Local Muslims Upset Over La Mesa Church Event

SAN DIEGO -- Several Muslim families invited to a service at Skyline Church in La Mesa said they received the insult of their lives, 10News reported.Muslim churchgoer Omar said he expected the sounds of the season at the church, but that is not what he got.Outside an El Cajon market, Omar told 10News he was handed a flyer for an international Christmas party, complete with a magic show. He believed it would be a celebration of the holiday spirit shared by religions.

"There was singing; it was a nice show," Omar said.However, after more than an hour into the Saturday night service, he said the night of fun took a turn. A pastor from a traveling ministry was introduced as a guest speaker. She was an Egyptian who converted to Christianity.Omar said the woman ridiculed the tradition of Muslim women wearing coverings, and then took aim at various sections of the Koran, the Islamic bible.Omar said, "She said, 'This is nonsense.'"Minutes into the woman's speech, the 30 Muslims invited to the service started leaving. In the church's lobby, one Muslim asked if he could present a counterpoint, but was denied, leading to a shouting match with members of the ministry."It goes up loud, very loudly. They were very offended, very enraged," said Omar.Eventually, the group calmed down and left, and vowed to never return to the church."We came here very peaceful to celebrate. We didn't come here to be insulted," said Omar.In a statement, the pastor for the traveling ministry said, "There was no deception. A Christmas celebration at a church implies there will be Christian themes."Skyline Church said it simply provided a location for the ministry and did not know about the speaker.

http://www.10news.com/news/21901929/detail.html

Cartoons

Editor's note: A portion of this story has been updated to reflect more details about how authorities determine whether a hate crime may have occurred.

St. Cloud police are investigating anti-Islamic cartoons found Tuesday in at least two locations in the city.

The graphic, sexually explicit cartoons were posted on utility poles in the 10 block of Second Avenue Northeast and the 300 block of Fifth Avenue South, Sgt. Marty Sayre said.

The posters included hand-drawn and digitally-altered photos that are derogatory toward Muslims. They included depictions of the prophet Mohammed and a swastika, among other images.

Five pages of the images were posted on a pole in front of Mandeeq Shop, 123 East St. Germain St.

Shop manager Deko Farah called the images “awful” and said someone who doesn’t believe in God must have posted them.

Farah said she used to feel safe in the East Side neighborhood, but now the store closes earlier because of safety concerns.

“Right now we’re not feeling safe,” she said.

St. Cloud Area Somali Salvation Organization Executive Director Mohamoud Mohamed said it appears the images were downloaded from the Internet. Some of them were written in multiple languages.

“It’s an insult to our religion,” he said.

Someone spent a lot of time downloading the images and putting them together, Mohamed said. Then that person spent time walking through Tuesday’s snow and cold to post them.

“It’s very scary,” he said.

Mohamed said the community needs to come together and say it will not tolerate such behavior from “a very few bad apples.”

“It’s unacceptable,” he said.

Sayre said police are investigating who posted the cartoons and are talking to local businesses and residents about whether they saw anything suspicious.

Sayre said the city attorney’s office will review the incident to determine whether a crime was committed. If a crime occurred, it can be investigated as a hate crime, he said.

Anyone with information or who found similar images elsewhere can contact police at 251-1200 or Crime Stoppers at 255-1301.

http://www.sctimes.com/article/20091210/NEWS01/112100018/1009/news01/St.-Cloud-police-investigate-anti-Islamic-cartoons

Torgerson says Islam promotes criminal behavior

Ellison foe Torgerson says Islam promotes criminal behavior

By Hart Van Denburg in Keith Ellison, Politics

Thu., Dec. 10 2009 @ 9:53AM

​Lynne Torgerson, who wants to unseat U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison in Minnesota's 5th District, says she's "big on freedom of speech and freedom of religion, as establishment by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution." Those freedoms evidently don't apply to Muslims such as Ellison, however, judging by the language she uses on her campaign Web site.

​Torgerson, a criminal defense lawyer, who graduated from the University of Minnesota and William Mitchell College writes on her campaign Web site, "What do I know of Islam? Well, I know of 911. Nineteen (19) men from Saudi Arabia, all Muslim, hi-jacked planes, and flew into the two (2) World Trade Towers murdering thousands of people, and tried to fly into our Pentagon, and some believe they also tried to fly an airplane into our White House. From this, what I perceive is Islam conducting an act of war against my country."

"We simply went too far with Keith Ellison. Keith Ellison simply is not a proper person to have in our federal government. ... Keith Ellison has no business in our federal government," she writes.

The Quran actually teaches Muslims to kill people not of their faith, which includes Christians and Jews, which are labeled infidels. ("Slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captives and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush.: (Sura 9:5)). This is advocating criminal behavior. Thus, at a minimum, this portion of the religion of Islam cannot be protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. It is not "religion" recognizable under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.

In an interview with the Minnesota Independent, she said, "I don't want other cultures coming into the United States and chilling our freedoms."

Ellison is an American convert to Islam to whom this kind of language is nothing new. In 2006, Glenn Beck once confronted him on a cable news show this way: "Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies."

To which Ellison replied: "Let me tell you, the people in the Fifth Congressional District know that I have a deep love and affection for my country. There`s no one who`s more patriotic than I am, and so you know, I don`t need to -- need to prove my patriotic stripes."

The 5th District includes Minneapolis and portions of the northern, southern and western suburbs.

http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2009/12/ellison_foe_tor.php