Texas Muslims on edge amid protests, contest attack

[webfact]

Texas Muslims on edge amid protests, contest attack
By JAMIE STENGLE

DALLAS (AP) — When an outspoken opponent of radical Islam sought to mock Muhammad in Texas, home to one of the nation's largest Islamic communities, local Muslims were encouraged to ignore her, and they did.

No one protested when Pamela Geller's cartoon contest attracted about 200 people to suburban Dallas Sunday, even though some Muslims in Texas were already feeling aggrieved and fearful over growing anti-Islamic sentiment in the state.

Then, two men with attack rifles drove in from Arizona and opened fire on officers guarding the conference center in Garland. Both were shot dead, an officer was shot in the leg, and from the other side of the world, the Islamic State group made an unproven claim of responsibility.

"This is the exposure that they wanted and this is the divisiveness that they wanted to bring," said Omar Suleiman, resident scholar at the Valley Ranch Islamic Center in Irving, a Dallas suburb with a sizable Islamic community.

"We condemn obviously the attack in the strongest terms, and we are glad that the police officer is OK," Suleiman added. "This is what extremists on both sides want: whether it's Geller or whether it's ISIS. They want this all-out war. That's not what we're about."

Anti-Islam sentiment has been reverberating in Texas, from the state Capitol to local governments. Tensions rose in Irving after the City Council endorsed one of several bills to forbid judges from rulings based on "foreign laws."

"I think it is redundant — no law can override the Constitution," said Malik Abdul-Rahman, an Irving barber. "I think it is more intolerance and bigotry than anything."

Islam holds that any depictions of its prophet are deeply offensive, and yet Geller's contest rules sought images that engage "in criticism of and mockery of Muhammad and the belief system and ideology that underlies global jihad terrorism." She also brought in a speaker known for his outspoken criticism of Islam, Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders.

Geller, president of the New York-based American Freedom Defense Initiative, booked Sunday's event at the same venue where she led about 1,000 protesters at a January fundraiser that the Chicago-based group Sound Vision held to combat negative perceptions of Islam.

"We are standing against the most brutal, radical and extreme ideology on the face of the Earth," Geller declared.

A man with a bullhorn repeatedly called Muhammad a pedophile. One person chanted "Go back to your own countries! We don't want you here!" Another held a sign saying "Insult those who behead others."

Texas was a natural stop for Sound Vision, with more people associated with Muslim congregations, about 422,000, or 1.7 percent of its population, than any other state, according to a 2010 census by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies. Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston each have about 155,000 Muslim adherents.

Later in January, hecklers greeted Muslims for the first time at their lobbying day at the Texas Capitol in Austin.

Republican state Rep. Molly White told her staff to ask visiting Muslims to declare allegiance to America. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott rebuked such attitudes, saying "we must have civil discourse."

But six bills addressing foreign laws, which opponents believe are anti-Muslim, are now pending in the Texas Legislature. Similar legislation banning judges from violating state and federal laws has been introduced this year in almost 20 states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Nine other states have passed them.

The lawmakers have gone out of their way to avoid mentioning Sharia, or Islamic law, but their constituents have done it for them.

"The concern is they're hearing about it, they're seeing it, they're fearful," Republican state Rep. Dan Flynn said. "They don't want this foot in the door."

Republican state Rep. Jeff Leach suggested that his bill would put limits on an Islamic tribunal in Dallas.

The panel advertises voluntary, non-binding arbitration to resolve disputes among Muslims in accordance with both Sharia traditions and U.S. law, and says similar religious tribunals have helped the American Jewish and American Christian faith communities resolve disputes for decades.

"Some people will tell you: 'Is this really a problem? Is this a solution looking for a problem?'" Leach said as he promoted his bill at the Texas Faith and Family Day rally in Austin in February. "We want to codify that, to ensure that there is no judge in Texas who should even think twice about violating the Texas or United States Constitution."

Irving Mayor Beth Van Duyne weighed in on Facebook, saying she would investigate rumors of a Sharia law court in her city, and that if "there are violations of basic rights occurring, I will not stand idle and will fight with every fiber of my being against this action." It turned out that an imam from Irving served on the Dallas panel.

In March, an Iraqi man was fatally shot in Dallas while photographing a snowfall, rattling nerves even though police later determined it was random and not a hate crime.

"There is a lot of fear. So if anything happens, until proven otherwise, and even then, the violence sticks with you," Alia Salem, who directs the Dallas-Fort Worth chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

In April, people lined up to denounce Islam two weeks after the Irving City Council voted to endorse Leach's bill. One woman declared "Sharia law is Islam, and Islam's goal is to immigrate, assimilate and annihilate." A man sitting in the audience shouted "That is offensive!" and was escorted out.

As Texans took stock of Sunday's shooting, Muslim leaders praised police for proactively guarding the area's mosques and Islamic schools, and thanked the FBI for reaching out to their community.

"Whatever we can do to ensure that we'll keep our cities safe, we'll do everything possible," said Azhar Azeez, president of the Islamic Society of North America.
___

Associated Press reporters Emily Schmall in Dallas and Paul J. Weber in Austin also contributed to this report.

-- (c) Associated Press 2015-05-06

[The manic]

Its a pity the hands of the UK are tied by fear and political correctness. Good job Dallas!

[Linky]

Its a pity the hands of the UK are tied by fear and political correctness. Good job Dallas!

What part of political correctness would stop the police or guards from killing gunmen in the UK? I think you will find it wouldnt, and hasn't.

Edited May 6, 2015 by Linky

[Steely Dan]

The whining you see here is taken straight out of the political Islam campaign book from the time when Mohammad was Billy no mates and thus lacked the numbers for violent jihad. Note the false equivalence attempted here between Pam Geller and co, who fight with words corroborated by fact and ISIS who use mass murder instead.

Anyone who can seriously try to draw such equivalence arguments frankly has no business living in free societies.

[Linky]

The whining you see here is taken straight out of the political Islam campaign book from the time when Mohammad was Billy no mates and thus lacked the numbers for violent jihad. Note the false equivalence attempted here between Pam Geller and co, who fight with words corroborated by fact and ISIS who use mass murder instead.

Anyone who can seriously try to draw such equivalence arguments frankly has no business living in free societies.

What has ISIS to do with this? Authorities are saying it is unlikely they are involved.

Good to know you have your hero Pam Geller as a poster child. Bigotry must be in fashion.

Can you point me in the direction of the political Islam campaign book? Doesn't seem to be too popular in most Islamic countries.

Also please point to the facts Ms Geller uses.

[Linky]

Ms Geller, a real stand up person for nutters. Had Anders Breivik as a follower and she even defended him in the Norwegian massacre.

www.forwardprogressives.com/dont-owe-robert-spencer-pamela-geller-apo...

[EnglishJohn]

Its a pity the hands of the UK are tied by fear and political correctness. Good job Dallas!

What part of political correctness would stop the police or guards from killing gunmen in the UK? I think you will find it wouldnt, and hasn't.

Because they wouldn't be allowed to hold the competition in the first place.

[thaibeachlovers]

They should be scared.

Free people might begin to treat them like they treat non Muslims in Islamic countries.

[EnglishJohn]

I don't particularly agree with what Ms Geller does, but the real value is that it draws out the Muslim standpoint so that ignorant masses can understand what is really going on.

Putting Ms Geller in the same category as ISIS sums them up nicely. You say something we don't like and we will murder dozens of you.

[Chicog]

They should be scared.

Free people might begin to treat them like they treat non Muslims in Islamic countries.

Would you like to explain to me how they treat me in Islamic countries as a "non-muslim"?

Because I'm all ears.

[thaibeachlovers]

They should be scared.

Free people might begin to treat them like they treat non Muslims in Islamic countries.

Would you like to explain to me how they treat me in Islamic countries as a "non-muslim"?

Because I'm all ears.

Try building a church in Riyadh or try walking with a girlfriend in public in Riyadh if you want to know how they treat non Muslims in Saudi. Or perhaps be a Coptic Christian in Egypt.

[KarenBravo]

This is interesting. Ignore the title. UKIP never mentioned.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXW-Ezs7fRo

Edited May 6, 2015 by KarenBravo

[Chicog]

Ms Geller, a real stand up person for nutters. Had Anders Breivik as a follower and she even defended him in the Norwegian massacre.

www.forwardprogressives.com/dont-owe-robert-spencer-pamela-geller-apo...

Jesus what a piece of work.

In 2007, Pam Geller published a letter from a Muslim hater in Norway that warned of a Muslim takeover and vowed: "We are stockpiling and caching weapons, ammunition and equipment. This is going to happen fast"http://is.gd/cAzcjL

She recently deleted that line from the post on her site: http://is.gd/FQOpbf (though it's still available from the Wayback machine)

In the comment section to the post at the time, she said she was purposely shielding the identity of the letter-writing -- by publishing it anonymously - in order to prevent the writer from being investigated and prosecutedhttp://is.gd/ef5YUo

If this were an attack by a Muslim group, and a Muslim had something like this on his/her website, the FBI and multiple other groups would be swarming.

She also posted this picture of the camp at which Breivik massacred all those kids.

What a racist hag.

[ezzra]

They should be scared.

Free people might begin to treat them like they treat non Muslims in Islamic countries.

Would you like to explain to me how they treat me in Islamic countries as a "non-muslim"?

Because I'm all ears.

Pakistan comes to mines big time, whereby the Christians minority are persecuted to the extend

of death and stoning by the local Muslims communities, I know that for a fact from one of

the Pakistani Christian refuges in Thailand at the moment waiting relocation after fleeing Pakistan or

they will die, simple as that, and I'm sure that there are other strict Muslim countries that the live

of non Muslim is in constant perils....

[Kerryd]

Religion.

It's given people hope in a world torn apart by

Religion.

(Jon Stewart)

There are nutters in pretty much every religion. Japanese Buddhists did some pretty nasty things during WW II . A lot of devote Christians (including clergyman) did some pretty awful stuff in WW II as well (remember, the Nazis thought god was on their side too, the same as the allies thought god was on their side). Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims, Jews - they all have their more "extreme" components that are more than willing to express themselves in the most violent of terms, all in the name of imaginary beings created by men, to control other men.

If Christianity hadn't of handcuffed itself all those centuries ago by making suicide a sin you could pretty much guarantee that they'd have just as many (Christian) suicide bombers today as there are Muslim. Hardly a day goes by anymore without reading a story about some (American) religious leader advocating the murder of certain segments of society (notably the homosexual segment). If they had suicide bombers in their arsenals there is not doubt at all that some would use them (while conveniently ignoring the whole "murder is a sin" part of course).

Surprise, surprise. Timothy McViegh was brought up Roman Catholic (and took the sacrament just before his execution because, you know, all you have to do is say "I'm sorry" and all those murders and other sins are forgiven and you get to go to heaven - unlike a large number of his victims who never got that opportunity of course) ! Jeffery Dahmer was a born-again Christian. Hitler was a Catholic. A lot of Catholic Popes were very nasty people themselves. Let us not forget the "Inquisitions". I'm sure a lot of people at that time would have considered the Catholic clergy to be terrorists, what with the boiling in oil and burning at the stake routines.

Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.

Blaise Pascal, 1623-1662

French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer and Christian philosopher.

(Inventor of the syringe, hydraulic press and one of the first mechanical calculating machines amongst other things.)

[Chicog]

They should be scared.

Free people might begin to treat them like they treat non Muslims in Islamic countries.

Would you like to explain to me how they treat me in Islamic countries as a "non-muslim"?

Because I'm all ears.

Try building a church in Riyadh or try walking with a girlfriend in public in Riyadh if you want to know how they treat non Muslims in Saudi. Or perhaps be a Coptic Christian in Egypt.

Oh sorry, I have to do the things you say to be scared as a non-Muslim in an Islamic country.

Well, that's that argument won then, isn't it?

[thaibeachlovers]

I think one has to seperate "religion", which is a man made organisation invented by the elites to subjugate and control the masses, from "faith", which is divine.

In my opinion, anyone wearing a stupid hat and claiming to speak for God is at least misguided and at worst a charlatan.

[humqdpf]

There is a surreal side to all of this.

The guys who went in shooting were both rightfully on the FBI list but the latter stopped watching them because they went quiet.

The Imam of the mosque where they prayed was interviewed on BBC. He was asked why he did not spot them as terrorists. He responded that neither he nor the FBI who have completely infiltrated the mosque were able to spot what they were up to or anticipate their actions. By the way, he was not being anti-FBI - he was just stating a fact that was well-known.

My take on this is that too many resources in the USA are spent trawling through universes of personal data, invading the privacy of the majority of law-abiding individuals while those with "form" who should be under suspicion are allowed to slip away. Same with the surveillance of the mosque - they infiltrate the mosque but don't apply the resources to known jihadist types.

Instead of using up resources to box-in Snowden in Russia, why don't they just pardon him on condition he turn his knowledge and skills to track down jihadists. This is what they did with the infamous Captain Crunch eventually (famous as the original hacker who hacked into the ATT phone system but later worked on computer security after a stint with the original Apple company).

[Steely Dan]

The whining you see here is taken straight out of the political Islam campaign book from the time when Mohammad was Billy no mates and thus lacked the numbers for violent jihad. Note the false equivalence attempted here between Pam Geller and co, who fight with words corroborated by fact and ISIS who use mass murder instead.

Anyone who can seriously try to draw such equivalence arguments frankly has no business living in free societies.

What has ISIS to do with this? Authorities are saying it is unlikely they are involved.

Good to know you have your hero Pam Geller as a poster child. Bigotry must be in fashion.

Can you point me in the direction of the political Islam campaign book? Doesn't seem to be too popular in most Islamic countries.

Also please point to the facts Ms Geller uses.

I suggest you re-read the o.p, a Muslim spokesman made the specific comparison of Ms Geller and ISIS, hence my comments on equivalence. As for the political Islam campaign book, well it's the Quran, Hadiths and Suras of course, you know the ones quoted verbatim by terrorists for no other reason than to discredit Islam, have you yet to try that chestnut yet?

[Ulysses G.]

There are nutters in pretty much every religion.

I know it is fashionable rant and rave about religion and I usually like your posts, but this information is all wrong.

Just off the top of my head, Hitler hated Christianity and spoke about it often, after he was in power. He did pretnd to be a Chritian in order to get elected. Timothy McViegh abandoned Christianity as an adult - long before he bombed the Federal building - and Jeffery Dahmer did not become a born-again Christian until he was already convicted for his murders and serving time in prison.

[Linky]

They should be scared.

Free people might begin to treat them like they treat non Muslims in Islamic countries.

Would you like to explain to me how they treat me in Islamic countries as a "non-muslim"?

Because I'm all ears.

Try building a church in Riyadh or try walking with a girlfriend in public in Riyadh if you want to know how they treat non Muslims in Saudi. Or perhaps be a Coptic Christian in Egypt.

Well then why not say the way they are treated in Saudi instead of muslim countries because it makes you look ill informed.

I live in a muslim country, i'm going for a walk to the pub for a few beers and my muslim gf is cooking bacon and egg sandwiches. If I feel like going to a Christian church, which I don't, I can easilly do that.

There are over 60,000 Churches in Indonesia, the largest Muslim populated country.

So enough of the generalisations.

[Thakkar]

Certainly, shooting people is no way to defend your religion. This superfluity needs to be expressed lest idiots accuse me of defending violence. This is how low the discourse has fallen.

While Charlie Hebdo satarized all religions and politicians equally, Ms Geller was out to provoke extremists from a particular religion while gathering and accommodating bigots from another. This was callous and shameless, injuring the feelings of one group while fanning the ugly flames of another, and risking lives all round. All for the true purpose of self-promotion and self-aggrandizment.

Without breaking the law, by ostensibly attempting to defend free speech, she came perilously close to shouting "fire!" in a crowded cinema. For that, she's almost as dangerous as the extremists with guns. *That* is the equivalency.

T

[Andre0720]

Religion.

It's given people hope in a world torn apart by

Religion.

(Jon Stewart)

There are nutters in pretty much every religion. Japanese Buddhists did some pretty nasty things during WW II . A lot of devote Christians (including clergyman) did some pretty awful stuff in WW II as well (remember, the Nazis thought god was on their side too, the same as the allies thought god was on their side). Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims, Jews - they all have their more "extreme" components that are more than willing to express themselves in the most violent of terms, all in the name of imaginary beings created by men, to control other men.

If Christianity hadn't of handcuffed itself all those centuries ago by making suicide a sin you could pretty much guarantee that they'd have just as many (Christian) suicide bombers today as there are Muslim. Hardly a day goes by anymore without reading a story about some (American) religious leader advocating the murder of certain segments of society (notably the homosexual segment). If they had suicide bombers in their arsenals there is not doubt at all that some would use them (while conveniently ignoring the whole "murder is a sin" part of course).

Surprise, surprise. Timothy McViegh was brought up Roman Catholic (and took the sacrament just before his execution because, you know, all you have to do is say "I'm sorry" and all those murders and other sins are forgiven and you get to go to heaven - unlike a large number of his victims who never got that opportunity of course) ! Jeffery Dahmer was a born-again Christian. Hitler was a Catholic. A lot of Catholic Popes were very nasty people themselves. Let us not forget the "Inquisitions". I'm sure a lot of people at that time would have considered the Catholic clergy to be terrorists, what with the boiling in oil and burning at the stake routines.

Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.

Blaise Pascal, 1623-1662

French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer and Christian philosopher.

(Inventor of the syringe, hydraulic press and one of the first mechanical calculating machines amongst other things.)

Yes, in those days when ignorance was all around...

The more educated the people get, the less they believe in Christianity, and so are not inclined towards violence based on such beliefs.

Not so for Islam..

[Andre0720]

Religion, being the worst creation of man, should remain a personal thing, superstition as it is.

Teaching children about these beliefs, brainwashing young children to believe in these superstitions, should be considered absolutely immoral....

The day these teaching would also become illegal, muslims would surely be welcomed again in many countries....

[Chicog]

Come on you shit stirrer,look closer to home and see what is going on in Thailand's South,,,,, They buy the shops like Tesco Lotus , Big C /and many shops and what the hell you get ,only food for Muslims they don't want to talk to you they ignore you(I appreciate that) and turn up their hidden nose ,they are Rude /Pushy/no manners, they will not employ Non Muslims in their shops To sum it up in one word they are,,Racists,, to the max!

I think I can understand why muslims wouldn't want to talk to you, but I've never had any hostility from any of the muslims I've met in Thailand, North and South.

If they don't want to sell haram products in shops they own, that's their business.

But it has nothing to do with thaibeachlover's absurd generalisation on non-muslims in MUSLIM countries anyway, does it?

[Chicog]

Yes, in those days when ignorance was all around...

The more educated the people get, the less they believe in Christianity, and so are not inclined towards violence based on such beliefs.

Not so for Islam..

Yes, but 700 years ago a fair amount of violence was committed in the name of Christianity.

So if you wait 700 years....

[zydeco]

From the OP

In March, an Iraqi man was fatally shot in Dallas while photographing a snowfall, rattling nerves even though police later determined it was random and not a hate crime.

You get that? It was "random and not a hate crime" and thus utterly unrelated to anything that took place in Garland. But AP decided they would throw it in the story anyway.

[Kerryd]

There are nutters in pretty much every religion.

I know it is fashionable rant and rave about religion and I usually like your posts, but this information is all wrong.

Just off the top of my head, Hitler hated Christianity and spoke about it often, after he was in power. He did pretnd to be a Chritian in order to get elected. Timothy McViegh abandoned Christianity as an adult - long before he bombed the Federal building - and Jeffery Dahmer did not become a born-again Christian until he was already convicted for his murders and serving time in prison.

Point in fact, it seems Hitler hated the Protestant and Catholic religions ("Christianity"), but believed in their god (and remained a member of the Catholic church until his death). Apparently he thought those religions had "crippled all that was noble in humanity". Even after he became Chancellor he ordered members of the Nazi Party and the SS to remain members of the church (after hearing that large numbers had left the church because they thought it was opposing Hitler). In all fairness though, despite considering becoming a priest (in his youth) and his use of the Church for political gain, it doesn't appear he was a "practising" Catholic.

As for McVeigh, he started out as a practising Catholic, then it appears he kind of "lapsed" (stopped being an "active" church goer) but maintained his beliefs to a degree. In an 1996 interview (the year after the Oklahoma bombing) McVeigh professed belief in "a God", although he said he had "sort of lost touch with" Catholicism and "I never really picked it up, however I do maintain core beliefs.". Then, the day before his execution he claimed to be "agnostic" but on the day of his execution he took the Catholic sacrament of "The Anointing of the Sick" so it appears he changed his mind at the last minute (you know, "just in case").

Dahmer's family were devout members of the Stone-Campbell "Churches of Christ" though inexplicably Jeffery supposedly stopped being an active member when he was 5 (sounds hokey to me. How many "devout" parents would just allow their child to stop going to church at that age ?) Never the less, it would be fair to say that his life would have been influenced by his family's beliefs. It appears that religion didn't (overtly) influence his criminal actions, (although there is speculation that he was angry that his family's beliefs prevented him from coming out of the closet, and he hated gays because of that, despite being homosexual himself).

I guess the main difference is, they didn't commit their crimes in the name of their religion (whether they were "active" believers or not at the time). There are some Christian terrorist groups out there, though none quite so prominent as certain other groups currently active. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_terrorism

[NeverSure]

Without breaking the law, by ostensibly attempting to defend free speech, she came perilously close to shouting "fire!" in a crowded cinema. For that, she's almost as dangerous as the extremists with guns. *That* is the equivalency.

No she didn't. She was in privately held building with no victims and no one unable to escape. To the contrary the terrorists traveled all the way from Arizona to get themselves killed. They are the only ones who posed a danger.

All that the dearly departed had to do was ignore her. She hardly trapped anyone in a building. Only the worst of the worst and the most insane travel across state lines with military type rifles because they don't like a cartoon.

[Steely Dan]

Without breaking the law, by ostensibly attempting to defend free speech, she came perilously close to shouting "fire!" in a crowded cinema. For that, she's almost as dangerous as the extremists with guns. *That* is the equivalency.

No she didn't. She was in privately held building with no victims and no one unable to escape. To the contrary the terrorists traveled all the way from Arizona to get themselves killed. They are the only ones who posed a danger.

All that the dearly departed had to do was ignore her. She hardly trapped anyone in a building. Only the worst of the worst and the most insane travel across state lines with military type rifles because they don't like a cartoon.

To actually expect a violent reaction from someone every time someone does something that annoys them is the racism of low expectations. How one can simultaneously expect violence in such cases and still countenance mass immigration from said groups is beyond me.