[Vision2020] Far from ground zero, opponents fight new mosques

[Saundra Lund]

Given the absolutely shameful fear- and hate-mongering surrounding the
Islamic Community Center in NY, I suppose we can't be surprised that the
nonsense has spread  :-(  I suppose we can't be surprised, but I'm
heart-broken nonetheless.

Perhaps one of the greatest modern American tragedies is those so-called
Americans who lack an understanding of the pivotal role the freedom of and
from religion played in the founding of this great nation and our
Constitution. When the shoe has been on the other foot, those same so-called
Americans have shrilly demanded that people who disagree with them should
leave the country. Would that they would follow that instruction themselves
and choose one of the countries without religious freedom where they'd fit
right in. I can think of a few places . . .

Saundra Lund
Moscow, ID

Compassion is the basis of all morality.
~ Arthur Schopenhuaer


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38615800/

Far from ground zero, opponents fight new mosques
By TRAVIS LOLLER 
AP
updated 2 hours 18 minutes ago

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Muslims trying to build houses of worship in the
nation's heartland, far from the heated fight in New York over plans for a
mosque near ground zero, are running into opponents even more hostile and
aggressive. 

Foes of proposed mosques have deployed dogs to intimidate Muslims holding
prayer services and spray painted "Not Welcome" on a construction sign, then
later ripped it apart.

The 13-story, $100 million Islamic center that could soon rise two blocks
from the site of the Sept. 11 attacks would dwarf the proposals elsewhere,
yet the smaller projects in local communities are stoking a sharper kind of
fear and anger than has showed up in New York.

In the Nashville suburb of Murfreesboro, opponents of a new Islamic center
say they believe the mosque will be more than a place of prayer. They are
afraid the 15-acre site that was once farmland will be turned into a
terrorist training ground for Muslim militants bent on overthrowing the U.S.
government.

"They are not a religion. They are a political, militaristic group," said
Bob Shelton, a 76-year-old retiree who lives in the area.

Shelton was among several hundred demonstrators recently who wore "Vote for
Jesus" T-shirts and carried signs that said: "No Sharia law for USA!,"
referring to the Islamic code of law. Others took their opposition further,
spray painting the sign announcing the "Future site of the Islamic Center of
Murfreesboro" and tearing it up.

In Temecula, Calif., opponents brought dogs to protest a proposed
25,000-square-foot mosque that would sit on four acres next to a Baptist
church. Opponents worry it will turn the town into haven for Islamic
extremists, but mosque leaders say they are peaceful and just need more room
to serve members.

Islam is a growing faith in the U.S., though Muslims represent less than 1
percent of the country's population. Ten years ago, there were about 1,200
mosques nationwide. Now there are roughly 1,900, according to Ihsan Bagby,
professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Kentucky and a researcher
on surveys of American mosques.

The growth involves Islamic centers expanding to accommodate more Muslims -
as is the case in New York, California and Tennessee - as well as mosques
cropping up in smaller, more isolated communities, Bagby said.

A 2007 survey of Muslim Americans by the Pew Research Center found that 39
percent of adult Muslims living in the United States were immigrants that
had come here since 1990.

"In every religious community, one of the things that has happened over the
course of immigration is that people get settled and eventually build
something that says, 'We're here! We're not just camping,'" said Diana Eck,
a professor of Comparative Religion at the Harvard University. "In part,
that's because those communities have put down roots in America and made
this their home."

Before the demonstration in Murfreesboro, a fundraiser was held for the new
community center. Children behind a folding table sold homemade wooden
plaques, door hangers and small serving trays decorated with glitter and
messages like, "Peace," "I love being a Muslim" and "Freedom of Religion."

Mosque leader Essam Fathy, who helped plan the new building in Murfreesboro,
has lived there for 30 years.

"I didn't think people would try that hard to oppose something that's in the
Constitution," he said. "The Islamic center has been here since the early
'80s, 12 years in this location. There's nothing different now except it's
going to be a little bigger."

Bagby said that hasn't stopped foes from becoming more virulent.

"It was there before, but it didn't have as much traction. The larger public
never embraced it," he said. "The level of anger, the level of hostility is
much higher in the last few years."

The Murfreesboro mosque is one of three planned in the Nashville area that
have drawn recent scrutiny.

Zuhdi Jasser, president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, a
nonprofit that advocates for reform and modernization of Islam, said
opposing mosques is no way to prevent terrorism.

Neighbors didn't want his family to build a mosque in 1979 in Neenah, Wis.,
because they didn't understand who Muslims were.