Oklahoma City Religious Leaders Denounce Quran Burning

Staff and Wire Reports

OKLAHOMA CITY -- A group of religious leaders from across Oklahoma City are joining together to denounce a Florida pastor's plan to burn copies of the Quran on Sept. 11.

Church leaders gathered Wednesday at the Church of the Open Arms as a sign of solidarity for the city's Muslim community.

The leader of an Oklahoma Islamic group and a state senator whose brother was killed in the Sept. 11 attack also spoke at the event.

State Sen. Andrew Rice says the idea is offensive and contradicts what he says is the most basic tenet of the U.S. Constitution -- religious freedom.

A representative of the Oklahoma City Muslim community called the planned burning of the Quran a mockery and is asking different religious groups to pray for the lives lost on Sept. 11.

Director of the Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations Razi Hashmi says the nation is undergoing an "intense period of Islamophobia."