Category Archives: USA

Rutherford County seeks high court rejection of mosque lawsuit appeal

Posted on by Bob Pitt

MURFREESBORO — The U.S. Supreme Court should reject hearing an appeal about Rutherford County’s public notice before approval of a mosque, according to attorneys for the county.

“Defendants pray the Court deny the petitioners’ petition for writ of certiorari,” states a document sent this week to the high court in Washington, D.C., from county lead defense attorney Josh McCreary and County Attorney Jim Cope.

The document is in response to plaintiffs led by Kevin Fisher, Henry Golczynski and Lisa Moore asking for the high court to hear their case. Their attorneys recently completed their request for an appeal for a case that initially started September 2010 in seeking to stop construction of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro from being built on Veals Road off Bradyville Pike.

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9/11 museum film draws heat for portrayal of Islam

Posted on by Bob Pitt

9-11 MuseumA film that will be shown at the National September 11 Memorial Museum when it opens next month unfairly links Islam and terrorism, clergy members said in letters demanding it be changed.

“The Rise of Al Qaeda,” a brief documentary narrated by NBC anchor Brian Williams, shows the growth of international terrorist groups in the years leading up to the 2001 attacks. The film has not been publicly released, but museum officials have screened it for groups including an interfaith clergy advisory panel.

Members of the clergy group sent a letter to museum officials this week asking that the film be re-edited to make it clear that not all Muslims support the terrorists who destroyed the World Trade Center.

“We continue to posit that the video may very well leave viewers with the impression that all Muslims bear some collective guilt or responsibility for the actions of al-Qaida, or even misinterpret its content to justify bigotry or even violence toward Muslims or those perceived to be Muslim (e.g., Sikhs),” the clergy members wrote. The signers included Peter B. Gudaitis, chief executive of New York Disaster Interfaith Services, and the Rev. Chloe Breyer, executive director of the Interfaith Center of New York.

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Mayoral candidate tries to exploit Mufreesboro Islamic Center controversy

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Jimmy Evans campaign leafletMURFREESBORO — County mayoral candidate Jimmy Evans stands by a flyer he sent out depicting the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro praising incumbent Mayor Ernest Burgess.

“Thank you Ernest Burgess,” the flyer states to serve as a translation for what appears to be Arabic writing related to the government approving the ICM. “Without you, the Mosque would not be possible!” “That’s true,” Evans said during an interview in his office at his car dealership on Northwest Broad Street in Murfreesboro. “Without Mayor Burgess, the mosque would not be possible.”

The front page of the advertisement that displays the name “Ernest Burgess,” shows Arabic writing, images of mosque structures with a sun in the background and then adds “See translation inside …” But the American Center of Outreach, a local Muslim advocacy group, said the Arabic letters first appeared to be gibberish but actually are the intended words backward and without proper punctuation or spacing for the language.

Evans is running against Burgess in the May 6 Republican primary for Rutherford County offices. Early voting is going on through May 1 for the GOP primary. The general election is Aug. 7.

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Man who shot at Illinois mosque sentenced to probation

Posted on by Bob Pitt

David ConradA man accused of firing a high-powered pellet gun at a Morton Grove mosque in 2012 was sentenced to 30 months probation after pleading guilty Friday.

David Conrad, 51, pleaded guilty to felony reckless discharge of a firearm and knowingly damaging school property, court records show. Judge Garritt E. Howard sentenced Conrad to 30 months probation, records show.

The incident happened about 9 p.m. Aug. 10, 2012, while worshippers were celebrating the holy month of Ramadan at the Muslim Education Center, 8601 N. Menard Ave., police and mosque officials said at the time.

Though the damage to the building was minor, there were about 500 people inside the mosque for prayers at the time of the shooting, and many kids from the congregation were outside of the building during the service, the Sun-Times previously reported.

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Berkeley conference illuminates problem of Islamophobia in today’s society

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Fifth Annual International Conference on Islamophobia StudiesFor more than seven hours Thursday, students and community members gathered at the UC Berkeley School of Law to discuss the presence of Islamophobia in culture and society.

At the Fifth Annual International Conference on Islamophobia Studies, founded and directed by UC Berkeley lecturer Hatem Bazian, attendees listened to panelists describe issues ranging from the discrimination against Muslims to the representation of Muslim women in the media.

Islamophobia is described by Bazian as “an irrational belief and hostile attitude directed toward Islam and Muslims that problematizes them as a subject matter.”

The annual conference is one aspect of the Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project, founded in response to the rise of Islamophobia in the United States and parts of Europe around the time President Barack Obama was elected, Bazian, who directs the project, said.

The project aims to establish the study of Islamophobia as an academic discipline by engaging scholars around the world with the conference. It also aims to expand the event to other countries, including France and Austria.

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Franklin Graham: Muslims who ‘want to practice Sharia law’ should ‘go back where you came from’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Franklin Graham“We should be afraid of sharia law” in America, and Muslims here who want to practice sharia should go back to where they came from, “to those nations that recognize sharia law,” said Rev. Franklin Graham, head of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

In a recent interview with the Charlotte Observer, Graham was asked, “Some say you demonize Islam, and Christians in this country have opposed building a mosque or are worried about Sharia law. Isn’t it –”

Graham, who oversees the international Christian aid group Samaritan’s Purse, said, “We should be afraid of Sharia law. We should be absolutely afraid of it. No question about it, because there’s no tolerance in Sharia law. It persecutes those that do not believe in Islam.”

“And I would say to Muslims in this country, if they want to practice Sharia law, go back to where you came from, to those nations that recognize sharia law,” said Graham. “But we have our own laws here.”

CNS News, 17 April 2014

Police: Man made anti-Muslim remarks, spat on teenage girl on bus in Queens

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Queens assault police CCTV imagePolice on Tuesday were asking the public to help them find a suspect who allegedly spat on a 15-year-old girl and raised his fist to her while making anti-Muslim statements on a bus in Queens.

The incident happened around 9 a.m. Monday, April 7, on a Q88 Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus at the Horace Harding Expressway (Interstate 495) and Kissena Boulevard, police said.

The man walked up to the teenage girl and he made anti-Muslim statements, spat on her, and raised his fist as he threatened to punch her, police said.

Police have released surveillance photos of the suspect.

Anyone with information was asked to call the NYPD Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS, log onto the Crime Stoppers website, or text tips to 274637 (CRIMES) and enter TIP577.

CBS New York, 15 April 2014

See also “No one helped a Muslim teen when a man spat on her, called her a terrorist: Reports”, Huffington Post, 10 April 2014

Update:  See “Man charged with harassing Muslim teen says he spat on her accidentally”, DNAinfo, 17 April 2014