U.S. Muslims to demonstrate loyalty to country

Sept. 11 anniversaries have always been challenging for U.S. Muslims, who have been under scrutiny since the attacks. This year, the commemoration follows a summer in which opposition to a planned Islamic community center near the World Trade Center site escalated into a national uproar over Islam, extremism and religious freedom.

Islamic centers as far away as Murfreesboro, Tenn., and California faced protests and vandalism. In western New York, police said a group of teenagers recently yelled obscenities, set off a car alarm and fired a shotgun during two nights of drive-by harassment at a small-town mosque near Lake Ontario.

By contrast, when the Heartsong Church in Cordova learned a mosque would be built next door, pastor Steve Stone erected a six-foot sign reading "Welcome to the Neighborhood." The church, located on Houston Levee, has even invited their future neighbors to pray in the Heartsong sanctuary during Ramadan.

But tolerance is more the exception than the rule. Usama Shami, board chairman for the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix, said a new mosque the congregation has been building for years drew little attention until recently, when some resistance emerged in the neighborhood and from some in city government. Recently, vandals broke into the new building, spilled paint on the floor and broke expensive windows.

[link to www.commercialappeal.com]