Preacher George’s most ardent parishioners in Houston continue to live down to his fine example:
A plan to build a mosque in this Houston suburb has triggered a neighborhood dispute, with community members warning the place will become a terrorist hotbed and one man threatening to hold pig races on Fridays just to offend the Muslims.
Many neighborhood residents claim they have nothing against Muslims and are more concerned about property values, drainage and traffic. (editorial aside: oh, THAT old dodge!)
But one resident has set up an anti-Islamic Web site with an odometer-like counter that keeps track of terrorist attacks since Sept. 11. A committee has formed to buy another property and offer to trade it for the Muslims’ land. And next-door neighbor Craig Baker has threatened to race pigs on the edge of the property on the Muslim holy day. Muslims consider pigs unclean and do not eat pork.
Yup, nothing says “love your neighbor” like engaging in some good old-fashioned American bigotry! Makes you really feel the spirit of the season, for which the “Prince of Peace” is supposedly the reason. I’m sure He’d just LOVE the pig races!
Mr. Fatouh, a member of the Muslim community that wants to open the center, is apparently bemused by Mr. Baker’s crude attempt to offend:
Baker’s attempt to offend missed its mark, according to Fotouh. Muslims do not hate pigs, he said; they just don’t eat them.
Of course, actually knowing anything about the filthy outsiders that rile any red-blooded angry white man up is not at all necessary. After all, who wants to know anything about anybody different? That just gets in the way of getting a good bigoted hate on. Some of Mr. Baker’s neighbors are every bit at stupid as he is:
Cynthia Blackman wrote Radack that the center was a security risk: “Would you and your family safely and comfortably live next to this 11-acre Muslim mosque and facilities?”
Mr. Baker is determined to go on with his demonstration:
Though he now concedes the Muslims are probably not after his land, Baker said he is obligated to go through with the pig races, probably within the next few weeks, because “I would be like a total idiot if I didn’t. I’d be the laughingstock now because I’ve gone too far.”
Well, you’re a laughingstock NOW, you idiot, but why not commit to your proud moronic course and go all the way?
However, Mr. Fatouh does relate a story that demonstrates that not all Americans, not even in Texas, are blinkered brutes:
The reaction has not been all negative. Fotouh said one man came to the mosque on a Friday afternoon and apologized for his neighbors. “He moved me, really,” Fotouh said. “The sense of fairness, the sense of standing by the underdog.”
I like to think more of us are like that man who visited Mr. Fotouh. I really wish that those welcoming and decent weren’t drowned out by the likes of the easily frightened, cowardly and prejudiced people like Mr. Baker and Ms. Blackman. Hell, I’m nervous about the kinds of idiots who go to far-right churches, who attack women going into clinics for reproductive healthcare, who threaten and shoot OBGYNs, who set off bombs outside of gay nightclubs to the encouraging cheers of their fellow “Christians”. In America most terrorists come from the racist, misogynist, homophobic right, and many of them label themselves as “Christian”.
Sadly, this kind of thinking is all too prominent in this country, and has been getting worse in the general public, the media and in law enforcement since 911.
frankly, I wish all of the houses of imaginary friends were treated like any other business or entertainment venue, but I can’t stand bigots. In this country, aren’t we supposed to celebrate EVERYBODY pursuing their own particular brand of happiness?
I hope the Muslims that are hoping to make up the flock of that Mosque all put on their Friday best and go to those pig races and place bets on the outcome and cheer madly.
that would be really funny.
There are so many Houstonians that look like Harry Potter’s guardians that I don’t think they need to bother bringing any farm animals as it would be redundant. Whether said Houstonians could then race to anything but the buffet line is another story.
And yes, I grew up in that town and know it well.
none of this is new, or a post-9/11 phenomenon. I remember a big public outcry about a decade ago in Orange County, CA — where I regrettably (and regretfully) lived at the time — over the proposed construction of a Buddhist temple. Setting aside the usual BS rationales for opposition (“altering the character of the neighborhood,” etc.), the real sticking point seemed to be that it would be — gasp — in the vicinity of a school!
A letter to the OC edition of the LA Times expressed it well, asking with alarm: “Do we really want our children walking to school right past where these people are conducting their pagan rituals and worshipping pagan gods?”
My response was, of course: Hell yes. Especially if the alternative is walking past the homes and churches of people like you. Better yet, let ’em skip the school and walk right in, rather than past. (Once in a while, anyway.)
A few days later, the Times published a response from a member of the temple-to-be. Very patient, gentle … here’s what we’re about, here’s what we do, we’re not a proselytizing religion anyway and you know, we really don’t sacrifice animals … that sort of thing. And (this person wrote) while it may not comfort the author [of the previous letter] very much, I should point out that we don’t believe in any gods, pagan or otherwise. (Methinks it did not comfort.)
I think the temple eventually got built, but I’m not certain.
worse yet, they try to cultivate COMPASSION, and who wants a dangerous think like THAT loose in one’s neighborhood? Next thing you know and people will start questioning why we’re so mean to each other, and THEN where will we be?
Wow, scared of Buddhists. Imagine if the Baha’i tried to open a temple … pitchforks and torches, no doubt.
Mosque nearby = bad
Pig races nearby = good
One shouldn’t have to travel too far for a good pig race. Now I understand.