A controversial national Muslim advocacy group with a long history of alleged terror ties is praising Santa Fe Archbishop John C. Wester after the Catholic prelate issued a statement supporting a proposed mosque and community center in Albuquerque’s North Valley.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, released a statement Monday welcoming Wester’s comments and thanking him for speaking out in favor of the project, which has drawn opposition from some nearby residents.
CAIR described Wester’s statement as support for “Muslims’ freedom to build mosque” and framed the controversy as part of a broader fight against “rising Islamophobia.”
The archbishop’s statement, titled “Supporting Our Muslim Neighbors’ Right to Worship,” said he had heard concerns from residents regarding the proposed mosque and community center in the North Valley.
“As Archbishop of Santa Fe and a resident of Albuquerque, I feel compelled to speak clearly and pastorally: our Muslim neighbors have the same God-given and constitutionally protected right to worship freely as every other faith community, including our own,” Wester wrote. “Defending that right is not only a civic duty but a core element of Catholic teaching.”
Wester also cited the Second Vatican Council, writing that the Catholic Church has long affirmed religious liberty as essential to human dignity. He said Dignitatis Humanae teaches that every person “must be free from coercion” in matters of faith.
“This principle applies universally,” Wester wrote. “It is not limited to Catholics or Christians; it extends fully to Muslims, Jews, and all people who seek to worship according to their conscience.”
He went further, saying “anti-Muslim sentiment has no place in the heart of a Christian.”
“Any hostility toward Muslims — whether expressed through rhetoric, suspicion, or opposition to their places of worship — is incompatible with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, who commands us to love our neighbor without exception,” Wester wrote.
CAIR quickly celebrated the statement.
“We welcome Archbishop Wester’s principled statement defending religious freedom and thank him for speaking out,” CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper said. “The freedom to worship is a fundamental and inalienable right of every American and every human being. As anti-Muslim bigotry rises throughout our nation, people of conscience and faith must stand together to encourage mutual respect.”
CAIR also noted that it had previously welcomed the Bernalillo County Planning Commission’s decision to reject an appeal and allow the planned Islamic center and mosque to move forward after months of public opposition.
But CAIR’s involvement brings its own baggage.
The group routinely presents itself as a civil rights organization. But critics, law enforcement officials, and Republican attorneys general have pointed for years to CAIR’s alleged ties to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.
Earlier this year, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against the Muslim Brotherhood, CAIR, and CAIR’s Texas chapters, seeking to stop what his office called “terrorist groups” from operating in the state.
Paxton’s office said CAIR-Texas founding board member Ghassan Elashi was convicted in 2008 of funneling $12.4 million to Hamas through the Holy Land Foundation. Federal prosecutors also named CAIR as an unindicted co-conspirator in that case.
According to the Texas lawsuit, “CAIR’s origin story reveals its true nature.” The petition alleges the group was created after a secret 1993 Philadelphia meeting where Hamas operatives, under FBI surveillance, discussed ways to support Hamas while avoiding law enforcement detection.
The lawsuit further cites a 2009 federal court finding that there was “ample evidence to establish the associations of CAIR” with Hamas.
InfluenceWatch, a project of the Capital Research Center, similarly notes that CAIR has long been suspected of supporting political Islamist movements, especially the Muslim Brotherhood. It says CAIR was founded by Nihad Awad and Omar Ahmad, both former officials of the Islamic Association for Palestine, which critics have described as pro-Hamas.
CAIR has repeatedly denied that it supports terrorism and has challenged state-level efforts to label it as a terrorist organization. The group maintains it is a Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization.
Still, for critics of the Albuquerque mosque project, CAIR’s public celebration of Wester’s statement is likely to deepen concern rather than calm it.
The local debate over the North Valley mosque has already become heated, with CAIR and other supporters casting opposition as bigotry while some residents have raised concerns about traffic, zoning, neighborhood character, and broader ideological issues — such as Sharia law — that oppresses many people of many backgrounds.
Wester urged Albuquerque residents to welcome the project with “goodwill,” writing, “A neighborhood that makes room for the prayers of many is stronger, more compassionate, and more reflective of the values we claim to uphold.”
But the archbishop’s statement now has the enthusiastic backing of CAIR — a group praised by the left as a civil rights organization, condemned by Texas officials as terror-linked, and long scrutinized for its alleged connections to Hamas-linked networks.
That raises a new question for New Mexico Catholics and North Valley residents alike: Why is an organization with CAIR’s record so eager to insert itself into Albuquerque’s mosque fight?