By Gerald Helguero: Subscribe to Gerald's RSS feed
August 26, 2010 1:54 PM EDT
Beyond the uproar over a proposed mosque near Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan, growing Muslim communities in other places in the United States are facing opposition to plans for new facilities.
Projects in Tennessee and California have been drawing attention.
The 52,900 square foot Islamic center proposal in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, a city of more than 100,000 just outside of Nashville, has drawn opposition from neighbors.
Leadership at the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro has attempted to reach out to the community through its website in an effort to inform the curious about its project, noting that the $320,000 needed to buy land for the project in 2009 "was raised locally" in the middle Tennessee area, perhaps an attempt to assuage nervous neighbors that funding will not come from extremists abroad.
Recently, a failed Republican candidate for governor opposing the mosque, Ron Ramsey, questioned whether Islam was a "cult."
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Ultimately, the center would hold recreational areas, a mosque, cemetery, educational facilities, a multi-purpose facility and a gym.
On the West Coast, in the medium sized city of Temecula, Calif., a proposed 25,000 square foot center on 4 acres is going through the permission-seeking process with local officials, who say religion or politics play no role in deciding whether or not to grant permission.
In both cases, local residents have received visuals of some neighbors protesting the site, with signs at a Temecula protest on July 30 declaring "Mosques are Monuments to Terrorism."
The Council of American-Islamic Relations, an advocacy group for Muslims, issued a statement saying that opposition "to freely practice religion is not only shameful and immoral, but unconstitutional."
Some protesters even brought dogs near the Temecula site in an effort to rattle Muslims.
A local publication reported that protesters sent an e-mail advertising a "singing - praying - patriotic rally" at the facility. The notice asked protesters to consider bringing dogs because Muslims "hate dogs."
The protest, organized by a group identifying itself as the Southwest Riverside County Tea Party Citizens in Action, was opposed by an interfaith group of more than 60 members who said "deep misinformation" was being spread about Islam, calling it "distubing," said Elizabeth Sholes, a member of the California Council of Churches.
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