Backlash against Muslims grows in response to NY protest

Carol Forsloff - A Christian religion news source documents the growing hate towards Muslims as increasing in response to the opposition against the building of the mosque in New York City.  A woman named Pamela Geller is at the heart of the opposition movement.



In other words, what they say in their press release is these demonstrations are leading to more and more attacks against Islamic groups.


Natchitoches, Louisiana has a small Muslim group that meets in a mosque near Northwestern University campus.  Like a group in Tennessee has been described, theirs has been a quiet, low-key group, with Muslim folk going on about the business of the day without much rancor or difficulty. But the protest against the mosque in New York by Natchitoches people is now on Facebook, small but growing.  Some ministers and citizens of Natchitoches worry as protest spreads it may engulf towns like Natchitoches with the same consequences as in other areas, as negative protest becomes more and more socially acceptable..


The police and other organizations have been reporting a spike in verbal attacks and desecration of Muslim buildings and othe property that was already going on but spiked in response to the protest against the mosque scheduled to be built near Ground Zero in New York. In Murfreesboro, Tennessee a small group of Muslims have been worshiping peacefully in a predominantly fundamental Christian community. But the Religion Blog observes that when the Muslim community leaders proposed a 52,900 square-foot Islamc center with a school and swimming pool this year, there was a tremendous backlash against it.

The Tennessee protest grew even as the protest grows in New York.  In Tennessee rallies have been held with people holding signs that say such things as "Keep Tennessee Terror Free."In Texas a number of mosques have been vandalized in recent months, but the problems extend around the country.  Questions are raised about whether public attitudes towards Muslims have shifted, even as the war in Iraq is coming to a close and the distance in span of time increases from the 9/11 attacks.

Political candidates are using the Muslim mosque, especially on the Republican side, as a controversy worthy of their focus, but usually on the negative. Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron Ramsey asks whether Islam is a “cult.” Television evangelist Pat Robertson weighed in asking the question of his viewers whether or not Islam was targeting a takeover of this country. This happens even as a growing number of Americans believe President Barack Obama is Muslim and as Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham, the prominent Baptist religious leader, hedges on the matter of Obama's religion, stating his father was Muslim so Obama is by birth. 

A Time magazine poll is quoted by Religious blog as finding 43 percent of Americans hold unfavorable views of Muslims. The change in tone has been striking, religious scholars and other experts say. The reasons are myriad, scholars tell us, in response to homegrown terrorism after the Fort Hood shootings and the attempted Times Square bombing.  There is also the angry rhetoric displayed on television and the expression of dissatisfaction against the President's policies. “It shouldn’t be surprising that there’s a negative reaction to this mosque,” said Richard Lloyd, a sociology professor at Vanderbilt University. “Because you can connect it to this global media event in New York, it just reinforces this siege mentality local residents have.” Akbar Ahmed, chairman of Islamic studies at American University, is quoted by Religion Blog as saying a Florida church’s plan to burn copies of the Koran on the anniversary of Sept. 11 is emblematic of the country’s new mood. “Something more is happening,” Ahmed said. “We are becoming aware that the gap between Muslims and non-Muslims is wider than it was after 9/11, and that’s a frightening prospect.”