CAIR REP SAYS BREDESEN'S MOSQUE COMMENTS ARE NICE, BUT TOO LITTLE TOO LATE -TOP
By Andy Sher, Chattanooga Times Free Press, 9/1/10

A spokesman for a national Islamic organization said he appreciates Gov. Phil Bredesen's comments urging Tennesseans to show religious tolerance toward Islamic beliefs, but he wishes the remarks came before a suspected arson incident at the site of a future Murfreesboro mosque.

"That's a good statement, but perhaps it would have been more beneficial coming earlier and also coming earlier in the repudiation of the voices of bigotry that have been very loud in this debate," said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Federal and state authorities are investigating what they say is suspected arson at the mosque site in which one piece of construction equipment was set ablaze and three others doused with accelerant Saturday.

Asked about Hooper's remarks, Bredesen press secretary Lydia Linker said Tuesday in an e-mail that "with no disrespect to [Hooper], the governor wasn't asked for his thoughts by the media until yesterday, and that was after this escalated to a level that he feels is clearly out of line."

On Monday, Bredesen called on Tennesseans "to please have great respect for anyone's religious preferences and their rights to practice those in the United States." (More)

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NY: INCIDENT WORRIES MEMBERS OF MOSQUE - TOP
Buffalo News, 9/2/10

Members of an Orleans County mosque suspect that growing anti- Muslim sentiment—stirred up by a raging debate over a planned Islamic Center in Manhattan — played a role in recent harassment, including a gunshot blast, outside their building in the Town of Carlton.

"I'm sure," said Bilal Huzair, a member of the World Sufi Foundation Mosque on Fuller Road. "Everything that happens in the mass media fuels everything."

Jacob Zimmerman also senses a connection between the heavily covered controversy in New York City and recent events in tiny Carlton, where the entire population of the town could fill a single Manhattan apartment building.

"The way that Islam has been portrayed by the media, a tone has been set," said Zimmerman.

The presence of mosques and the building of new mosques have become divisive issues in several communities across the country in recent months, as well-organized opposition groups have popped up, often alongside "tea party" political activists, said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. (More)

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CAIR-SAN DIEGO: MESSAGES HOPE TO COUNTER RISING ANTI-ISLAMIC RHETORIC - TOP
San Diego 6, 9/1/10

Two new public service announcements released on Wednesday by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, also known as CAIR, are aimed at easing some of the tensions surrounding the debate over whether an Islamic community center should be built near Ground Zero in New York.

"Because of the so called Ground Zero Mosque, we've had a lot of negative backlash from it -- anti-Muslim rhetoric," explains CAIR spokesman Edgar Hopida. "So this PSA is meant to combat that and show we are very much a part of this society.

The theme of the 30-second spots is "9/11 happened to us all." They feature 9/11 first responders talking about their experience that day, including one fire fighter who learns his friend is among the victims. (More)

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CAIR-MI VIDEO: CAIR LAUNCHES NEW PSA CAMPAIGN - TOP
ClickOnDetroit.com, 9/1/10

View the video.

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CAIR-MI: PSAS WILL BATTLE ANTI-MUSLIM MINDSET - TOP
WWJ 950, 9/1/10

It's a national campaign aimed at countering anti-Islamic sentiment in the United States. The Michigan Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic made the announcement Wednesday following recent attacks on mosques and Muslims as controversy surrounds the of building an Islamic community center near Ground Zero...
Victor Begg, with the Council of Islamic Organizations of Michigan (CAIR), was asked why we haven't been seeing attacks on mosques in Metro Detroit.
"Our community has taken the steps, and I believe it is part of our responsibility, to help communicate who we are as Muslims. We're not those few foreign terrorists that attacked our country. And that's one of the reason we're doing these community service projects," Begg said. (More)

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CAIR-LA VIDEO: ISLAMIC GROUP LAUNCHES PR CAMPAIGN ON AIRWAVES - TOP
By John North, ABC 7, 9/1/10

Islamic groups call it a matter of religious tolerance. They say a wave of anti-Muslim bigotry is sweeping the country, and they're going to fight it on the air with public service announcements.

The proposal to put an Islamic center and mosque a few blocks from New York's Ground Zero has sparked a wave of anti-Muslim feeling. Some call it Islamaphobia for its hatred directed against all things connected to the Islamic religion.

"There's a lack of understanding," said Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Los Angeles (CAIR). "People fear what they don't know. People are afraid of the dark. People, they don't know what Muslims are or who they are. There are people who are exploiting this ignorance and misinformation that exists for their own agendas. There are some people who have an anti-Muslim bigotry that drives them." (More)

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CAIR-LA: O.C. MUSLIMS RELEASE PSAS TO FIGHT BIGOTRY - TOP
By Eric Carpenter, The Orange County Register, 9/1/10

... We hope that it will educate and inform our fellow Americans that we are the same ... 911 happened to us all," said Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Anaheim-based CAIR office for the Greater Los Angeles Area Chapter.

Ayloush said he and many other Muslim Americans have seen a crescendo of anti-Muslim sentiment locally and nationwide to a level they've never seen before – even immediately after 9/11.

He pointed not only to the fevered debated over the planned mosque and community center blocks from Ground Zero, but also to more local debates, such as protests over a planned mosque in the southwestern Riverside County city of Temecula.

"Those who hold anti-Muslim sentiment are more vocal and more vicious than ever," Ayloush said. "And those who expressed opposition (to that sentiment) are being more silent."

He added that the months leading up to the Nov. 2 elections could make the debate even more intense.

And the Muslim religion is being used as a "punching bag," he said.

Ameena Qazi, an attorney for CAIR, said much of the anti-Muslim speech she hears is from people who yell, then run.

"What frustrates me about that," she said, "is that you can't engage with the person and see where that hatred comes from." (More)

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CAIR: MUSLIM-AMERICAN AD CAMPAIGN FEATURES 9/11 FIRST RESPONDERS - TOP
By Mariel S. Clark, DNAinfo.com, 9/1/10

A Muslim-American civil liberties group, moving to address opposition to the Ground Zero mosque, has unveiled an ad campaign that features Muslim 9/11 first responders, according to the Daily News.

The series of ads, produced by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, includes a New York firefighter and an emergency medical technician recounting their memories from the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

In one spot, a firefighter cries as talks about losing a close friend in the attacks. The words "9/11 happened to us all" appear on the screen and the man says, "I'm a New York City firefighter and I responded to 9/11 and I am a Muslim."

Another ad by the group, titled "We Have More in Common than We Think," shows Christian, Jewish and Muslim people talking about the "golden rule," CAIR said in a press release.

The spots were produced "to challenge the growing anti-Muslim bigotry sparked by opposition to the planned Park51 project in Manhattan," officials told the News. (More)

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CAIR: ISLAMOPHOBIA STEMS FROM PARK51 CONTROVERSY - TOP
CNSNews.com, 9/1/10

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is putting some of the blame on both the Tea Party and the Republican Party for what it sees as a growing tide of anti-Muslim anger. CAIR officials said the rise in "Islamophobia" stems from the controversy surrounding the Islamic center and mosque that Muslims plan to build a few blocks from Ground Zero.

"We've seen a really strong uptick in Islamophobia recently – primarily sparked by the controversy over the Manhattan Islamic center," Ibrahim Hooper, CAIR's chief spokesman, told reporters at a press conference Wednesday. "We've seen hate vandalism at mosques in California; in Tennessee, we had an arson attack; at a mosque in Arlington, Texas, we had an arson attack; and something that wasn't even reported nationwide, in May we had a bomb attack at a mosque in Jacksonville, Florida," he said.

Hooper said the attacks could be driven by many factors: "The question is, why? Is it tied to the November elections? Is it tied to the rise of the Tea Party movement? Is it tied to the economy?" he asked. "I think it's pretty clear that it's been sparked...by these hate groups and their opposition to the Islamic community center in Manhattan."

CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad was even more direct, saying that the Tea Party and the GOP have given the "green light" to a nationwide campaign to deny Muslims their civil rights and ultimately expel them from the United States.

"[W]e used to deal with individual cases of Islamophobia, harassments, and discrimination against Muslims," Awad said. "Today, and in the past few months – almost maybe one year, we can say one year -- we have seen an organized effort, we have seen organizations built to fight the presence of Muslims in the United States and to deny Muslims' right to freedom of expression, freedom of religion, and even to be an elected official. (More)

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CAIR RELEASES ADS TO COUNTER BIGOTRY - TOP
By Adelle M. Banks, Religion News Service, 9/1/10

A Muslim advocacy organization has released public service announcements -- including one featuring a Muslim firefighter who responded on 9/11 -- as part of a campaign to fight recent anti-Muslim bigotry.

"Muslim Americans were among the victims and also Muslim Americans were among the first responders," said Nihad Awad, national executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations at a Wednesday (Sept. 1) news conference at the National Press Club.

"We also should acknowledge that 9/11 hit us all hard and we should not allow those who seek political and religious division in the United States to win," Awad said. (More)

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MUSLIM COMMUNITY LAUNCHES TV CAMPAIGN TO FIGHT HATE SPEECH - TOP
By Susan Valot, KPCC, 9/2/10

...CAIR-LA attorney Ameena Qazi, who wears a traditional Muslim head scarf, says she's noticed an increase in hate e-mail and phone calls in the last six months.

"Just the other day, I got a hate mail — voice mail on my phone here at work, saying, 'You F-ing terrorist, go home. Leave our country.' Just completely out of nowhere," Qazi says. "Somehow they got through to my voicemail and left that message."

Qazi says those messages are like a hit-and-run. She says there's no way to respond to help those people better understand her religion.

"For me, the hurtful part is that, you know, I am American," Qazi says. "I'm actually a mix race, you know. I'm white American. I'm Pakistani American. So it's hurtful when we have our own people spurring this hate against us because it's like our own. You know, we don't view them as others or we're others. It's like our own not being able to understand. And that's what we hope to achieve through this [PSA campaign]."

CAIR-LA Executive Director Hussam Ayloush says hate talk is driven by fear of Islam — and that's driven by ignorance. He says hateful comments keep bubbling to the surface long after the 9/11 attacks.

"It's nine years and brewing. That's what it is," Ayloush says. "I think what happened — things got out of hand because of many factors. One is the election of President Obama. Some people are still not digesting the idea of having a first black president in America. For them, it is something that undermines, that shakes the history of what America stands for because for some extremists what America is maybe a white, Christian society" ... (More)

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CAIR VIDEO: U.S. GROUP TRIES TO HALT 'GROUND ZERO MOSQUE' ANGER - TOP
ITN, 9/1/10

View the video.

A Muslim group in the US has unveiled a series of public service announcements designed to challenge growing anti-Muslim sentiment.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations or CAIR, a civil liberties and advocacy group, wants to challenge the public outcry sparked by the planned Islamic cultural center near the World Trade Center site.

The group's executive director, Hussam Ayloush, said the the national campaign is aimed at countering the growing evidence of bigotry and intolerance.

"Some people have an anti-Muslim bigotry that drives them," he explained. "They are trying to export that by swaying people in America against Islam."

Ayloush believes the heated, sometimes angry, debate over the proposal to build a 13-story cultural center two blocks from Ground Zero may actually provide a forum to foster a better understanding for all Americans.

The $100 million cultural center, which will include a prayer room, was proposed by an organization called the Cordoba Initiative.

The group has said it has not begun fund-raising in earnest but opponents of the center have said they fear it could be financed by Islamist extremists. Developers of the center have resisted calls to move further away from Ground Zero.

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CAIR VIDEO: U.S. MUSLIM GROUP USES PSAS TO FIGHT ISLAMOPHOBIA - TOP
Press TV, 9/1/10

View the video.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is planning measures to counter the recently stepped-up anti-Islam campaign in the United States.

In a news conference, CAIR introduced advertisements that will be broadcast on millions of American TVs on September 11, 2010, the ninth anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center towers, a Press TV correspondent reported.

"I am a New York City firefighter, and I am a responder to 9/11, and I am a Muslim," an American Muslim citizen says in one of the ads.

Other first responders to Ground Zero also speak on the ads, which are to correct the Americans' misconception of Islam and American Muslims.

"They're designed to fight back... against the voices of hatred and division, those who are trying to show American Muslims as foreigners," CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad said in the conference.

The group, which represents seven million American Muslims, is also putting out a Muslim Response Guide to advise American Muslims on how to respond to hate crimes and acts of insult and injury.

Muslim groups are also organizing what they call a grassroots Muslim Day of Public Service on September 11 to counter the growing opposition to the construction of mosques, says Imam M. Bray from Muslim American Society.

The latest CAIR efforts come at a time of increased anti-Islam acts in the US.

A Florida church is planning to burn a copy of the Quran on September 11. Arson attacks against mosques are growing and Muslims receive threats and are being attacked because of their faith.

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CAIR-MI: METRO DETROIT MUSLIMS WORK ON TOLERANCE, NOT TERROR - TOP
By Oralandar Brand-Williams, The Detroit News, 9/2/10

Like many, Areej Kattan doesn't like how Muslims and her religion are portrayed. Unlike many, she's doing something about it.

Upset by recent scrutiny of her religion and eager to put a positive face on her faith, she started a Facebook campaign to post positive news stories, interviews and other items about Islam...

Muslim leaders in Michigan have worked hard to ease suspicions, publicly distance themselves from terror suspects and reach out to other religions -- especially since the 2001 attacks.

On Wednesday, the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations announced a national campaign of public service announcements on television about the anniversary, featuring Muslims who were first responders at the World Trade Center.

The campaign hopes to defuse anti-Muslim "hysteria" surrounding the Islamic center controversy, said Dawud Walid, executive director of the local CAIR group.

One of the public service announcements features Christian, Jewish and Muslim religious leaders describing the "golden rule" as expressed by faiths to illustrate that faiths have more in common than differences. (More)

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CAIR-SACRAMENTO: GATHERING AT CAPITOL CONDEMNS 'DEMONIZATION' OF ISLAM -TOP
By Stephen Magagnini, Fresno Bee, 9/14/10

Sacramento's famous diversity was on full display at the Capitol's East Steps this morning as 50 community leaders across faith and race condemned the rising tide of Islamophobia across California and the nation.

"Aren't we long past the freaky demonization of one group that lets us ... pretend we are defending America?" Elizabeth Sholes of the CA Council of Churches/California Church Impact told the crowd. "Muslims came here for the same reason my great-grandfather did - for freedom, a better life and a safer world" ...

The press conference was sponsored by Assembly member Mariko Yamada, Senate President pro tem Darrell Steinberg and CAIR.

"Sacramento is fortunate to have a diverse and vibrant religious community; we are blessed to live in a community unified in its respect for religious freedom and condemnation of hatred and bigotry on the basis of religious belief," Steinberg said in a statement.

"Sacramento's Muslim leaders are consistently among the first to condemn acts of hate against other religions, and that is why it is even more important that our community stand united with our Muslim-American friends and neighbors to condemn acts of anti-Islam bigotry and hate crimes." (More)

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CAIR-NY: MUSLIM LEADERS RALLY IN SUPPORT OF DOWNTOWN ISLAMIC CENTER - TOP
By: Grace Rauh, NY1, 9/1/10

Leaders from 55 major mosques and Islamic organizations held a rally on the steps of City Hall Wednesday to speak out against against religious intolerance and defend the building of the Park51 Islamic cultural center in Downtown Manhattan and other mosques in America...

Mayor Michael Bloomberg -- who has spoken out in favor of the center -- seemed bristled when asked Wednesday if the two would sit down for a meeting.

"Government shouldn't be involved. You don't seem to get the concept. Government has no business telling people who they pray to, where they pray, how they pray," Bloomberg said.

Meanwhile, a Muslim civil rights and advocacy group has launching three public service announcements to try to stop the hate.

The PSAs produced by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) feature Muslims who were first responders to the September 11th terror attacks.

Two of the three PSAs are also designed to show that the attacks happened to all Americans, including Muslims.

The third shows the commonalities between the Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths.

The announcements are being distributed Wednesday and Thursday to television stations nationwide and online through social media sites. (More)

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CAIR-TAMPA CHALLENGES 'KORAN BURN' ON FOX NEWS - TOP
Fox News, 9/1/10

View the video.

CAIR-Tampa Communications Director Ramzy Kilic challenges "International Burn the Koran Day' on FOX News. A radical pastor of the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, FL has announced he will burn copies of the Quran, on September 11th, 2010.

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CAIR: RELIGIOUS HEADS IN MUMBAI DENOUNCE 'BURN A QURAN' CAMPAIGN - TOP
By Linah Baliga, DNA Mumbai, 9/1/10

Catholic and Muslim religious heads in the city gathered at the Archdiocese house in Colaba on Wednesday to condemn the 'Burn a Quran' campaign launched by senior pastor Terry Jones in the United States of America (USA). The campaign is slated to be executed on September 11, the ninth anniversary of the World Trade Centre terror attacks in New York.

"Jesus respected all religions, and all men and women who sincerely seek God," said Cardinal Oswald Gracias, archdiocese of Mumbai. "On behalf of all the Christian leaders of Mumbai and the Christian community here, we disassociate ourselves from the planned programme and condemn it as contrary to the teachings of Jesus Christ"...

Meanwhile, the US embassy has written a letter to Dr HT Sanghana, vice chairperson of the national commission for minorities, stating that the council on American-Islamic relations was using education and outreach as means to counter the 'Burn the Quran.' (More)

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ABERCROMBIE AND FITCH HIT WITH BIAS LAWSUIT FROM MUSLIM JOB APPLICANT - TOP
By Howard Mintz, Mercury News, 9/1/10

Federal civil rights lawyers on Wednesday sued clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch on behalf of an 18-year-old Muslim woman who alleges the company's store at the Great Mall in Milpitas refused to hire her for wearing a religious head scarf, the second time the national chain has been hit with a similar discrimination lawsuit.

In a lawsuit filed in federal court in San Jose, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleges that an Abercrombie & Fitch manager cited the woman's scarf for not being the "Abercrombie look" on her job interview form, and that the company refused to accommodate the job-seeker's religious beliefs in its overall "look policy" that includes a ban on head coverings.

The EEOC lawsuit alleges that the company's policy and conduct in the case violate federal civil rights laws that prohibit religious discrimination in hiring and in the workplace.

A nearly identical lawsuit was filed against the clothing chain in 2009 by a Muslim job applicant in Oklahoma. That suit also alleged that the company's "look policy" was discriminatory. (More)

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CAIR-SAN ANTONIO VIDEO: NY ISLAMIC CENTER CONTROVERSY HITS HOME - TOP
KENS 5, 9/2/10

This year's anniversary of 9/11 will be overshadowed by demonstrations about the controversial proposal to build a mosque and cultural center near Ground Zero, the site of New York City's former World Trade Center.

KENS 5's Noelle Gardner spoke with local Muslims at the Islamic Center of San Antonio who are in favor of the mosque. They say it is their constitutional right and they will welcome a mosque and cultural center in Manhattan with excitement.

President Barack Obama said Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country, which he says includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan.

The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) claims some backlash against Muslims in San Antonio has taken place, with some students being attacked. CAIR officials hope the national public service announcements will educate the public. (More)