OCEAN CITY, Md. - The annual Ocean City Mayor's Prayer Breakfast has received a few protests from some religious groups because of this year's keynote speaker decision.
The selected speaker is Lt. Gen. William Boykins. Boykins is known for his views about the religion of Islam. He has said in the past that Islam should not be protected by the First Amendment, and that mosques should not be built in the United States.
Groups like People For the American Way and the Council for American-Islamic Relations have protested the retired general's involvement in the prayer breakfast.
"We're disturbed because he is the promoter of religious bigotry and religious discrimination against one group of Americans. He says that American Muslims aren't protected by the First Amendment, and that we should not be allowed to build mosques to worship in. We think those are extremist ideas that city officials shouldn't be giving credibility to," said Peter Montgomery, a senior fellow with PFAW.
Montgomery said his group even sent letters to the mayor of Ocean City to ask him not to attend the event, or to simply uninvite Boykins. However the mayor and the town government do not endorse or sponsor the breakfast, and town officials have no say in who is selected to be the keynote speaker.
Despite the requests from the two organizations, the breakfast will go on as planned. More than 300 people are expected to attend
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