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

[Paul Rumelhart]

Myself, I don't have a problem with someone building a mosque - even if it's 
situated close to ground zero.  Islamic extremists do not represent all of Islam 
in the same way that white supremacists who use the Bible as justification do 
not represent all of Christianity.  


We're not at war with Islam, we're at war with a bunch of nutjobs that use their 
religion to manipulate others.

Paul







________________________________
From: Art Deco <deco at moscow.com>
To: Vision 2020 <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Sent: Tue, August 10, 2010 5:33:34 PM
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Far from ground zero, opponents fight new mosques

 
Tom Tolesby Tom Toles
	* August 10, 2010
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----- Original Message ----- 
>From: Saundra    Lund 
>To: 'Vision 2020' 
>Sent: Sunday, August 08, 2010 3:45    PM
>Subject: [Vision2020] Far from ground    zero, opponents fight new mosques
>
>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.
>
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