Holding signs that read “Muslims Danced with Joy on 9/11” and “Mosques are Monuments to Terrorism,” about 35 critics rallied across the street from the Islamic Center of Temecula Valley on Rio Nedo Friday afternoon to protest the center’s plans to build a mosque in the city.

Using a bullhorn, the protesters shouted anti-Islamic slogans as Muslim families came to worship Friday afternoon. “Go back home” and “We don’t want you here,” the protesters said.

The worshipers were generally shielded from the protesters as more than 70 mosque supporters – Christians, Mormons, Jews, Muslims and Catholics – lined up outside the center’s doors wearing white shirts and name tags that read, “Friend.”

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On September 11, members of the Dove World Outreach Center – a Gainesville, Florida church – plan to burn copies of the Koran to commemorate the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

The protest is just the latest in a series of provocative actions from the self-described “New Testament Church,” which seems as interested in getting attention as it is in sharing the Word with the world. Unfortunately, their plan seems to have worked – and local investigators began probing the church’s tax-exempt status last year after reports that Dove World Outreach Center is essentially a scam.

The church, which was founded in 1986, has long been controversial in Gainesville. The Koran-burning protest is just the latest in a string of high-profile “protests on other issues, such as homosexuality, same-sex marriage, and abortion,” Religion News Service reports. But it seems clear that taking on Muslims is the one of the church’s central goals. The church’s leader, Dr. Terry Jones – who before heading up the Dove World Outreach Center ran a sister church in Cologne, Germany – has published a book entitled “Islam is of the Devil” and last year posted a large sign outside his church that offered passing commuters the same message. Last year, members sent their kids to public schools wearing “Islam Is Of The Devil” t-shirts (the students were sent home, creating more headlines.) The church’s website features a number of videos where Jones takes on Islam as…well, you can probably guess.

TPM, 26 July 2010

Via Michael Tomasky’s blog

A US Republican politician, Ron Ramsey, who is supported by the controversial Tea Party, has come under fire for likening Islam to a “cult” and casting doubt about whether it is even a religion.

Tennessee’s current lieutenant governor said he had reservations about whether the American Constitution, which guarantees “freedom of religion”, applied to followers of the world’s second largest faith.

Critics denounced the 54 year-old’s comments, made at a party meeting earlier this month, as a part of “disturbing” trend in American politics.

But political experts said the real estate agent, who hopes to win the Republican nomination for governor in next month’s primary with support from Tea Party activists, was using it to garner support after lagging third in the polls.

During a question-and-answer session at the Hamilton County meeting, Mr Ramsey, from Blountville, was asked about the “threat that’s invading our country from the Muslims”, according to local reports.

The question came amid local concern over a proposed local Islamic Centre and mosque to be built outside the town of Murfreesboro, to the south-east of the capital Nashville.

Despite proclaiming his support for the Constitution and the whole “Congress shall make no law” to religion, he said that Islam was more of a “cult” than a faith.

“Now, you could even argue whether being a Muslim is actually a religion, or is it a nationality, way of life, cult whatever you want to call it,” he said in comments that were caught on video and later uploaded to YouTube.

Daily Telegraph, 27 July 2010