Here’s a story that deserves a little more attention.
On Friday night in Dayton, Ohio, a “chemical irritant” was sprayed into the Islamic Society of Greater Dayton mosque — into a room filled with mothers and their children (some of whom were infants) gathering for Ramadan prayers.
The 300 or so inside were celebrating the last 10 days of Ramadan with dinner and a prayer session, but the prayer session was interrupted so those suffering from tearing, coughing and shortness of breath could receive treatment.
[Dayton fire District Chief Vince] Wiley said an adult and juvenile were taken to area hospitals and others had their eyes or faces washed on the scene. He did not know how many people were treated at the scene.
This happened the same weekend that a movie called Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West was being shown to religious groups in the area. No connection between the movie and the attack has been made, though the fear-of-Islam card may have been played.
Obviously, there’s a difference between attacking peoples’ ideas and the people themselves. This crosses the line.
The mosque’s secretary, Ismail Gula, said that “he had received many calls of support from Christians and Jews over the weekend.”
As Humanists, we ought to send our support as well.
The number for the mosque is (937) 228-1503 and their email address is isgd@hotmail.com.
Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, President of Interfaith Alliance, had this to say:
“Interfaith Alliance calls on its members and friends, and all Americans who believe in religious freedom and all those who value religious liberty and equality to send a strong, unified message that we will not tolerate bias motivated violence of any kind. We need to let the Muslim community of Dayton, and across America, know that we stand with them against terrorism and that we condemn this senseless act of violence and the propaganda that helped to fuel it.”
(Thanks to Lyz for the link!)
