Anti-Islamic activist dumps $100 K into Tennessee primary

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Lou Ann Zelenik for CongressA new super PAC targeting a Tennessee House primary has raised all its funds from a board member of a local anti-Islamic conservative group who is also the one-time finance chairman of one of the candidates in the race.

Citizens 4 Ethics in Government registered as a super PAC with the Federal Election Commission on July 2. Its first disclosure, filed today, shows that it has raised all of its $105,000 in funds from Andrew Miller, the owner of Nashville-based Healthmark Ventures and a conservative activist who helps lead the anti-Islamic Tennessee Freedom Coalition. The group has spent more than $30,000 so far on the 6th Congressional District primary contest between incumbent Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) and tea party activist Lou Ann Zelenik.

Continue reading →

Racist thug who attacked Muslim taxi driver escapes prison on technicality

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A taxi driver has hit out at a thug who used a legal loophole to avoid jail after subjecting him to a violent assault.

Shaun Burns, 19, of Mayfield Avenue, Ingol, was found guilty of racially aggravated assault and criminal damage to the taxi during the period of a previous three months sentence, suspended for a year, imposed in May 2011 for affray. But a shameful legal loophole has seen him walk out of court a free man.

Continue reading →

A win for ‘secularists’ in Libya? It’s not what you think

Posted on by Bob Pitt

This week, so-called ‘secularists’ were declared official winners in Libya’s parliamentary elections – and yet they support a constitutional place for Islamic sharia values. This seeming contradiction in Libya belies Western stereotypes about the incompatibility of Islam and democracy.

Amyn B. Sajoo writes in the Christian Science Monitor, 19 July 2012

BNP anti-halal protestors outnumbered by counter-demonstrators

Posted on by Bob Pitt

UAF anti-BNP protest Sunderland

BNP members have met with an angry backlash in Sunderland as they gathered to protest against the use of halal meat in Subway sandwich shops.

Party members and their anti-fascist opponents faced each other across the road as they gathered on either side of St Luke’s Terrace.

The Echo reported yesterday how BNP leader Nick Griffin planned a protest outside the Pallion Subway branch today against the company’s use of halal meat in its sandwiches. Mr Griffin, who failed to turn up to the protest, said the use of such meat was cruel.

Union members, representatives from United Against Fascism and workers on their lunch hour came out to stand in front of the Subway store to prevent the controversial right-wing party from delivering their message.

Continue reading →

Bristol: Lib Dems condemn Labour opposition to English Defence League

Posted on by Bob Pitt

We Are Bristol demonstrationLabour’s Bristol mayor candidate Marvin Rees has been accused by a rival politician of being “naïve and weak” in his handling of the run-up to Saturday’s EDL march and counter-protests.

Mr Rees was also branded as “easily led” in the statement released today on behalf of Lib Dem councillor Gary Hopkins. But the mayoral candidate has hit back – saying he is “disappointed” by the move.

Mr Hopkins’ statement notes that Mr Rees and other Bristol Labour politicians appeared on Unite Against Fascism (UAF) leaflets before the counter-protests on Saturday, and that violent clashes had broken out between counter-EDL protesters and the police.

Continue reading →

Judge grants Tennessee mosque’s petition to open

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A federal judge ordered a Tennessee county on Wednesday to move ahead with opening a Muslim congregation’s newly built mosque after a two-year fight from opponents.

The Islamic Center of Murfreesboro sued Rutherford County earlier in the day and asked District Judge Todd Campbell for an emergency order to let worshippers into the building before the holy month of Ramadan starts at sundown Thursday. Federal prosecutors also filed a similar lawsuit.

Continue reading →

EEOC files suit against security company who fired Philadelphia woman for wearing headscarf

Posted on by Bob Pitt

ABM Security Services

Tahira B. El, a practicing Muslim, faced religious discrimination when she was fired by her employer, a security company providing guards to the Pennsylvania Convention Center, because she refused to remove a head scarf she wore for religious reasons, according to a federal lawsuit filed in Philadelphia on her behalf Wednesday by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The suit said that El, of Philadelphia, was hired by ABM Security Services, of California, to work at the center on Feb. 21, 2011. She was fired the next day, the suit said, when she showed up in uniform, wearing the khimar, which covers her hair and ears, but not her face.

Continue reading →

Becket Fund publishes open letter defending Murfreesboro Islamic Center

Posted on by Bob Pitt

No congregation should have its right of religious liberty curtailed solely because some of its neighbors disapprove of its religious beliefs.

In 2010, the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro sought to build a new mosque in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, where they could worship God in peace on their own property. Although it made every effort to reach out to its neighbors in friendship, the congregation was subjected to a campaign of protest and violence, including vandalism, a bomb threat, and even arson.

This campaign of violence was accompanied by a legal campaign in which the congregation’s opponents claimed that the Muslim religion – one of the world’s largest – was not really a religion, but a political movement seeking to impose “sharia” on the United States. As a result of the legal battle, a local judge has issued a ruling forbidding the congregation from entering its newly completed building. After years of following both the letter and the spirit of the law, the congregation is again seeking permission to use its building – this time in the hope that it will be permitted to do so before the start of Ramadan.

We, the undersigned, represent a diverse array of religious beliefs and have disagreements on a wide variety of theological, political, and social matters. But we are united in supporting the right of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro to gather in peace on their own property for their celebration of Ramadan.

Continue reading →

BNP launches campaign against Islamification of Sunderland sandwich shops

Posted on by Bob Pitt

BNP Shame on Britain halal leafletBNP leader Nick Griffin is due to lead a demonstration in Sunderland tomorrow. Mr Griffin and members of his party are planning to take part in a demonstration against the use of halal meat in Subway sandwich shops in the city.

However, despite claiming their protest is neither politically or racially motivated, their plans were today condemned. Tahir Khan, chairman of the multi-cultural organisation Unity, said: “Picking on religious beliefs is very evil-minded and is wrong morally. I think the BNP is just wasting its time and resources.”

As part of a day of action, they plan to congregate outside the St Luke’s Terrace Subway shop in Pallion to raise awareness about what they claim is a “barbaric” practice.

Continue reading →

Republican right campaigns against Tennessee governor who appointed Muslim

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Williamson County Republican Party

Rank-and-file Republicans, including some in the party’s suburban Nashville stronghold, have condemned Gov. Bill Haslam for policies that include the hiring of gay individuals, Democrats and a Muslim-American lawyer.

At least two western Tennessee chapters of the Tennessee Republican Party – and possibly as many as eight statewide – have passed resolutions saying Haslam has shown “a consistent lack of conservative values” and calling on state party leaders to sanction the governor.

Meanwhile, the Williamson County Republican Party has passed a more narrow resolution that criticizes the governor for hiring a Tennessee-born Muslim to a trade position. The effort highlights the continued concern about Sharia, or Islamic law, among grass-roots Republicans throughout Tennessee.

Continue reading →