This action will not only endanger our troops, it will endanger the fragile relationships between Muslims and American missionaries, Peace Corp Workers, Medical workers, diplomats, teachers, students, tourists and Holy Land pilgrims. ...

Anglicans, Copts, Evangelical Christians and so many others all say the same thing. They KNOW the radical elements of Islam will respond to this action. The reaction will be swift, violent and I believe will bring harm to innocent men, women, and children. One Dutch Christian said, "When our papers had a caricature of Mohammed, the reaction was violent. To burn the Qur'an will bring a much greater reaction against Americans, especially Christians."

The potential for violence also threatens Muslims around the world. The majority of the fatalities in the demonstrations and riots following the publication of the Mohammed cartoons in a Danish newspaper several years ago were caused by police firing into crowds in Muslim countries. All of these threats underscore the importance of putting news coverage in accurate contact, as the Council on American Islamic Relations urged the media to do last week, when they sent out a press release stating in part

"Just as all Muslims should not be blamed for the actions of a few extremists, neither should all Christians or all Americans be blamed for the intentionally offensive actions of the Dove World Outreach Center. Pastor Terry Jones represents nothing but an extremist fringe." "Media professionals have a responsibility to put this publicity stunt in its proper context in their reports and commentaries."

...about 150 people...attended Monday's night's vigil, organized in response to the recent fire at the construction site for the new mosque. Many in the crowd held candles or signs proclaiming such messages as "We're all in this together" and "My God is not a bigot." They also joined in singing "We Shall Overcome."

The gathering came two days after a fire of suspicious origin damaged construction equipment at the site of the planned mosque. Federal investigators are still looking into the cause.
Organizers said the vigil was intended to encourage mosque supporters and opponents to demonstrate for a community free of violence, arson and other such activities.

However, Bob Smietana's outstanding Tennessean article on the event ended on a more sobering note:

Still stunned from the fire that claimed excavation equipment on the site of their planned mosque, Murfreesboro Muslims avoided Monday night's protest. They say their project has already attracted too much attention.

"All we want to do is build a place where we can worship in peace and quiet," said Saleh Sbenaty, a volunteer who is helping organize the mosque project.

Speakers included national security experts Matthew Alexander, a former high-level military interrogator in Iraq, and Andrew Bacevich, a nationally recognized expert on the military and international relations, as well as powerful voices (and strong allies!) from the faith community - Simon Greer of Jewish Funds for Justice, Lisa Sharon Harper of New York Faith & Justice, and David Gushee of the New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good. (Full-length audio of the call is here.) Individually and as a group, they made a compelling case in support of the Park51 Islamic Center, and gave political opportunists who have used fear-mongering rhetoric to stoke opposition to the mosque the stinging rebuke they deserve. Quotes from each of the speakers are after the jump:

Matthew Alexander:

"Park51 would be a powerful symbol of U.S. tolerance and freedom that will stand in direct contradiction to al Qaeda's narrative that Americans hate Muslims. As a symbol, its construction demonstrates that the U.S. is not at war with Islam and that Muslims are welcome in America. It communicates a message of moderation that stands in stark contrast to al Qaeda's bankrupt ideology. Symbols like this matter. Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay and the policy of torture and abuse handed al Qaeda its number one recruiting tool. Those who think al Qaeda will not be able to spin this controversy to their advantage are disastrously mistaken."

Lisa Sharon Harper:

"As a New Yorker, I feel this debate in a very personal way--the area where Park51 is being proposed is not on Ground Zero. It is in a quiet community that has had an active Muslim population for centuries. The Muslims in the community have loved their neighborhood. They have loved their neighbors. We cannot allow Al Qaeda to gut us of our soul. We need this community center and mosque. It is America's opportunity to put the words of Jesus to work. It is our opportunity to love our neighbors back."

David Gushee:

"We seem to be in a fight over what 9/11 is to mean in this country over the long term. We should remember that in the aftermath of 9/11, America came together in a show of unity and cooperation. Let's hold our political leaders, and ourselves, accountable for returning to that spirit. 9/11 cannot be taken to mean a permanent state of fear, anger, and grief, nor the directing of all of that at our fellow Muslims."

Simon Greer:

"As a minority community with a history of persecution and exclusion at the hands of the majority, how can we not appreciate the dangers of a society in which it is acceptable to persecute and exclude minority communities, in which the individual is always placed over the collective? Our safety and security and prosperity in this country are directly related to the success we have had, with others, at making the United States a more inclusive place, with more interconnected communities."

Andrew Bacevich:

"Speaking as a Catholic - a religion subject to considerable discrimination - I cherish the fact that I can be a full citizen and also be committed to my faith tradition. I find it unacceptable and deeply un-American to deny adherents of other faith traditions the freedoms I have enjoyed. Whether intentionally or not, the contrived mosque controversy wrongly and wrong-headedly conveys the impression that the United States views Islam itself as a national security threat."

Other quotes and more information here: http://faithinpubliclife.org/content/press/2010/09/faith_leaders_national_securit.html

It struck me how Islamophobia runs so deep in our nation that our fellow Americans feel they need to state such basic things as "I don't want to take over this country." But given the fact that partisan pundits and even mainstream news anchors seem to have bought into the idea that all Muslims share collective guilt for 9/11, it's a message that, sadly, bears repeating.

One particularly egregious example is happening in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, where the local Muslim community has faced vehement opposition in trying to build a place of worship. The outrage seems to have taken a violent turn with the news of a fire at the mosque construction site this weekend. The investigation into arson is still pending, but two previous acts of vandalism at the site suggest the fire may be connected to recently escalating protests. In an even more chilling turn, members of the embattled congregation reported hearing gunfire while they gathered at the site yesterday.

Political leaders play an important role in creating conditions that either foster or discourage this kind of violence. Just last month, Tennessee Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsay explained that his opposition to the mosque didn't violate his support for religious freedom because "you could even argue whether being a Muslim is actually a religion or is it a nationality, way of life or cult."

At least those who oppose the Park51 project in New York have tried to insist that their stances are not based in Islamophobia. Unintentionally or not however, their nuance seems to be lost on a significant number of Americans who are unfamiliar with and afraid of their Muslim neighbors. Continuing to stoke the fears of the nation with talk of sharia law, "victory mosques" and connections between American Muslims and terrorists will only further incite those who see Islam as a threat and violence the only solution.

It's time for pundits and political leaders who have spoken out against Park51 to stand up and denounce this rhetoric and violence. Even those who disagree on the particular politics of Park51 should be able to affirm that Islam is a peaceful religion and that we have nothing to fear from our Muslim-American neighbors. In the absence of such statements from leaders, we can only infer that they are happy to use some Americans' dangerous misconceptions for their own political ends.

But I have to admit that Beck's ridiculous rhetoric genuinely angered me. Thankfully, several recent commentaries this week put things back in perspective. Writing in the Washington Post and USA Today (respectively), Martin Luther King III and John Lewis remind us of King's commitment to social justice and what today's leaders are doing to continue his work. Leonard Pitts and Adam Serwer recounted who was on the right side and wrong side of history in the Civil Rights Movement. And today, Pulitzer Prize-winner Eugene Robinson puts Beck's rally and King's work in historical perspective:

No puffed-up blabbermouth could ever diminish the importance of the 1963 March on Washington or the impact of King's unforgettable words.

Lincoln and King will always have their places in American history. Beck's 15 minutes of fame and influence are ticking by.

... Saturday night, when the event is done, the Lincoln Memorial will still be the place where King gave one of the most memorable speeches of the 20th century. People who came to the rally in search of answers will still be looking. And Glenn Beck will still be a legend in his own mind.

Glenn Beck's self-aggrandizing publicity stunt does not have the power to distort, eclipse, or undo Dr. King's legacy. I'm thankful for the reminder.

While it may be convenient to dismiss these incidents as aberrations, there is clearly a disturbing trend emerging that can't be easily dismissed. Anti-Muslim fervor is even creeping into mainstream commentary and political races. Listen to syndicated political columnist Cal Thomas writing for the Washington Post "On Faith" blog:

Our enemies are using our Constitution and religious pluralism against us. They have a plan to infiltrate us, build mosques and ultimately impose Sharia Law. They say so. They mean so. People who are in denial about this are dupes and self-deluded. ..Go ahead and call me names. That won't change the reality that the Muslims are coming. In fact, they are already here.

This kind of toxic rhetoric creates a climate that can easily lead to violence. Edina Lekovic, the communications director for the Muslim Public Affairs Council, has it right in an interview with Talking Points Memo: "The hateful rhetoric that is being spewed by people like Newt Gingrich and then being amplified by mainstream media outlets poses a grave danger to the safety and well-being of everyday Muslim Americans like this cab driver, an innocent person," she said.

Conservative activists and politicians have also been quick to wield the verbal weapons of demagoguery, and many liberals have failed to stand up to them. A new political ad from the American Future Fund goes after Rep. Bruce Braley, an Iowa Democrat, for supporting the Islamic center and mosque near Ground Zero. The ad ominously warns that, "for centuries, Muslims built mosques where they won military victories. Now, they want to build a mosque at Ground Zero...It's like the Japanese building at Pearl Harbor." Watch it:

Considered in historical context, this recent wave of xenophobia, ignorance and simmering violence is deeply disturbing but hardly new. The "other" in American culture has always been demonized and faced accusations of disloyalty. As Catholic News Service recently pointed out:

"No Irish Need Apply" signs common in Massachusetts early in the 19th century were rooted in fears over how American society might be changed by immigrants, but particularly by their Catholic faith and culture...The Catholic Encyclopedia describes mobs descending upon a cathedral in Cincinnati in 1853, on churches in New Jersey, New York, Maine and New Hampshire the following year. It tells of a Maine priest who was dragged from his church, robbed, tarred and feathered; of Ohio churches being blown up and convents burned in Massachusetts and Texas.

As in years past, the public mood is swirling in sinister directions as economic anxiety, rising xenophobia and a new generation of demagogues create a combustible mix. We need to be vigilant to ensure that the ugly torrent of fear and scapegoating is overcome by a spirited defense of our nation's core values and highest ideals. The bloody and shameful alternative is already written in our history books.

Regarding the initiative's name:

Why Cordoba?

The name Cordoba was chosen carefully to reflect a period of time during which Islam played a monumental role in the enrichment of human civilization and knowledge. A thousand years ago Muslims, Jews, and Christians coexisted and created a prosperous center of intellectual, spiritual, cultural and commercial life in Cordoba, Spain. [Hear that, Newt Gingrich?]

Regarding the project's funding:

Who is funding the Community Center?

No funds for this project have been raised to date. Before fundraising can begin, a new nonprofit organization will be formed. A project of this scale will require very diverse fundraising sources, including individuals from all faiths and beliefs, including Christians and Jews, who are committed to peace and understanding. We expect that our sources of funding will include individuals of different religions, charitable organizations, public funds, institutional and corporate sponsors.

You will need a lot of contributors. Who will review your donor list?

We will invite the New York Charities Bureau and the US Treasury Department to review our donor list to ensure that all funding sources are vetted to their satisfaction and approved. In addition, the new non-profit's Trustees and Advisory Board will include a multi-faith group of distinguished individuals who will ensure that the community center stays true to its objectives of peace, tolerance and understanding between all. [Did you hear that, Fox News?]The page also addresses numerous accusations made about Imam Feisal.

Regarding accusations that the center will become a haven for extremists in the future:

Will the extremists take over the Community Center once it's built?

Extremism on both sides is the danger - it's what we're working against. A community center that celebrates diversity and multi-faith collaboration is antithetical to the extremists' worldview. This center will be a blow to all extremists. In addition, the new organization's multi-faith Trustees and Board of Advisors will ensure that our good intentions are not hijacked by extremist elements who reject our vision of peace, tolerance and understanding.

See the full list here.

The Los Angeles Times reported yesterday that while "some expected tougher immigration policies to deter people from trying to cross the desert" 170 bodies have been found in Tucson (Pima County) already this year -- a number on pace to break a 2007 record. In July alone, 59 people were found dead. The death toll has soared at such a staggering pace that a refrigerated trailer truck has been added to serve as a makeshift morgue at the coroner's office.

As this story vividly documents, enforcement-only approaches to immigration drive desperate immigrants to take more dangerous routes through the Arizona desert. Migrants don't cross borders because it's easy. Most risk death, and will continue to do so, because they are desperate for work and a better life for their family.

This shameful development again reinforces the urgent need for comprehensive immigration reform that brings immigrants out of the shadows, helps keep families together and cracks down on unscrupulous employers who hire and exploit immigrant labor. This isn't "amnesty" as many opponents insist. It's a practical and humane response to an issue that will not disappear with tough talk, cowboy justice or higher fences.

A nation that is serious about safeguarding its core values and highest ideals can't afford to ignore the mounting deaths of men, women and children at its borders. It's time for an honest conversation about immigration that acknowledges both the cruelty and ineffectiveness that characterizes the failed status quo. Politicians who demagogue this issue and spread ugly myths about immigrants may score cheap political points on the campaign trail, but they abdicate their sacred trust as public officials. History will not judge them kindly.

Clearly the White House is worried by the poll results. And it should be worried -- but not for the reasons it seems to think. It should be concerned that, after watching the president in office for a year and a half, many Americans still don't know who Obama really is -- and that a growing number have concluded that he does not believe what they believe.

Rather than trying to convince Americans that Obama is indeed a practicing Christian, White House officials should be doing some deep thinking about why the president's job approval rating has flipped -- with most polls showing that more Americans now disapprove of his performance in office than approve of how he's doing.

Thiessen misses a crucial point - the high correlation between belief that Obama is a Muslim and disapproval of the job he's doing as president. The Pew poll found that the President's job approval/disapproval rating among people who (correctly) believe he's a Christian is 62/29; among those who don't know his religion it's 44/40; and among those who (incorrectly) believe he's a Muslim it's 26/67. (Emphasis added.)

Correlation is not causation, of course, and myriad nebulous factors influence approval ratings, but the link between believing the president is a Muslim and disapproving of his handling of his job is striking. Couple this with the consistent effort by conservative media to portray the President as a Muslim, and it becomes apparent that cultivating this misperception is a political strategy meant to discredit the president by appealing to religious bigotry and Islamophobia. Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich and other purveyors of fear and prejudice are maligning a religious minority to further the short-term goal of scoring political points.They should be called out, not ignored.

And it is permitted to be said such things as, "Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim." Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he's a Christian. He's always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's no, that's not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet, I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, "He's a Muslim and he might be associated terrorists." This is not the way we should be doing it in America.

I feel strongly about this particular point because of a picture I saw in a magazine. It was a photo essay about troops who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And one picture at the tail end of this photo essay was of a mother in Arlington Cemetery, and she had her head on the headstone of her son's grave. And as the picture focused in, you could see the writing on the headstone. And it gave his awards-Purple Heart, Bronze Star-showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death. He was 20 years old. And then, at the very top of the headstone, it didn't have a Christian cross, it didn't have the Star of David, it had crescent and a star of the Islamic faith. And his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, and he was an American. He was born in New Jersey. He was 14 years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he can go serve his country, and he gave his life. Now, we have got to stop polarizing ourself in this way.

His words are as poignant and relevant today as they were two years ago.

· Between March 2009 and July 2010, belief that Obama is a Muslim increased among demographic group listed in the survey, but the biggest increase was among conservative Republicans (from 18% to 34%).

· As Amy pointed out, 60 percent of those who believe Obama is a Muslim say they learned about his faith from the media.

· 58 percent of Americans have heard of the religious right, and 41 percent of Americans have heard of the religious left. However, only 10 percent say they've heard a lot about the religious left. I'd love to see how much the latter two figures have changed since 2004.

· 52 percent of conservative Republicans and 34 percent of liberal Democrats have heard of the religious left. Could this have something to do with Glenn Beck's sustained attacks on social justice?

Glenn Greenwald said in a Salon post about the segment:

This campaign is nothing different than all of the standard, definitively bigoted efforts to hold entire demographic groups of people responsible for the aberrational acts of a small percentage of individual members.

To me, this cuts to the very heart of it. The crux of the opposition to Cordoba House is collective guilt. The fact that the terrorists who killed thousands of people -- including Muslims - on September 11th were Muslims themselves is used to argue that an entirely separate group of Muslims should not build a house of worship near the scene of the horrific attack. Patel responded:

The vile terrorists who attacked the United States deserve one name, and one name alone, and that is vile terrorists. And the American Muslims who are police officers and firefighters, who coach little league and serve on the PTA, deserve another name, an honored name, and that is fellow American.

Alas, it seems that the health care reform debate hasn't ended after all. In today's American Prospect, Paul Starr outlines the major looming political battles across the country to ensure that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's many crucial provisions actually get implemented. Starr says:

The prospect of a new campaign for health reform, this time to carry it out, may come as a surprise to some who thought the battle was over when Congress voted. The imperatives are clear enough, though, to leaders of the organizations that fought for enactment of the law and to key officials in the Obama administration. They are gearing up to defend the reforms and help realize their promise in all 50 states.

Faith-based community organizing coalitions are among these groups working to ensure that healthcare reform delivers quality, affordable healthcare to millions of families previously excluded or abused by health care system. PICO National Network, which worked tirelessly for health care reform throughout the year-long debate, is mounting the "Bring Health Reform Home" campaign in communities across the country this summer and fall, raising awareness of the benefits and protections people are entitled to under the PPACA. As key provisions - such as free preventive care in new plans, bans on rescissions of coverage for sick policyholders, and prohibition of discrimination against children with pre-existing conditions - go into effect next month, such efforts will make a concrete difference for families nationwide. As some political candidates campaign to "repeal and replace" health care, it's especially important for people to know what's at stake.