Defending Religious Tolerance: Remarks on the Mosque Near Ground Zero

Please read the whole speech that Mayor Bloomberg gave today. This country started because of religious persecution in other countries and many immigrants still come here because of that. - - Donna Poisl

The following are New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's remarks as delivered on Governors Island.

We have come here to Governors Island to stand where the earliest settlers first set foot in New Amsterdam, and where the seeds of religious tolerance were first planted. We've come here to see the inspiring symbol of liberty that, more than 250 years later, would greet millions of immigrants in the harbor, and we come here to state as strongly as ever - this is the freest City in the world. That's what makes New York special and different and strong.

Our doors are open to everyone - everyone with a dream and a willingness to work hard and play by the rules. New York City was built by immigrants, and it is sustained by immigrants - by people from more than a hundred different countries speaking more than two hundred different languages and professing every faith.
Click on the headline above to read the rest of this speech! This is only a small part of it.