I understand how the townspeople in Murfreesboro who oppose the mosque must feel.
I also understand how the Muslims in that community must feel--those of them whose words may be taken at face value. I'm a born fence-sitter, I know.
I jotted down some reactions as I watched, and I guess I believe that things worked out for the best. The mosque obeyed the law & should be allowed to expand. The mosque also knows that the community is aware of what goes on in the world, in lands where Islam has the whip-hand, or where things are at a tipping point. I'm sure that many Muslims came to friendly, neighborly, down-home Murfreesboro to get away from the Islamocrazies. But there's a reason that Murfreesboro is friendly and neighborly to people of different faiths, and Islamic lands aren't.
The young university student laments that her religion was hijacked by the 9/11 bombers. Them, and 16,000+ other terrorists since then, all of whom we are instructed to believe are Lone Whackos perpetrating Isolated Incidents that have nothing, nnnnnozzing! to do with Islam (when we aren't forbidden to notice them at all). She's no doubt a fine, bright, open-hearted young woman--but it is America that made her so--not Islam.
Did I hear the imam correctly, that they raised the 300K for the expansion in "a fundraiser"? I call BS, and I hope someone investigates whether Saudi Wahabbhist money is being injected into that town. It's pretty brazen if it is.
And I would have appreciated a little more critical analysis of the mosque's leadership, rather than simply presenting it as a multi-culti image straight out of Central Casting. Saudi sponsorship of hardline imams abroad is not a myth, and ought to be more widely reported.
Someone reassured the audience that the Constitution prohibits sharia. If sharia refuses to recognize "man-made law" (never mind that we believe our rights come from our Creator), what will pious Muslims care about the Constitution?
The plaintiff's lawyer was ridiculous, trying to argue that Islam was not really a religion. Of course it is, even though it also incorporates a complete body of instruction on how to order politics. That line of argument was a nonstarter on its face.
Moral of the tale: Don't judge the Muslims you know by Islam, and don't judge Islam by the Muslims you know. Every grain in a sandstorm can say "Who, me?"
