I was out in the garden picking tomatoes (and swatting mosquitoes who seemed to be getting more from my visit than I was) when the Channel Five helicopter began to circle overhead. Feeling certain I wasn't the object of their attention, I soon realized they were hovering over the nearby Islamic Center of Murfreesboro. This usually happens when there has been a significant event... like an arson attempt, or vandalism, or a visit from a washed up Saturday Night Live Islamaphobe with a film crew.
My first impulse was to grab my camera and drive a quarter of a mile north on Bradyville Pike to see what might be happenin', then I remembered the mass shooting at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin and thought better of possibly driving into a SWAT team situation. The better course of action would be to check for news on the internet, so I fired up my lovely (and dangerous) wife's laptop (my computer is dead in the water... the result of its owner trying to get something for nothing and incurring the wrath of Bill Gates' Gestapo...).
So what was the stir? What brought helicopters to our peaceful little neighborhood yet again? The Murfreesboro Mosque had just passed its state building inspection and had been cleared for occupancy after two years of bullshit protests, litigation, and fear-mongering.
You probably don't get aerial coverage when your local businesses and churches pass inspection, but here in middle Tennessee we can make news out of any damn thing.
Anyway, I took a drive past the mosque and noticed the construction crews were still at it. Then I drove past a row of white crosses that lined the little two lane highway past the Grace Babtist Church, which is immediately adjacent to the controversial new Islamic Center of Murfreesboro. Normally I don't pay too much attention to the yard displays at Christian churches, any more than I would be drawn to stare at yokels trying to pass off their clutter to one another by holding a garage sale in the neighborhood.
But these crosses... a neat row of large, white crosses along the highway, like tombstones or grave markers. I was intrigued. Thirteen of 'em. I counted on my way back home from the liquor store while listening to Glenn Beck on the A.M. radio. (personal note: I like to listen to Beck when I'm on a liquor run, and Limbaugh when I'm hauling trash to the dump. Keeps things in perspective)
There was an article in The Tennessean about those crosses. Seems the good members of the Grace Babtist Church had taken a vote. They decided to have someone construct thirteen crosses for them to put up alongside the highway as a way to remind Muslims to mind their manners. I guess. Actually, it's hard to say exactly what the crosses are meant to signify.
According to the guy who built the crosses, "It was more or less to make a statement to the Muslims about how we felt about our religion, our Christianity." Mack Richards went on to say, "We wanted them to see the crosses and know how we felt about things."
Oh, well hell, that clears it up, right? Want to know how we feel about things, you Muslims? Check out our crosses!
What does that say, exactly? That you think there are too many healthy trees in America, and some of them should be chopped down and sawed up for religious symbolism?
I think the congregation at Grace Babtist Church should be damn glad Christ was crucified two thousand years ago. If he had come to Earth in the 1960's, they'd have to hire ol' Mack to build them thirteen little electric chairs for their lawn display. Not nearly as easy to make little electric chairs as it is to make pretty white crosses...
In the meantime, the mosque has gotten clearance from the local and state authorities to open the doors for services beginning this Friday. Local fear mongers are sad, of course, because this has been their cause du jour for two years' worth of rabble rousing, and once you've started a bigotry ball rolling it's hard to just "let it go."
So when the next big thing happens at the mosque and the helicopters are circling overhead, don't expect yours truly to jump in his car and drive up Bradyville Highway to see what's happening. I'm afraid some of the local wingnutters aren't going to be satisfied with symbolic crosses to express their dissatisfaction. I'm afraid there are people in this area who have lost their fucking minds about this silly shit, and some of those folks won't be inclined to sit at home and read scriptures about being a good neighbor.
Like they say, it's all well and good until someone gets hurt, right?
11 comments:
Beware, the Christians are coming - and they are not nice people.
You are sitting on a tragedy waiting to happen.
Keep your head down - remember you are also an abomination in their view, because you do not agree with them.
the Ol'Buzzard
Buzz, I'm just an atheist here in the Bible Belt's Brass Buckle, not in infidel who wants to torch the city hall and burn down all the churches with Sharia Law. I don't rate the kind of enmity the Muslims do because no one's started a nationwide jihad on atheists. Their targets are under the crescent. My flag is pretty much the little man lying on his back at the top of this blog...
Dazed, confused, and trying to get by with as little animosity as I can muster.
Wichita had a mosque burned not long ago, and at the end of last week Joplin MO lost one also. I often hear that Muslims cause violence. Those crafty Muslims, they trick christians/republicans/hate groups into burning the mosque, that must be the violence they cause here in the religiosity belt.
Fringe, they're even "craftier" than you think. Around here when the subject of the arson investigation or the vandalism are brought up there's always one or two pointed headed individuals who "suggest" the violence is actually perpetrated by the Muslims themselves to gain sympathy from us tree-huggin' liberals.
Shifty bastards, aren't they? They work through the courts and the protests and the hate mongers just to burn down their own places of worship, just like those black folks did back in the 60's! Then they'd beat themselves up while in police custody, and lynch some of their own just to keep whitey off guard!
I expect violence to occur at this mosque simply because outside agitators and ambitious politicians have stoked the fires of intolerance to the point where time alone won't allow them to cool.
You'll be hearing about it on the national news, I fear.
Squalto,
I found your last words chilling.
And sadly, you are absolutely correct; there will be an attack on those people and their place of worship because of some idiotic notion that "my God is the real, God and your' isn't".
I don't care how our who someone else worships what they view as God; Jett was a Buddhist, Sharon was a Catholic, Donna is a Presbyterian, and I don't know what I am.
Northern Ireland is a classic example of this madness over religion - as is the whole friggin middle east. Total death and carnage over, "my God id better than your God".
And, sadly - there is one God but God....
No, I am not a Muslim.
Ron
Interesting how religions evolve. At one time, the Baptists completely rejected the use of the cross as a symbol -- they associated it with Catholicism. Now they worship it. I've always wondered if it counts as a graven idol. Lots of the Bible-thumpers do seem to be worshiping the symbols more than they are trying to live by the Word.
Nan, I've always wondered what Christ would think if he came back to Earth and saw that "Christians" had taken the implement of his death as their symbol. Makes me think he'd be saying, "Wait, What? The cross? Are you shitting me? I gave them loaves and fishes. Couldn't a fish sandwich be my symbol, for Christ's sake? I turned water into wine. How 'bout a wine glass as my symbol? But nooooo, they had to go with a wooden cross."
You can probably tell this atheist doesn't have a lot of qualms about tossing around blasphemy like peanuts at a baseball game... sorry to all I've just offended.
You should probably find another blobber to stare at, if I've pissed you off with this comment.
This one is reality based.
This is a clear demonstration of how reactionary 'Christians' have elevated the art form of investing massive amounts of energy into imaginary and irrelevant things, even as they let bread and butter issues go stale and rot before their eyes.
Of course, this is perfectly diametrically opposed to the teachings and example of their supposed prophet, who pretty much came to earth to feed and heal people and teach them how to be good to each other. Or something like that. These yahoos are using his brand (and nothing else) to justify being totally vicious and sadistic nutjobs. It's wild.
Sam, that's my sentiment exactly. To paraphrase Twain, if Christ came back to Earth today the one thing he would not be is a Christian.
The church next door to the mosque has stayed out of the fray during all of this bullshit. Now some members have decided to make their feelings known, and suddenly they look as intolerant as the rest of the mega-churches here in town.
Meanwhile, the object of their scorn, the members of the Muslim community, have made it clear that they welcome anyone to visit their mosque, and furthermore, reiterate their prophet's counsel to love all neighbors.
Who do you think Christ would prefer to break bread with? The bigots who fear monger, or the silent worshippers next door?
It's batshit crazy these days.
Squatlo, Larry Niven made it a very clear point in one of his books in the "Dream Park" series, something about "one of the largest religions in the world chooses an act of torture as it's symbol?"
These people are batcrap crazy.
Cthulhu, I was thinking of starting my own religion and using thumbscrews for our symbol. It might be easier to duplicate waterboards, so I might reconsider that choice.
Or we could use the Spanish Inquisition's "Comfy Chair"...
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