Evergreene Digest A Journal of Progress for the Rest of Us

Hate Pastor Terry Jones' plan to burn the Quran comes on the heels of a summer in which Islamophobia ginned-up by the right wing took center stage.

The Progress Report, Think Progress

• Through their mosques, U.S. Muslims are embracing the community involvement that is a hallmark of the American experience. In this light, mosques should be welcomed as premier sites of American assimilation, not feared as incubators of terrorist indoctrination.
• Top 10 myths about Islam
  

Edward E. Curtis, IV, Minneapolis Star Tribune | MN

In addition to spawning passionate debates in the public, the news media and the political class, the proposal to build a Muslim community center near ground zero in New York has revealed widespread misconceptions about the practice of Islam in this country -- and the role of mosques in particular.

1) Mosques are new to this country.
Mosques have been here since the colonial era. A mosque, or masjid, is literally any place where Muslims make salat, the prayer performed in the direction of Mecca; it needn't be a building. One of the first mosques in North American history was on Kent Island, Md.: Between 1731 and 1733, African-American Muslim slave and Islamic scholar Job Ben Solomon would regularly steal away to the woods there for his prayers -- in spite of a white boy who threw dirt on him as he made his prostrations.

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Johnson and Israel hope to bring other families of violence together for forgiveness. They also plan to write a book together with dreams of eventually building a grief center in north Minneapolis.

Renee Tessman, KARE-TV | MN

Their group, called September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, will also be joined by at least 40 religious and civic organizations.

CNN

Submitted by Evergreene Digest Contributing Editor Thomas Sklarski

Some family members of 9/11 victims will rally today (August 25) in support of the proposed Islamic center near Ground Zero in New York City.

Their group, called September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, will also be joined by at least 40 religious and civic organizations, and is expected to announce the creation of a coalition called New York Neighbors for American Values to promote religious tolerance.

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Zero Tolerance, Progress Report, in Newsvine.com

• Debate Over Ground Zero Mosque Is About American Values
• Right-wing Freak Out
• Mainstreaming Bigotry
• Mayor Bloomberg Delivers Teary-Eyed Defense Of Ground Zero Islamic Center