<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:times new roman,new york,times,serif;font-size:12pt">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. <br><br>We're not at war with Islam, we're at war with a bunch of nutjobs that use their religion to manipulate others.<br><br>Paul<br><br><br><div><br></div><div style="font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br><div style="font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"><font face="Tahoma" size="2"><hr size="1"><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">From:</span></b> Art Deco <deco@moscow.com><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> Vision 2020
<vision2020@moscow.com><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Tue, August 10, 2010 5:33:34 PM<br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> Re: [Vision2020] Far from ground zero, opponents fight new mosques<br></font><br>
<style></style>
<div><font size="2">
<h1><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.gocomics.com/tomtoles/2010/08/10/">Tom Toles</a><span>
by Tom Toles</span></h1>
<ul class="feature-nav">
<li>August 10, 2010</li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" class="beginning" target="_blank" href="http://www.gocomics.com/tomtoles/1997/11/26/">From Beginning</a></li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" class="prev" target="_blank" href="http://www.gocomics.com/tomtoles/2010/08/09/">Previous
feature</a></li>
<li><a rel="nofollow" class="cal" target="_blank" href="http://www.gocomics.com/comic_page/explore/271908?page=7#">Show
Calendar</a>
<div id="calDiv"></div></li></ul>
<p class="feature_item"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://imgsrv.gocomics.com/dim/?fh=742bb3cb59bf14f81735116c4daa570a&w=750.0"><img alt="Tom Toles" src="http://imgsrv.gocomics.com/dim/?fh=742bb3cb59bf14f81735116c4daa570a" height="429" width="500"></a> </p></font></div>
<blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 0px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 0px;">
<div style="font: 10pt arial;">----- Original Message ----- </div>
<div style="font: 10pt arial; background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(228, 228, 228);"><b>From:</b>
<a rel="nofollow" title="v2020@ssl.fastmail.fm" ymailto="mailto:v2020@ssl.fastmail.fm" target="_blank" href="mailto:v2020@ssl.fastmail.fm">Saundra
Lund</a> </div>
<div style="font: 10pt arial;"><b>To:</b> <a rel="nofollow" title="vision2020@moscow.com" ymailto="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com" target="_blank" href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">'Vision 2020'</a> </div>
<div style="font: 10pt arial;"><b>Sent:</b> Sunday, August 08, 2010 3:45
PM</div>
<div style="font: 10pt arial;"><b>Subject:</b> [Vision2020] Far from ground
zero, opponents fight new mosques</div>
<div><br></div>Given the absolutely shameful fear- and hate-mongering
surrounding the<br>Islamic Community Center in NY, I suppose we can't be
surprised that the<br>nonsense has spread :-( I suppose we can't
be surprised, but I'm<br>heart-broken nonetheless.<br><br>Perhaps one of the
greatest modern American tragedies is those so-called<br>Americans who lack an
understanding of the pivotal role the freedom of and<br>from religion played
in the founding of this great nation and our<br>Constitution. When the shoe
has been on the other foot, those same so-called<br>Americans have shrilly
demanded that people who disagree with them should<br>leave the country. Would
that they would follow that instruction themselves<br>and choose one of the
countries without religious freedom where they'd fit<br>right in. I can think
of a few places . . .<br><br>Saundra Lund<br>Moscow, ID<br><br>Compassion is
the basis of all morality.<br>~ Arthur Schopenhuaer<br><br><br><span><a target="_blank" href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38615800/">http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38615800/</a></span><br><br>Far
from ground zero, opponents fight new mosques<br>By TRAVIS LOLLER
<br>AP<br>updated 2 hours 18 minutes ago<br><br>MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Muslims
trying to build houses of worship in the<br>nation's heartland, far from the
heated fight in New York over plans for a<br>mosque near ground zero, are
running into opponents even more hostile and<br>aggressive. <br><br>Foes of
proposed mosques have deployed dogs to intimidate Muslims holding<br>prayer
services and spray painted "Not Welcome" on a construction sign, then<br>later
ripped it apart.<br><br>The 13-story, $100 million Islamic center that could
soon rise two blocks<br>from the site of the Sept. 11 attacks would dwarf the
proposals elsewhere,<br>yet the smaller projects in local communities are
stoking a sharper kind of<br>fear and anger than has showed up in New
York.<br><br>In the Nashville suburb of Murfreesboro, opponents of a new
Islamic center<br>say they believe the mosque will be more than a place of
prayer. They are<br>afraid the 15-acre site that was once farmland will be
turned into a<br>terrorist training ground for Muslim militants bent on
overthrowing the U.S.<br>government.<br><br>"They are not a religion. They are
a political, militaristic group," said<br>Bob Shelton, a 76-year-old retiree
who lives in the area.<br><br>Shelton was among several hundred demonstrators
recently who wore "Vote for<br>Jesus" T-shirts and carried signs that said:
"No Sharia law for USA!,"<br>referring to the Islamic code of law. Others took
their opposition further,<br>spray painting the sign announcing the "Future
site of the Islamic Center of<br>Murfreesboro" and tearing it up.<br><br>In
Temecula, Calif., opponents brought dogs to protest a
proposed<br>25,000-square-foot mosque that would sit on four acres next to a
Baptist<br>church. Opponents worry it will turn the town into haven for
Islamic<br>extremists, but mosque leaders say they are peaceful and just need
more room<br>to serve members.<br><br>Islam is a growing faith in the U.S.,
though Muslims represent less than 1<br>percent of the country's population.
Ten years ago, there were about 1,200<br>mosques nationwide. Now there are
roughly 1,900, according to Ihsan Bagby,<br>professor of Islamic Studies at
the University of Kentucky and a researcher<br>on surveys of American
mosques.<br><br>The growth involves Islamic centers expanding to accommodate
more Muslims -<br>as is the case in New York, California and Tennessee - as
well as mosques<br>cropping up in smaller, more isolated communities, Bagby
said.<br><br>A 2007 survey of Muslim Americans by the Pew Research Center
found that 39<br>percent of adult Muslims living in the United States were
immigrants that<br>had come here since 1990.<br><br>"In every religious
community, one of the things that has happened over the<br>course of
immigration is that people get settled and eventually build<br>something that
says, 'We're here! We're not just camping,'" said Diana Eck,<br>a professor of
Comparative Religion at the Harvard University. "In part,<br>that's because
those communities have put down roots in America and made<br>this their
home."<br><br>Before the demonstration in Murfreesboro, a fundraiser was held
for the new<br>community center. Children behind a folding table sold homemade
wooden<br>plaques, door hangers and small serving trays decorated with glitter
and<br>messages like, "Peace," "I love being a Muslim" and "Freedom of
Religion."<br><br>Mosque leader Essam Fathy, who helped plan the new building
in Murfreesboro,<br>has lived there for 30 years.<br><br>"I didn't think
people would try that hard to oppose something that's in the<br>Constitution,"
he said. "The Islamic center has been here since the early<br>'80s, 12 years
in this location. There's nothing different now except it's<br>going to be a
little bigger."<br><br>Bagby said that hasn't stopped foes from becoming more
virulent.<br><br>"It was there before, but it didn't have as much traction.
The larger public<br>never embraced it," he said. "The level of anger, the
level of hostility is<br>much higher in the last few years."<br><br>The
Murfreesboro mosque is one of three planned in the Nashville area that<br>have
drawn recent scrutiny.<br><br>Zuhdi Jasser, president of the American Islamic
Forum for Democracy, a<br>nonprofit that advocates for reform and
modernization of Islam, said<br>opposing mosques is no way to prevent
terrorism.<br><br>Neighbors didn't want his family to build a mosque in 1979
in Neenah, Wis.,<br>because they didn't understand who Muslims
were.<br><br>=======================================================<br> List
services made available by First Step Internet, <br> serving the
communities of the Palouse since 1994.
<br><span>
<a target="_blank" href="http://www.fsr.net">http://www.fsr.net</a>
</span><br> <a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com" target="_blank" href="mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com">mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com</a><br>=======================================================<br></blockquote></div></div>
</div></body></html>