According to the Pew Center on Religion & Public Life, 35 proposed mosques and Islamic centers have met with community resistance over the last two years. Other examples speak to intolerance and misperceptions triumphing over reason. The trend of Islamophobia remains strong. The public's understanding of Islam is riddled with misperceptions that endanger our ideals, note John L. Esposito and Sheila B. Lalwani.
It is the 10th anniversary of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act.
From: Isha Khan <bdmailer@gmail.com>
Sent: Sun, Sep 26, 2010 3:37 pm
Subject: [ALOCHONA] Aafia Today, U.S. Citizens Tomorrow
access to these services.
Aafia of her rights.
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Sunday, September 26, 2010
[ALOCHONA] Fwd: Religious Land Use and Mosques: No Reason to Celebrate this Anniversary
Religious Land Use and Mosques: No Reason to Celebrate this Anniversary
Hold your applause.
The federal bill President Clinton signed into law in 2000 enhanced Justice Department powers to protect planned and existing religious sites; but, in reality, cases of discrimination against Islamic centers and mosques have actually spiked. Earlier this week, the U.S. Justice Department said it is watching 11 cases of potential land-use discrimination against Muslims, a notable increase given that the law is intended to protect religious minorities in zoning disputes and its very existence suggests a growing awareness of religious pluralism and acceptance in America.
Maybe not.
The report, which tracks and monitors discrimination against mosques, synagogues, churches and other religious sites, such as Hindu temples and Sikh gurdwaras, serves as a sad reminder that religious discrimination remains strong in the U.S. and that Muslims struggle for acceptance. According to the report, the department said it is monitoring 18 cases of possible discrimination against Muslims over the last decade.
The report does not mention the controversy surrounding the proposed Islamic Center near Ground Zero. However, eight of the cases have been opened since May right around the time the controversy caused a national uproar. While the controversy in New York grabbed headlines and enflamed tempers, similar controversies have taken place around the country for several years.
According to the Pew Center on Religion & Public Life, 35 proposed mosques and Islamic centers have met with community resistance over the last two years. The report mentioned an effort in Wallingford, Conn., in which Tariq Farid petitioned for a zoning variance to build a mosque on residential property but was rejected after residents voiced concerns about traffic and parking. Another neighbor expressed concerns over the Muslims' treatment of women. The Islamic Center of North Fulton in Alpharetta, Ga., sued the city alleging religious discrimination after the city council denied a proposed expansion.
Other examples speak to intolerance and misperceptions triumphing over reason. A zoning board in Walkersville, Md. rejected a proposal from the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community to buy 224-acre farm after residents voiced opposition and fear of Islam. The Ahmadiyya community bought newspaper ads, knocked on doors and offered residents use of the gyms as a means to win support. Ultimately, the case was settled in August 2009 when the town agreed to buy the land for $4.7 million. In Amherst, Mass., the Muslim community withdrew its application in June 2010 citing difficulties ensuring the property and negative comments from neighbors.
It is unsurprising that the Justice Department has launched 51 discrimination investigations under the law since 2000. The cases involved seven Muslim, six Jewish, three Buddhist and 31 Christian sites. Seven of those cases went to court and some involved multi-million damage awards.
Let's note that not every mosque or Islamic center has met with opposition, but the trend of Islamophobia remains strong. There are approximately 1,897 mosques in the US, according to Ihsan Bagby, associate professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Kentucky. The Mosque Study Project 2000, which was sponsored by four Muslim organizations, counted 1,209 mosques across the country. This data suggests that about one-third of mosques have opened in the last decade.
Nevertheless, the trend to discourage the construction of mosques and Islamic centers remains real. The public's understanding of Islam is riddled with misperceptions that endanger our ideals. We're better than this.
Parking is important, but not that important.
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John L. Esposito is University Professor and Founding Director of the Centre for Muslim-Christian Understanding. He is co-author of Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think, and author of the newly released book The Future of Islam (2010). Sheila B. Lalwani is a Research Fellow at the Centre.
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Aafia Today, U.S. Citizens Tomorrow
By Yvonne Ridley
Obfuscation is an awkward word but it essentially sums up the behavior of all of the Pakistani government ministers, diplomats, and politicians who have had a hand in the case of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui.
Now they're scrambling over each others backs like a bucket of frogs clawing their way to the top in a bid to speak to the media to feign shock at the silly sentence dished out by New York judge Richard Berman a few days ago.
And on top of all of this over-acting, that other major obfuscator, the United States, has said Pakistan will have to sign two international treaties dealing with the exchange of prisoners to enable the repatriation of Aafia.
Poppycock!
Why don't these spineless chumps in Islamabad grow a backbone and tell their gin-soaked counterparts in the U.S. State Department to get stuffed.
Exactly what difference would it make if Pakistan were a signatory to the Council of Europe Treaty and the OAS Treaty? Please don't tell me the U.S. administration would abide by these? Of course they wouldn't. The USA has continually violated and ignored the Geneva Conventions and is still a serial offender since it hasn't closed down Guantanamo Bay and other secret detention centers.
And in Aafia's case it has also thrown the Vienna Conventions out of the window.
The shameless, outgoing U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Anne Patterson, lied to the world from her barbed wire bunker in Islamabad when she claimed Dr. Aafia Siddiqui was given full consular access at all times. I can prove Aafia wasn't.
According to some new documentation I've seen, which includes log sheets collated by the FBI, I can prove that at no time from July 18, 2008, the day Aafia was shot by U.S. soldiers in Ghazni, Afghanistan, to August 5, 2008, when she was taken to court in New York, was she ever offered consular services. Nor was she told of her rights to have
In between all of this, let's remember she was on a life support machine in Bagram, under heavy sedation. OK, she might not have been alert enough to have her rights read to her, but that still did not prevent her from being interrogated by the FBI. And according to the recordings the agents made, never once did any of those agents inform
And when she arrived in the United States, not only did Hossein Haqqani, the Pakistani ambassador to Washington, fail to do his job or demand that the U.S. allow him to do his job by providing consular services to Aafia, but U.S. officials again deliberately did not inform Aafia of her rights.
Flouting the Vienna Conventions is a serious matter and the U.S. is guilty. So when the U.S. starts to tell Pakistan it needs to sign two international treaties, I say "pot, kettle and black"!
The United States threw out the Vienna Conventions when dealing with Aafia -- and this single, reckless arrogant action alone has now opened the door for every country in the world to do the same to every U.S. citizen who falls into difficulty overseas.
Now is the time for the United States to start leading by example and to show some humanity by releasing Dr. Aafia Siddiqui immediately. Only by righting the initial wrongs in the first place can the U.S. move forward from this disgraceful episode.
The U.S. stands guilty of violating the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations by failing to afford a Pakistani citizen -- in this case Aafia -- the right to consular access.
Another reason to declare her trial a mistrial.
Judge Richard Berman is the one who should be charged. Ignorance of the law is no excuse Your Honor, and at the moment you stand guilty as a lawbreaker not a lawmaker for dragging Aafia through an illegal trial, the process of which was flawed from beginning to end. It all happened on Judge Berman's watch.
The Pakistani government now needs to demand the repatriation of Aafia with immediate effect. The U.S. needs to shut up, back down, and show some humility by returning the Daughter of Pakistan.
And with a bit of luck, innocent U.S. citizens travelling abroad will not get caught up in the fallout of this violation of international law and human rights.
Yvonne Ridley is a patron of Cageprisoners, a human rights NGO which first brought up the plight of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui in 2004.
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