How can we turn around and do the same to our Islamic neighbors? How dare we even consider putting a limit on religious freedom? When the Anti-Defamation League betrayed their mission of ending bigotry and extremism by opposing religious freedom, I felt the misguided pain of their trauma.

Read the full post from Rabbi Kleinbaum about Islamophobia and the “Ground Zero Mosque” on CBST’s Social Justice Blog.

What do you think?