Congresswoman Shelley Berkley (D-NV), a voice of reason

Congresswoman Shelley Berkley (D-NV) this past Tuesday showed why her Nevada constituents in Congressional District (CD1) keep sending her back to Washington.

With everyone around her being swept up by the hysteria created by the proposed Mosque in New York, including some from her own party, she stepped above the fray and gave her sound reasons why she supported the proposed Mosque that may be built two blocks from “Ground Zero”.

Here are some of her comments on the proposed Mosque.

"Given the fact that my family and people in my religion have suffered so much from religious persecution, I cannot see how I can speak out against other minority religions in this country and their free exercise of their own religion," said Berkley, D-Nev., whose Jewish grandparents emigrated from Europe and so escaped the Holocaust.

"I've been down to the site of the terrorist attack in downtown Manhattan on a number of occasions," she said. "The proposed mosque, which is on private property, is a few blocks away. It is in the same area as tattoo parlors and souvenir shops and bars.

"How far away should this mosque be located that would satisfy people who are so upset about the location?" she said. "As long as it is zoned properly and funded properly, the government has no business interfering with this.

"Do I feel sensitivity for those families that suffered horrible losses and unspeakable crimes (in the Sept. 11 attack)? Of course," Berkley said. "Is this the best location on the planet for this mosque? Probably not.

"But doesn't the Constitution permit the free exercise of religious beliefs? How many synagogues have been burned to the ground with Jews in them because of religious intolerance?"

Congresswoman Berkley draws upon her own families experience with religious intolerance during Nazi Germany‘s persecution of Jews. She also recognizes that the Constitution of the United States and the Laws she had sworn to protect, allows freedom of religion, not just for Islam but for all religions, and for all Americans.