<div>This is perhaps off the topic of this thread, but during the controversy ( is this controversy over? ) over New Saint Andrews college in downtown Moscow's CBD (Central Business District), which some claim was allowed to occupy the Verizon building in violation of zoning law ( I found this website on this topic just now: <a href="http://www.zonemoscow.com/">http://www.zonemoscow.com/</a> ), it was suggested that if instead of a Christian college, that an Islamic oriented college (for example, Islamic University of Minnesota: <a href="http://www.iumn.net/English/EHome.aspx">http://www.iumn.net/English/EHome.aspx</a> ) had aimed to move into the Verizon building, the zoning restrictions would have been applied to block them. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>And some would argue this is wise, given the point of view possibly behind some of those who oppose a Mosque near the 9/11 WTC site, expressed by US General Boykin as described below. There is a sizable group of people in the US who view the "War on Terror" in part as a battle between the one true God of Christianity, and the false religion of Islam:</div>
<div> </div>
<div><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1016-01.htm">http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1016-01.htm</a></div>
<div> </div>
<div>From website above:</div>
<div> </div>
<div>
<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" align="center">
<tbody>
<tr align="left">
<td>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><i>Published on Thursday, October 16, 2003 by the <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-general16oct16,1,3848628,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines" target="_new">Los Angeles Times</a> </i></font></div>
</td></tr>
<tr align="left">
<td>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="5"><b>General Casts War in Religious Terms<br><font size="3">The top soldier assigned to track down Bin Laden and Hussein is an evangelical Christian who speaks publicly of 'the army of God.'<br>
</font></b></font></div></td></tr>
<tr align="left">
<td>
<div align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><b>by Richard T. Cooper</b></font></div></td></tr></tbody></table></div>
<div>
<p>Discussing the battle against a Muslim warlord in Somalia, Boykin told another audience, "I knew my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol."
<p>"We in the army of God, in the house of God, kingdom of God have been raised for such a time as this," Boykin said last year.
<p>On at least one occasion, in Sandy, Ore., in June, Boykin said of President Bush: "He's in the White House because God put him there."</p></p></p></div>
<div>-------------------------------------------</div>
<div>Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett<br><br> </div>
<div><span class="gmail_quote">On 8/9/10, <b class="gmail_sendername">Art Deco</b> <<a href="mailto:deco@moscow.com">deco@moscow.com</a>> wrote:</span>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">
<div bgcolor="#ffffff">
<div><font size="2">Don't you just love the arrogance exhibited and the ignorance of both religion and constitutional law in:</font></div>
<div><font size="2"></font> </div>
<div><font color="#0000ff" size="2">"They [Islam] 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..."</font></div>
<div><font size="2"></font> </div>
<div><font size="2">Back to the inquisition!</font></div>
<div><font size="2"></font> </div>
<div><font size="2">W.</font></div>
<div><span class="e" id="q_12a57858e4888785_1">
<blockquote style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<div style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </div>
<div style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial"><b>From:</b> <a title="v2020@ssl.fastmail.fm" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="mailto:v2020@ssl.fastmail.fm" target="_blank">Saundra Lund</a> </div>
<div style="FONT: 10pt arial"><b>To:</b> <a title="vision2020@moscow.com" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com" target="_blank">'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><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38615800/" target="_blank">http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38615800/</a><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></blockquote></span></div></div></blockquote></div>