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Anti-mosque building campaign rising to a new level in US | While a high-profile battle rages over a mosque near Ground Zero in Manhattan, heated confrontations
have also broken out in communities across the United States where mosques are proposed for far less hallowed locations. In Murfreesboro, Tennessee, arguments
broke out over a planned Muslim center. Republican candidates have denounced plans
for the proposed center that is coming up near a subdivision. Hundreds of protesters
have turned out for a march and a county meeting. In late June, in Temecula, California,
members of a local Tea Party group took dogs and picket signs to Friday prayers
at a mosque that is seeking to build a new worship center on a vacant lot nearby.
In Sheboygan, Wisconsin, a few Christian ministers led a noisy fight against a
Muslim group that sought permission to open a mosque in a former health food store
bought by a Muslim doctor. In all of the recent conflicts, opponents have said
their problem is Islam itself. They quote passages from the Koran and argue that
even the most Americanized Muslim secretly wants to replace the Constitution with
Islamic Shariah law. These local skirmishes make clear that there is now widespread
debate about whether the best way to uphold America's democratic values is to
allow Muslims the same religious freedom enjoyed by other Americans, or to pull
away the welcome mat from a faith seen as a singular threat. "What's different
is the heat, the volume, the level of hostility," said Ihsan Bagby, associate
professor of Islamic studies at the University of Kentucky. He added: "It's one
thing to oppose a mosque because traffic might increase, but it's different when
you say these mosques are going to be nurturing terrorist bombers, that Islam
is invading, that civilization is being undermined by Muslims." Feeding the resistance
is a growing cottage industry of authors and bloggers - some of them former Muslims
- who are invited to speak at rallies, sell their books and testify in churches.
Their message is that Islam is inherently violent and incompatible with America.
There are about 1,900 mosques in the United States, which run the gamut from makeshift
prayer rooms in storefronts and houses to large buildings with adjoining community
centers, according to a preliminary survey. Radicalization of alienated Muslim
youths is a real threat. Camie Ayash, a spokeswoman for the Islamic Center of
Murfreesboro, lamented that people were listening to what she called "total disinformation"
on Islam. She said her group was stunned when what began as one person raising
zoning questions about the new mosque evolved into mass protests with marchers
waving signs about Shariah. |
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