Last week, the Virginia Beach City Council voted 9-1 in approval of the city’s first mosque. But that lone “no” vote by Councilman Bill DeSteph has created controversy. He claims building the mosque would be a threat to national security.
The Council’s approval gave local Muslim nonprofit Crescent Community Center the green light to build the mosque at the intersection of Landstown Road and Salem Road. The group says the site will hold up to 225 people in its prayer hall.
DeSteph told media outlets last week he voted in opposition to the plan because he had information linking Crescent Community Center to the Mosque and Islamic Center of Hampton Roads, which he said has ties to the radical Muslim Brotherhood.
WAVY.com obtained a PowerPoint presentation that DeSteph emailed to a constituent with information about members from the Crescent Community Center and the Hampton mosque. The document raises questions about links to the Muslim brotherhood, but the statements are vague and fail to show any documented proof that anyone in the Hampton Roads Muslim community poses any threat.
One constituent wrote back to the councilman, taking issue with his so called proof: “This garbage is nothing more than a Joe McCarthy type attempt to insinuate through … innuendo … the mosque will be a haven for radical Islamists.”
