Muslim-bashing televangelist Bill Keller to bring inflammatory brand of worship to Ground Zero
Monday, 06 September 2010 02:28
A Muslim-bashing evangelical preacher is bringing his inflammatory brand of worship to Ground Zero - and even the anti-mosque crowd doesn't want him.
Florida pastor Bill Keller plans to preside over his first sermon near the former World Trade Center site on Sunday as a direct challenge to Park51, the controversial mosque and community center planned for nearby.
And he'll keep holding services at the Marriott hotel across from Ground Zero until he finds rental space for a 9/11 Christian Center.
"The center is there to bring hope and to help people," Keller said Thursday. "It's not designed to be a place where we preach against Islam, although we will preach against Islam and Mormonism and any other false religion."
Andy Sullivan, a leader in the movement to move Park51, said Keller's 9/11 Christian Center is "just what we do not need" near Ground Zero.
"This guy is going to justify all the people who call us bigots and racists for opposing the mosque," he said.
Keller earned a degree from Jerry Falwell's Liberty University while serving three years in prison for insider trading. He became a television and Internet pastor when he was released in the early 1990s and now claims a following of 2.4million.
He is creating the center so people in lower Manhattan will have an alternative to Park51 - a place he considers a breeding ground for terrorism.
"Islam is a religion of hate, violence and death," he said. "You can candy-coat it as the religion of peace, but when you boil it down, every time you see a potential terrorist attack, the common thread is they have all been perpetrated by Muslims."
Thursday groups representing relatives of 9/11 victims asked supporters and opponents of the proposed mosque near Ground Zero to stop protests or rallies planned for the anniversary of the attacks.
They would be "disrespectful to all who see 9/11 as a day outside of politics, when we desire to remain united in honoring the lives and the courage of our many friends and loved ones," the groups said.
Meanwhile, controversial Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan threw his support behind Park51 Thursday, saying Muslims died on 9/11, too.