Hold Rutherford mosque hearing. Shut up haters. Move on.

by Gail Kerr, The Tennessean, Jun 10, 2012

The haters are on the move again in Rutherford County.

Chancellor Robert Corlew III’s ruling that the county did not provide adequate notice of a planning commission meeting during which it approved a new mosque has set off comments like those made by Lou Ann Zelenik, who is running for Congress. She said the ruling shows the Muslims building the mosque have been guilty of “Islamic lying.”

Good grief. Please, please, Rutherford Countians, do not elect someone who would spew such ignorance.

And for Pete’s sake, county officials. Put this thing to bed once and for all. You’ve let the haters run their mouths for two years. Follow the judge’s orders. Advertise a new meeting. Hold it. Vote for the thing. And let’s move on. (read more)

I essentially agree. I would not myself classify all of the opponents of the Mosque as "haters" however, but the label may fit for some. I would say most are "people who do not understand or appreciate the constitution," or they are "misguided" or they are "people who have abandoned their values out of fear" or something else. 

Some politician however are pandering to the worst in people. I don't know if Lou Ann Zelenik is pandering or if she is so fearful of Islam that she is willing to abandon the Constitution.  Anyone who can take the position that Muslim do not have the right to build a Mosque and defend that view by  rationalizing that Islam, which is the world's second largest religion, is not really a religion could clearly rationalize their way into any position. I fear people who think like Lou Ann Zelenik more than I fear the Muslims of Murfressboro.

In world war II when FDR imprisoned 110,000 Japanese-Americans, that was a popular decision. Were all who supported that decision "haters?" They were people who were fearful that a minority among them may have loyalties to a foreign power or ideology and were not good Americans and that the country was in peril and so they were willing to abandon their principles, rationalize away constitutional protections, and abandon their values our of fear. I think that is what we are seeing today.

Top Stories