NEW YORK • Numerous civil rights and religious groups on Wednesday announced the creation of a coalition to voice support for a community center and mosque near the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in Manhattan.

The move comes three days after hundreds of opponents of the center protested near the former site of the World Trade Center. The proposed community center and mosque in lower Manhattan has sparked contentious national debate in recent weeks, with opponents saying the location is insensitive to the nearly 3,000 people who died in the terrorist attacks.

The new coalition, called the New York Neighbors for American Values, said the center, which would be built a few blocks away from ground zero, would be a positive addition to the neighborhood and is needed to foster religious tolerance. The debate, they said, is creating fear.

"It's not appropriate for us to say here in New York, 'Religious freedom, but not in my backyard,'" said Donna Lieberman, director of the New York Civil Liberties Union and a member of the coalition.

Lieberman said an attack on a cabdriver this week was an example of violence fueled by fear-mongering. Ahmed Sharif, 43, was slashed across the neck, face and shoulders on Tuesday night, allegedly after his assailant asked whether Sharif was a Muslim.

Michael Enright, 21, has been arrested on an array of charges, including attempted murder as a hate crime, according to the New York Police Department.

"This attack runs counter to everything that New Yorkers believe, no matter what God we may pray to," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a statement.