US Attorney General Eric Holder was Tuesday to meet with religious leaders from across all faiths to discuss ways to stem a wave of attacks against Muslims and mosques.
The talks would examine measures the Department of Justice "can take against rising anti-Muslim hate and acts of violence and intimidation against American Muslims," the broad coalition said in a press release.
The 4:00 pm (2000 GMT) meeting comes as an evangelical church in Florida vowed to press ahead with plans to burn a Koran on Saturday, to mark the ninth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Anti-Muslim tensions also appear to have been rising after a Muslim group proposed building an Islamic cultural center near Ground Zero, the site where the World Trade Center once stood before it was destroyed in the 9/11 attacks.
The coalition called on Holder to make a strong statement underscoring the US government's commitment to religious freedom and condemning hate crimes.
"Religious leaders encourage the Department of Justice to be highly visible and unceasingly bold in protecting the guarantees of the constitution for minorities as well as for the majority," said Interfaith Alliance president Welton Gaddy in a statement.
"Having spoken to many families across the country over the last few weeks, I have heard many Muslim Americans say they have never felt this anxious or this insecure in America since directly after September 11," Ingrid Mattson, head of the Islamic Society of North America, told a press conference.
She was flanked by the other religious leaders who were to meet Holder later in the day in a coordinated show of support.
"We are profoundly distressed and deeply saddened by the incidents of violence committed against Muslims in our communities. And by the desecration of Islamic houses of worship," said Rabbi Nancy Kreimer.
"We stand by the principle that to attack any religion in the United States is to do violence to the religious freedom of all Americans."
Richard Cizik, one of the country's most prominent evangelical leaders, also hit out at conservative Christian groups which have led some of the inflammatory moves against Muslims, and called for the protection of religious freedom.
"To those who would exercise derision... bigotry, open rejection of our fellow Americans for their religious faith, I say shame on you," he said.
"As an evangelical, I say to those who do this, I say, you bring dishonor to the name of Jesus Christ. You directly disobey his commandment to love our neighbor. You violate the command... not to bear false witness."
Copyright 2010 AFP American Edition
