N. Ireland leader retreats from anti-Muslim remarks

DUBLIN: Northern Ireland’s Protestant leader retreated Thursday from anti-Muslim comments he made when defending a Belfast evangelist’s right to denounce Islam, but government colleagues accused him of defending prejudicial attitudes at a time of rising race-motivated violence.
“No part of me would want to insult or cause distress to local Muslims,” First Minister Peter Robinson said in a statement that offered no apology for his original comments. Robinson said he planned to meet leaders of Northern Ireland’s Muslim community — representing about 5,000 of the 1.8 million residents of the British territory — to express his “support for them as integral law-abiding citizens.”
Robinson continued to argue that Pastor James McConnell, one of Northern Ireland’s most prominent preachers, should enjoy freedom of speech from his pulpit to critisize Muslims.
Many Protestant and Catholic church and political officials have joined Belfast Muslim leaders in criticizing both McConnell’s sermon and Robinson’s support for the evangelist. Robinson, 65, has led Northern Ireland’s five-party government alongside Catholic leaders since 2008.
McConnell told his congregation May 18 that Muslim immigrants to Britain ran terrorist cells nationwide.
“People say there are good Muslims in Britain. That may be so. But I don’t trust them,” McConnell said in comments distributed through his church’s Web site and spread through social media.
Robinson, who has attended McConnell’s church, offered support both for the preacher’s right to speak and the sentiments expressed.
He told a Belfast newspaper, the Irish News, that he also distrusted those Muslims “who are fully devoted to Sharia law” — but would trust them to collect his groceries or hand him the correct change in a shop.
When the audiotaped interview was played Wednesday on radio, jaws dropped across Northern Ireland.