Far from Ground Zero, other plans for mosques run into vehement opposition

[Bozita]

Source: Washington Post

Far from Ground Zero, other plans for mosques run into vehement opposition
By Annie Gowen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, August 23, 2010; A01

MURFREESBORO, TENN. -- For more than 30 years, the Muslim community in this Nashville suburb has worshipped quietly in a variety of makeshift spaces -- a one-bedroom apartment, an office behind a Lube Express -- attracting little notice even after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

But when the community's leaders proposed a 52,900-square-foot Islamic center with a school and a swimming pool this year, the vehement backlash from their neighbors caught them by surprise. Opponents crowded county meetings and held a noisy protest in the town square that drew hundreds, some carrying signs such as "Keep Tennessee Terror Free."

"We haven't experienced this level of hostility before ever, so it's new to us," said Saleh M. Sbenaty, an engineering professor who is overseeing the mosque's planned expansion.

The Murfreesboro mosque is hundreds of miles from New York City and the national furor about whether an Islamic community center should be built near Ground Zero. But the intense feelings driving that debate have surfaced in communities from California to Florida in recent months, raising questions about whether public attitudes toward Muslims have shifted.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/22/AR2010082202895_pf.html

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The insanity spreads.

[bluestateguy]

1. Well I mean it is 1000 miles away from Ground Zero

How could they be do disrespectful of sacred ground being so close to them?

[onehandle]

5. Yeah. The noive.

[gratuitous]

2. Oh, I don't think anyone could have predicted . . .

Actually, anyone with two brain cells to rub together could have seen this coming from about two light years away. It is only a matter of time before some place gets dynamited in an "isolated incident" by a "lone nut" who just happens to have a Fox News fixation, not that there's anything wrong with that, and which obviously had nothing to do with anything.

[HillbillyBob]

3. Disgusting and disturbing.

Pogroms next?

[Divine Discontent]

4. K&R 5! off to the greatest with the greatest example of the terror spreading across the USA

called, "Islamaphobia"!

As a Christian, I am appalled at this, as would it be right for the Muslims to say Christians can't build a community center for their Christians who go to church in the area? Of course not.

Shame on these bigots.


WHERE IS "RED STATE UPDATE" (of Murfreesboro) to save the day!

[SoapBox]

6. This shows how ingnorant and stoopid Americans have become.

...undereducated...home "brainwashed" schooling...private schooling...religious schooling.

America is getting more stupid and extremist by the day.

[Whoa_Nelly]

7. Am so sad for our nation

Democracy is a fragile concept and needs nurturing.
Am extremely sad for some of our citizens so frightened and intimidated by those who have been given the privilege to protect and forward our Constitution.
It's not just the talking heads at work working people in our country into a hegemonic feeding frenzy, it's those who are giving the talking heads the trash to spew who seek to create this divisiveness..

This news, though not unsurprising, saddens me. :(

[Scottybeamer70]

8. Ignorance out of control

They've been in the community for more than 30 years and no one noticed???
Now, all of a sudden they're just too scary!! WOW........too much
ignorance in one place!

[applegrove]

9. very sad. n/t

[Jeneral2885]

10. no more

land of the free?

[Xipe Totec]

11. It's The Great LaRouche Toad-Frog Massacre all over again

The Great LaRouche Toad-Frog Massacree, as it became known, had its roots in two entirely separate and unrelated events: a conspiracy of happenstance which was to test the civil defense preparedness of an entire American community and forever alter the ecological food chain of the North Meadow Pond.

On June 21, 1988, the following item appeared on page 3 of the daily Bloom Beacon, sandwiched between an article on the plummeting price of cow tongue and "Dear Abby":

COMMUNISTS AT U.S. DOORSTEP
by Milo Bloom, Investigative Reporter

http://www.highwaygirl.com/archive/000007.html

[No Elephants]

12. "Other" plans for mosques? I thought it was to be a community center near the existing mosque

Mosque is already four blocks from Ground Zero. Always has been. Why does the media refuse to call it a community center?

[deutsey]

13. Thanks, Newt.

You dumbass.

[Douglas Carpenter]

14. Pat Robertson on Thursdays speculated that a Muslim takeover of America is imminent

" Evangelist Pat Robertson weighed in Thursday, wondering on his television program whether a Muslim takeover of America was imminent and whether local officials could be bribed. (The mayor of the county where the Islamic Center is proposed called that idea "ridiculous.")

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/22/AR2010082202895_3.html?hpid=topnews&sid=ST2010082202944

[MaeScott]

15. It appears the terrorists win...

...when so-called patriots diss the Constitution. Sad state in this country..gin up racial hatred and make it your platform. Way to go, rethugs.

[harun]

16. The Inquisition is on.

[Turborama]

17. K&R: The NYT did a piece on this earlier in the month, too

Across Nation, Mosque Projects Meet Opposition
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/08/us/08mosque.html?_r=2&partner=rss&emc=rss&src=igw

Thanks, for posting!

[Douglas Carpenter]

18. that is some pretty crazy and dangerous stuff

I wonder, cannot people realize that a direct attack on freedom of religion and their efforts to declare openly American-Muslims as enemies represent a massive turn toward authoritarianism? Can they not realize that just how dangerous this is? This is truly a step into darkness.

[Jim__]

19. I guess we need to change the first amendment too.

Being a "real American" is hard work.