Plans for a new Islamic center south of Murfreesboro have some residents denouncing the Muslim religion and others calling the dispute one of the ugliest displays of religious intolerance in the county's history. Questions of whether the public was given adequate notice about the proposed mosque and community center off Bradyville Pike quickly turned into attacks on the Muslim faith during the public comment portion of Thursday's Rutherford County Commission meeting.
"Everybody knows they are trying to kill us," Karen Harrell said. "People are really concerned about this. Somebody has to stand up and take this country back."
She was among some 20 speakers to voice opposition and question why the county's Regional Planning Commission approved the site plan for the mosque. The contentious showing thrust the county into the national eye with a report on
ABC Nightly News and sparked an incendiary online debate. Many saw the event as an embarrassing black eye for Rutherford County over a lack of religious tolerance, while dozens reiterated their fears and charges that the mosque needs to be held to high scrutiny and regarded with heavy suspicion.
"We have a duty to investigate anyone under the banner of Islam," Allen Jackson, pastor of World Outreach Church in Murfreesboro, said during Thursday's meeting.
Misinformation and misplaced fears may be to blame for the intolerance, a Murfreesboro rabbi says. Some people "are genuinely concerned about property values and traffic," said Rabbi Rami Shapiro, an adjunct professor of religion at MTSU.
But "there are some who are just anti-Muslim and will do anything to keep a mosque out of their neighborhood. They really feel that Islam is a threat to America and American values.
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100621/NEWS06/6210329
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