That Murfreesboro Mosque

[Upgrade Dave]

Originally Posted by Lamarr

Will you please look at post 26 of this thread!

My only statement was an attempt at clarification. I don't really think people have a problem with the building of a mosque, I think the problem is where it is being built.

P.S. Good read muckraker10021

I respectfully disagree. The location of this one is a smokescreen and it's another case of opportunists using 9/11 for political gain.
Is Murfreesboro, Tenn to close? They're protesting a mosque there. Temecula, Calif.? Protests. Sheboygan, Wis.? Same.

[thoughtone]

What's the excuse for this one. Too close to Ground Zero?

source: Huffington Post

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Authorities are investigating a fire that damaged at least one construction vehicle at a Tennessee site where a new mosque is being built.

Federal investigators won't say whether they believe the fire early Saturday was intentionally set at the suburban Nashville project, which has faced vehement opposition.

Still, a spokeswoman for the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro said the fire has frightened the area's Muslim community.

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives spokesman Eric Kehn said Sunday the investigation was still in an early phase. The FBI and local sheriff are also investigating.

The center has been in the community for decades, and the new facility represents an expansion. Opponents, while citing traffic and parking issues, have also implied the center would be a haven for terrorists.

[QueEx]

[nittie]

Middle Easterners [not all are Muslims tho, some are Hindu] own just about every convience store, motel and hotel in the South. They are taking niches that use to belong to middle class Americans. Add the two wars, 9-11, and racial politics as usual and there's going to be a lot of anti-Arab sentiment.

[QueEx]

Looking to 2011 and the Future


This Year In Islamophobia



Protesters In New York oppose the Park51 Islamic
center.


Rachel Slajda
December 29, 2010


Nine years after Sept. 11, 2001, America saw perhaps its worst outbreak of Islamophobia since the attacks. Experts wagered it came from the aimless fear and the anger people feel in times of economic crisis, exploited by certain politicians looking to give their party an advantage in the midterms and turned toward American Muslims.

Such an outbreak was possible in the days and months after Sept. 11's attacks. It never really materialized, experts say, in part because President George W. Bush stood up and told the nervous country that Islam is a religion of peace, and that American was not at war with Muslims.

He made no such appeal this year, and President Obama's pleas fell on deaf ears or, more accurately, ears that believe Obama himself is secretly, and sinisterly, Muslim.

Without further ado, then, is This Year in Islamophobia:

The 'Ground Zero Mosque'

When an imam -- a known moderate imam who'd been sent by the U.S. government around the world on goodwill missions to Muslim nations -- and a group of developers decided to turn the old Burlington Coat Factory building in downtown Manhattan into a community center and mosque, almost no one noticed. No one noticed for months, in fact, until all of a sudden, this summer, it exploded.

People like Pamela Gellar and Robert Spencer, who for years had been screaming about the dangers of Islam from the fringe, were suddenly front and center. Their assertions -- that American Muslims are inherently dangerous, that the majority of imams are radical, that Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf is a terrorist sympathizer -- were suddenly being repeated by the mainstream, by Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin and the like.

People said vicious things, calling the community center a shrine to terrorists and salt in an American wound.

The furor came to a head on Sept. 11, the ninth anniversary of the attacks, when protesters from both sides converged on the site, just a few blocks from Ground Zero itself and the memorial services being held. They screamed and chanted, and at least one man tore pages out of the Koran and scattered them throughout the street.

Then, as suddenly as it came, the furor died down to a few embers at the extremes. But the community center is still years and millions of dollars away from being a reality, and we can all expect more outrage to come.

The Koran Burner

When cultish Florida church leader Terry Jones announced that he would burn a pile of Korans in his front yard on Sept. 11, the media dug in and didn't let go. It became the biggest story of the week, with dozens of reporters and news crews camped out in front of Jones' church, while reporting that footage and even stories about such a bonfire could set off violent riots in the Muslim world and give recruiting fodder to terrorists.

So worried was the Obama administration that Defense Secretary Robert Gates called Jones personally to ask him not to burn any Korans. He eventually agreed to call off the event after a local imam told him that Rauf, the New York imam, had promised to move his community center, even though he hadn't. Jones never did go through with it.

The spectacle angered the "God hates fags" funeral protesters at the Westboro Baptist Church, who'd been burning Korans for years.

It also prompted copycats, like the man in Texas who tried to burn one of the holy books but was thwarted by a skateboarder, who described the incident thusly:

I snuck up behind him and took his Koran, he said something about burning the Koran, I said, "Dude you have no Koran," and ran off.

Sharia in Middle Tennessee

The opposition to a mosque near Murfreesboro, Tenn., started out scary -- first with vandalism and then with an arson that claimed some of the mosque's construction equipment. But it quickly turned to farce, as opponents to the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro -- which has been in town for 30 years and is now trying to expand -- filed a lawsuit to try and stop it.

The lawyers for the opponents, partially funded by a Christian Zionist group, argued in county court that the mosque's permit for religious use should never have been approved because Islam, they claimed, isn't a religion. When the Justice Department filed a brief noting that the U.S. has recognized Islam since Thomas Jefferson's time, the lawyers claimed that the federal government couldn't be trusted because it had once condoned slavery.

The judge ruled that the mosque's construction could continue.

The Future

Violence has, fortunately, not spread past isolated incidents like the young man who slashed a Muslim cab driver in New York City.

But the story of Islamophobia in America is not over. Tensions between the Muslim community and federal law enforcement are growing, as the FBI continues to conduct undercover terror stings that some critics say amounts to entrapment. The new chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Peter King (R-NY) has claimed that Muslim leaders are insufficiently cooperative with terror investigations and therefore is holding hearings on the "radicalization" of Muslim Americans. Other congressmen have promised to try to keep the hearings from targeting Muslims.

And so what happens next year, and the year after that -- whether cooler heads continue to prevail in the end -- remains to be seen.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmem...ia.php?ref=fpa

[QueEx]

Originally Posted by Upgrade Dave

I respectfully disagree. The location of this one is a smokescreen and it's another case of opportunists using 9/11 for political gain.

Is Murfreesboro, Tenn to close? They're protesting a mosque there. Temecula, Calif.? Protests. Sheboygan, Wis.? Same.

Herman Cain Says U.S. Communities
'Have the Right' to Ban Mosques

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain speaks
during a Tea Party rally in Philadelphia July 4




July 17, 2011


Presidential candidate Herman Cain on Sunday defended his opposition to a new mosque in Tennessee, expressing concern about Shariah law and declaring Americans "have the right" to ban mosques in their communities.

Cain, who stirred controversy this year by saying he would be uncomfortable appointing a Muslim to his Cabinet if elected, first expressed concern Thursday about the controversial mosque in Murfreesboro, Tenn. That mosque has been the subject of demonstrations and legal challenges in the wake of the controversy over the so-called "Ground Zero mosque" in New York City.

Speaking on "Fox News Sunday," Cain said he came out against the Tennessee mosque after talking to members of that community. He said the site is "hallowed ground" to Murfreesboro residents and that they're concerned about "the intentions of trying to get Shariah law" -- the code governing conduct in Islamic societies.

"It's not just a mosque for religious purposes. This is what the people are objecting to," he said.

Asked whether any community should be able to prohibit a mosque, Cain said they should.

"They have the right to do that. That's not discriminating ... against that particular religion. That is an aspect of them building that mosque that doesn't get talked about," he said.

Cain again argued that residents were objecting to "the fact that Islam is both a religion and a set of laws, Shariah law. That's the difference between any one of our other traditional religions."

But while Cain said he expects the case to come before the Supreme Court, a local judge has allowed the project to go forward.

Cain is taking heat for his comments about Muslims. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, which accused him of using "bigoted" language with his Cabinet comments, said Sunday that he should "apologize" for his latest remarks.

CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper, describing Cain's stance on the Tennessee mosque as a possible "sign of desperation," said other Republican candidates and leaders should also distance themselves from that kind of rhetoric.

"It's incumbent on reasonable people within the Republican Party to come out strongly and repudiate these kinds of un-American unconstitutional views," he said. "It's just so bizarre."

Cain, the former CEO of Godfather's Pizza, is struggling to build on earlier momentum and break into the top tier of candidates in the 2012 Republican primary race. He expressed confidence Sunday that he could have a strong showing in an upcoming Iowa straw poll.

FoxNews.com's Judson Berger contributed to this report.







http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011...o-ban-mosques/

`

[QueEx]

Originally Posted by QueEx

Herman Cain Says U.S. Communities
'Have the Right' to Ban Mosques

I'm trying to figure out, is Herman Cain just pandering; or, is he just ignorant ???

[Upgrade Dave]

Originally Posted by QueEx

I'm trying to figure out, is Herman Cain just pandering; or, is he just ignorant ???




[/size]

I vote for pandering with a big dose of attention whoring. With Michelle Bachmann stealing his thunder, he needs to get crazier to maintain his dwindling momentum.

[QueEx]

,,,,,,,,,,

[QueEx]

Tennessee mosque's fate up in the air after court ruling

CNN) -- The long-running battle between a Tennessee Muslim community and its critics over a new mosque took a dramatic turn with a county judge's ruling that could bring construction to a halt.

"Everyone is really shocked, many people are crying about this," Imam Osama Bahloul, leader of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro (ICM), said Wednesday.

"We did exactly what other churches in the county did," he said. "We followed the same process that other churches did. Why did this happen? Some people feel like it is discrimination."

Chancellor Robert Corlew ruled Tuesday that plans for the new mosque, previously approved by a planning commission, are now "void and of no effect."

He said the planning commission violated state law by not providing proper public notice. The ruling throws the date of the mosque's completion, scheduled for July, up in the air.

Rutherford County Attorney Jim Cope said Corlew did not address the issue of whether work on the mosque has to stop right away. He said county planners will discuss options and determine an appropriate course of action.

Bahloul said construction will go on until the Islamic Center receives orders to stop.

"The ruling was a bit foggy," he said. "We will do what's right."

In his opinion, Corlew said he would allow attorneys for mosque opponents to prepare an order for his review.

Attorney Joe Brandon lodged such an order Wednesday. It will be held five business days, after which the judge can review and sign it.

The order says a May 2010 decision by planning commissioners to approve the center's plans failed to meet public notice requirements.

It decrees "a permanent injunction is entered against defendant county officials from taking any further actions or permitting any third party from taking any further actions inconsistent with this order."

Cope told CNN late Wednesday afternoon the county will review the order. Corlew did not order an immediate stop to construction, Cope argued.

"An order is not final for 30 days," the county attorney said. We can't go out there (and stop construction) and then be sued by the ICM. They can file suit against us."

The judge's decision, according to Cope, also could be appealed.

"We're very much premature in telling someone to stop something."

During the trial, attorneys for the mosque's opposition argued that the county failed to alert the public about meetings before the mosque was approved, CNN affiliate WTVF reported.

Rutherford County attorneys said that the meetings were announced in the local free newspaper and on its website and that the notices clearly complied with Tennessee law.

The judge, however, said the announcements in a local paper were "in relatively small type near the bottom of a page which contained a number of advertisements and legal notices, most of which were provided by the city of Murfreesboro."

The Islamic Center has 30 days to appeal the ruling and plans to apply again for a permit, spokesman Saleh Sbenaty said.

"Hopefully, this time, the county will make it right," he said. "We followed the process according to the law. There is no question about it. We are singled out just because of our faith."

However, attorney Brandon said the mosque will have to brace for stiff opposition.

"If this Islamic political organization does decide to go back through this process again, we will be standing right around the corner, ready to do battle again," he said.

The ruling was a victory for all the county's residents, Brandon told WTVF.

Brandon did not immediately respond to a message left Wednesday afternoon by CNN.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations called on the Justice Department to ensure the religious rights of Muslims in Tennessee.

"American Muslim constitutional rights should not be diminished merely because anti-Muslim bigots are able to manufacture a controversy about what would otherwise be normal religious activities," said Gadeir Abbas, staff attorney for the organization, which advocates for Muslim civil liberties.

"The judge's ruling is apparently based on a fictitious 'heightened standard' for public notice when Muslims are involved," he said.

FULL ARTICLE

[Upgrade Dave]

Wow.

Thanks for the update, Que.

[QueEx]

Tennessee mosque opens after 2 years of controversy


Delayed by years of protests and lawsuits, the mosque will hold its
first prayers today, with a week left in the Holy Month of Ramadan.
The opening occurs after a mosque was burned down in Joplin,
Missouri, which federal officials are investigating as possible arson.




http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/0...iref=allsearch

http://earlystart.blogs.cnn.com/2012...iref=allsearch

[thoughtone]

As always the conservatives are liars as usual. First amendment rights when it pleases them.