SALINA, KS — Local man Scott Gentries told reporters Wednesday that his deliberately limited grasp of Islamic history and culture was still more than sufficient to shape his views of the entire Muslim world.
Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia
Threats, intimidation part of investigation of arson at Murfreesboro Islamic Center site
Threats and intimidation are part of a widening investigation into the vandalism at the site of the planned new Islamic Center in Murfreesboro.
“We are not going to stand for these intimidation tactics in our community,” said Claire Rogers of Middle Tennesseans for Religious Freedom.
Sheriff’s deputies are now patrolling the mosque construction site every hour, 24 hours a day.
This increase in scrutiny came after a piece of heavy equipment owned by Ole South Excavating of Murfreesboro was set on fire Saturday. The company is clearing land for the new Islamic Center.
NewsChannel 5 has learned that the vandalism happened after the center received an ugly, threatening voicemail earlier in the week. The caller disparaged Islam and then said, “You need to get out of the country now.”
There’s also evidence outlined in a police report that someone vandalized two back loaders also owned by Ole South at an entirely different location. That incident also happened early Saturday morning. Some believe this is an effort to try to intimidate contractors into not working on the project. Ole South’s owner says he will continue to honor the contract.
News Channel 5, 30 August 2010
See also TPM, 31 August 2010
Via Michael Tomasky
Vigil in support of Murfreesboro Islamic Center meets opposition
Mark West believes in freedom of religion. That belief brought West out Monday night to a candle light vigil in support of local Muslims in front of the Rutherford County Courthouse. It also inspired the lifelong Baptist to make a donation to the building fund for a new mosque near Murfreesboro.
West was among about 150 people who attended Monday’s night’s vigil, organized in response to the recent fire at the construction site for the new mosque. Many in the crowd held candles or signs proclaiming such messages as “We’re all in this together” and “My God is not a bigot.” They also joined in singing “We Shall Overcome.”
The gathering came two days after a fire of suspicious origin damaged construction equipment at the site of the planned mosque. Organizers said the vigil was intended to encourage mosque supporters and opponents to demonstrate for a community free of violence, arson and other such activities.
On the outskirts a small but vocal group of mosque opponents made their presence known. Collier Hopson drove his pickup to the vigil. In the back was a plywood sign bearing the spray-painted words “No Mosque.” He said that local Christians have a right to build churches. But mosques should be banned, he said. “I don’t support their beliefs,” he said. “No one wants them here.”
Kimberly Kelly agreed. She said that she is afraid of Muslims and that the violence from Iraq and other countries could come to Murfreesboro. She said if the fire at the mosque site was arson, as many suspect, Muslims deserved it. “I think it was a piece of their own medicine,” she said. “They bombed our country.”
Mosque opponents and supporters squared off for some heated debate during the vigil. Rachel Weese told Hopson and two of his friends that their views were un-American.
The Tennessean, 31 August 2010
See also Nashville City Paper, 31 August 2010
And Gail Kerr’s column in The Tennessean, 31 August 2010
Bloomberg rejects investigation into Park51 financing, says it would set ‘a terrible precedent’
Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo should not investigate the financing of the proposed Islamic community center near ground zero, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said on Tuesday, reiterating his support for the project.
“I think it’s a terrible precedent,” he said. “You don’t want them investigating donations to religious organizations, and there’s no reason for the government to do so.”
Mr. Bloomberg made his remarks about the controversial development project, known as Park51, in response to questions about a Quinnipiac University poll released on Tuesday that found voters in New York State deeply divided, with more than 70 percent of them wanting Mr. Cuomo to investigate the project’s financing.
New York Times, 31 August 2010
But Bloomberg would say that, wouldn’t he? After all, according to Robert Spencer, the Mayor’s stand against Islamophobic hysteria over the “Ground Zero mosque” is motivated exclusively by concern for his own business interests in the Middle East.
Netherlands: opposition to coalition deal with Wilders grows
A number of prominent former politicians from various parties have urged the Christian Democrats (CDA) and the conservative VVD not go ahead with the planned formation of a minority coalition government with parliamentary backing from Geert Wilders’ anti-Islamic Freedom party.
“A cabinet supported by a party whose main goal is to marginalize and exclude a section of the populace will not succeed in bringing about the sorely-needed unity in Dutch society.”
The warning was published in the left-of-centre daily de Volkskranton Monday. The signatories include former deputy prime minister Jan Terlouw, former health minister Hedy d’Ancona, former education minister Jos van Kemenade and eight others.
A recent poll shows the CDA suffering from its own internal divisions about the prospective coalition. One-third of those who voted for the Christian Democrats would no longer do so. The number of CDA voters who support the current coalition talks has dropped from 79 percent to 60 percent.
Radio Netherlands, 30 August 2010
See also “Wilders calls Islamic culture ‘backward'”, Radio Netherlands, 29 August 2010
Update: See “VVD elder statesman urges members to protest about PVV”, Dutch News, 30 August 2010
Memphis: Baptist church welcomes new Islamic Centre
When pastor Steve Stone initially heard of the mosque and Islamic center being erected on the sprawling land adjacent his church, his stomach tightened. Then he raised a 6-foot sign reading, “Welcome to the Neighborhood.”
The issue for Stone and the 550-person Heartsong Church in Cordova, came down to one question: “What would Jesus do if He were us? He would welcome the neighbor,” Stone said.
The Memphis Islamic Center, a nonprofit organization formed three years ago, is two weeks from breaking ground on the first phase of a multimillion-dollar complex.
While the 4,000-square-foot worship hall is being completed, Heartsong has opened its doors to its neighbors throughout the monthlong observance of Ramadan. Under a gigantic cross constructed of salvaged wood, nearly 200 area Muslims have been gathering each night to pray. “I think it’s helped break down a lot of barriers in both congregations,” said Islamic center board member Danish Siddiqui.
“People in Memphis appreciate faith, even if it’s not their faith,” said Shaykh Yasir Qadhi, the Islamic center’s scholar in residence and a Rhodes College professor.
The peaceful tone in the Bluff City has been refreshing for Qadhi, 35, who recently moved to Memphis from Connecticut, where early this month his Bridgeport mosque was descended on by angry protestors yelling slurs at families as they arrived for evening prayer. “We’re living in a climate of Islamophobia,” he said.
Ahmed Sharif, stabbed cab driver, gets $30,000 in donations
Ahmed Sharif hoped he could garner more than sympathy after he was stabbed by a passenger last week.
The long-time cabbie asked the New York Taxi Workers Alliance to collect donations that would help keep his family afloat while he recovers from the injuries he suffered in an alleged anti-Islam attack. Sharif will miss at least four months of work while his wounds heal.
Donations were slow to trickle in at first. Bhairavi Desai, executive director for the Alliance, said initial donations could “barely cover baby formula.” But CNN came to the rescue. Once the network picked up the story, more than $30,000 flooded in.
“This outpouring is the most joyous thing his family could ever hope for,” Desai said. “This will help them survive.”
To donate to Sharif, go here.
Turkish Federation leader calls on German government to sack Sarrazin
Chairman of Germany’s Turkish Federation, Kenan Kolat, called for central bank board member Thilo Sarrazin to be removed from his post after fresh comments criticizing Muslims in Germany. “I am calling upon the government to begin a procedure to remove Thilo Sarrazin from the board of the central bank,” Kolat told the German daily newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau on Saturday, August 28.
In his book “Deutschland schafft sich ab” (“Germany does away with itself”), Sarrazin claims that members of Germany’s Muslim community pose a danger to German society. Sarrazin, a member of the Social Democrats (SPD) and Berlin’s former finance chief, was reported in June as saying that members of the Turkish and Arab community were making Germany “more stupid.”
With his book, Kolat said, Sarrazin had overstepped a boundary. “It is the climax of a new intellectual racism and it damages Germany’s reputation abroad,” Kolat said.
Deutsche Welle, 28 August 2010
Update: See also Associated Press, 29 August 2010
Turkish Federation leader calls on German government to sack Sarrazin
Chairman of Germany’s Turkish Federation, Kenan Kolat, called for central bank board member Thilo Sarrazin to be removed from his post after fresh comments criticizing Muslims in Germany.
“I am calling upon the government to begin a procedure to remove Thilo Sarrazin from the board of the central bank,” Kolat told the German daily newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau on Saturday, August 28.
In his book “Deutschland schafft sich ab” (“Germany does away with itself”), Sarrazin claims that members of Germany’s Muslim community pose a danger to German society. Sarrazin, a member of the Social Democrats (SPD) and Berlin’s former finance chief, was reported in June as saying that members of the Turkish and Arab community were making Germany “more stupid.”
With his book, Kolat said, Sarrazin had overstepped a boundary. “It is the climax of a new intellectual racism and it damages Germany’s reputation abroad,” Kolat said.
Deutsche Welle, 28 August 2010
Update: See also Associated Press, 29 August 2010
Feisal Rauf: Ground Zero’s lightning rod
Fair and balanced article by Paul Harris in the Observer, 29 August 2010
Update: See also interview with Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf in The National, 30 August 2010