The Wrongologist

What’s
Wrong Today:

Few people are aware of the long-simmering
debate in Murfreesboro, TN between anti-Islamic activists affiliated with
the Tea Party and proponents of a plan to build an Islamic cemetery adjacent to
a newly-built mosque in Murfreesboro, TN. The mosque has 1,000 members.

The
issue dates to 2010, when local Muslims wanted to build a mosque and Judge Robert
Corlew III ruled against them. Federal judges subsequently overruled Corlew and
the mosque was built.

If
you think this is a local debate over what to build where, you would be wrong. It is a story about ignorance of the
Constitution, about what constitutes a religion and about how to instill fear
in an ill-informed populace.

The legal
battle over the existence of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro has cost
Rutherford County $343,276
in legal fees, as the plaintiffs opposed to the center’s existence pursued
their lawsuit against the county planning commission that approved it. According
to Salon,
in 2012, the Plaintiffs in their appeal of the decision to build the mosque claimed that Islam is not a religion and doesn’t
deserve First Amendment protection. That claim prompted the intervention of the
local US Attorney, who, in a brief, confirmed that Islam is a recognized
religion, and that to suggest otherwise was “quite simply ridiculous.”

Last
week, Judge Corlew recused
himself from deciding on a motion to grant an injunction to stop the building of
the cemetery. His recusal infuriated opponents of the cemetery, who were
betting on the judge granting a delay just as he had when the mosque
construction was contested. WSMF-TV reported that his recusal led to a scuffle
outside the courtroom.

Background:

This all
started during a 2010 primary contest between Republicans in the 6th
Congressional district in Tennessee in which US Rep. Diane Black defeated
rival Lou Ann Zelenik. Back then, the race between Black and Zelenik was deemed
the “craziest
GOP House race of the year” because it focused on creating paranoia
about an Islamic takeover in Tennessee. Zelenik ran on the charge that the
mosque was going to teach Sharia law. After
her defeat, Zelenik founded the Tennessee
Freedom Coalition, a Christian group dedicated to helping citizens
understand how Sharia law threatened the nation.

Zelenik is also the
founder of the Tea Party in Rutherford County, TN.  

Fast
forward to 2013:

Who
was leading the charge in the courthouse hallway? Lou Ann Zelenik. After the
judge’s recusal, mosque opponents turned nasty, jostling and shoving, then
insulting a mosque supporter. The
Murfreesboro Post reported that one member
of Zelenik’s group again said that
Islam is “not a religion”. The Zelenik group also turned on WSMF TV’s reporter
Larry Flowers who was covering the hearing (and is African-American), ordering
him not to video them and reportedly yelling at him, “Who are you”?

Tennessee
Tea Party members ought to sit down and read their constitution. It grants
Americans freedom of religion. Then they should remind themselves that the Tea Party is a movement that advocates
strict adherence to the US Constitution.

The
cognitive dissonance here is breathtaking. Islam isn’t a religion? We know the
American educational system isn’t fully up to standard, but really?

Islam
recognizes and accepts Christianity as a religion, and believes the Christian Bible
comes from the same God they worship. It is sad that with all of our access to
information, like Fox News, we still have ignorant people, who make fools of
themselves, spewing hate and ignorance for seemingly idiotic reasons.

The
anti-Islam faction of the Tea Party believes it is in a battle to fend off an “attack”
on its religious freedom by having to share space with Islam. They have no historical
or cultural context, and if they hear one, they dismiss it as liberal
indoctrination and “anti-American.” They think the wishy-washy ideas
of liberals are a threat to democratic institutions in their timeless America.

Tolerance
and accommodation of Islam in society would be a capitulation to the enemy.

Clearly,
this is not about religion. It’s about gaining political power by creating and
channeling fear and hate in the general population.

It’s
an old trick that still works depressingly well.

Fear and
hate are base emotions of humans. Appealing to simple, lower-order,
knee-jerking emotions through ill-informed rhetoric is uncourageous and
misleading.

This is
just more of the Tea Party and far right wing effort to dumb down our political
conversation, and our citizenry.