Salman Rushdie has come out in support of Park 51. Rushdie, as you may recall, had a price put on his head by the Iranian government over his book The Satanic Verses.

He says he understands the “sensitivities” of building the site close to where thousands were killed during on Sept. 11, 2001.

But he says First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and religion should be honored. He adds that he is “not personally” a lover of mosques or any place of worship.

But he says that if people “want a mosque, it seems absolutely right they should have it.” (via: AP)

The New York Post quotes him as explicitly supporting Park51:

It’s just a stupid argument,” said Rushdie, after he spoke at the Brooklyn Book Festival. “Of course they should be able to build a mosque there.”

I wonder what the haters are going to do now now that the man behind one of their reasons for opposing Park51 has come out in support of it.