The 9/11 families group “September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows” is teaming up with at least 40 religious and civic organizations to form a coalition called “New York Neighbors  For American Values.” 

Meantime the mosque continues to spark debate throughout New York City.

A small group calling for an alternative location for the Lower Manhattan mosque gathered outside the governor’s mansion Tuesday night, where New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg reiterated his support for the proposal saying it is test of “our commitment to American values.” 

The mosque’s developer also met with Gov. David Paterson on Tuesday to discuss the possibility of moving the mosque to another spot.

A new poll reveals that the American public continues to express conflicted views of Islam.

Favorable opinions of Islam have declined since 2005, but there has been virtually no change over the past year in the proportion of Americans saying that Islam is more likely than other religions to encourage violence.

Slightly more people say the Islamic religion does not encourage violence more than other religions (42 percent) than say that it does (35 percent), according to the poll, released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center.

The poll addressed the controversy over the proposed construction of an Islamic cultural center near the 9/11 site, and found that more Americans agree with those who object to the building of the center than with the supporters of the project (51 percent to 34 percent).

At the same time, 62 percent say that Muslims should have the same rights as other religious groups to build houses of worship in their local communities.

The poll found there are substantial partisan, educational and age differences in opinions about Islam. By more than two-to-one (54 percent to 21 percent), Republicans expressed an unfavorable opinion of Islam while Democrats have a far higher opinion of Islam (by 41 percent to 27 percent).

While those who are younger than 50 have mixed views of Islam, the balance of opinion is more negative among those older than 50 (44 percent unfavorable vs. 24 percent favorable). 

Significantly, college graduates expressed a favorable opinion of Islam, 47% to 28%.

Most significantly, the poll found that many Americans say they know little about the Muslim religion. Currently, 55 percent say they do not know very much (30 percent) or know nothing at all (25 percent) about the Muslim religion and its practices; 35 percent say they know some about the religion while just 9 percent say they know a great deal.