Attack on Muslims Should be Condemned By All of Us

No matter who does it, that kind of nastiness makes me sick. What a cowardly attack.

Now, I fully believe in attacking ideas, free speech, attacking belief systems and religions, but hurting people like this is just wrong. We’re all people, humans, first and foremost.

Attack on Muslims Should be Condemned By All of Us

Yep. If these Muslims were peaceful before, they might feel justified in seeing things differently now.

I can’t believe that I’ve only read about this here and on PZ’s blog. That’s it. I understand that we’ve got lots of violence around the world to report, as well as some big elections, but a chemical attack (non-lethal but nonetheless heinous) on hundreds of Muslims observing Ramadan in the US seems like a HUGE deal in today’s political and religious climate.

I’m glad the community seems to be offering support and condolences to the mosque, but this should be condemned on a much wider scale. I hope the perpetrators get more than a slap on the wrist.

I think an attack on a mosque, or church would incite more fear, at least in the population which was attacked, than a general attack, say on a shopping mall. I recall reading that there are people who will no longer attend the mosque out of fear.

@Larry Huffman:

A lot of people seem to have the same misconceptions about the idea of a hate crime. Of course there’s no such thing as a “love crime,” but the reason why hate crimes are more serious is because they terrorize other members of the victim’s group.

If someone spray-paints a threatening message on someone’s house, that’s a crime (both for the vandalism and the threat). But if, for example, the message was anti-Semitic, and painted on a Jew’s house, then that would be a hate crime, because the threat is directed, not just at that one person, but the group at large. If there was a Jewish community in the area, then that group would end up being threatened and affected in their lives.

It’s why lynchings in the South were so serious: because they were done to “send a message” to the black community to terrorize them. It’s entirely reasonable for the law to consider the larger effect of threatening actions on a group.

This is the letter I have sent to the mosque:

Dear Friends,
I want to say that I am sickened and saddened by the cowardly attack on your mosque and your people over the weekend. I hope that no one has suffered any serious harm, and I hope that your community can heal from the shock and violation that you, and especially your children must be feeling. I am glad to learn that Christians and Jews in your area have expressed their condemnation of the perpetrators and their support for you.

Please let me, as an atheist, add my own words of denunciation of this disgusting and reprehensible act. I hope that relationships between your people and people of dissimilar views and beliefs can improve, and that respectful, positive dialogue can lead to better understanding and peace among all of us. I am only one individual living thousands of miles away in California, so I cannot do much more than urge my friends to take a similar stand against such ignorance, bigotry and hatred, and in support of your well being and your community’s recovery to peace and harmony. If there is anything more that I can do, please let me know.

With Sincere well wishes,
Richard Wade

Becky: “I love how they’re saying it’s not a hate crime.”

To be fair, I think the problem is that there isn’t evidence of a hate crime that would stand up in court. We can make an educated guess as to the motives of the perpetrators, but the perps kept their mouths shut and didn’t leave any messages behind, so the prosecution probably wouldn’t have that much to give to a jury on that point.

Polly, yes I’ll post any response here. You know, if you are curious, you could write your own letter to them… 😉 To others, please consider focusing on the incident this time. Posts about outrages like this often get distracted into a debate about the pros and cons of hate crimes or about whether it rises to the level of a hate crime. There are more important things to do.

It certainly was a crime. It certainly was hateful. Leave the legal wrangling aside and let’s do more than pointless bickering. People have been hurt and intimidated. They need encouragement. Other people have been cruel and unlawful. They should be publicly condemned, caught and punished. Let’s not be like two people sitting in a burning building, arguing over what’s right or wrong with the current laws against arson.

Even if “Obsession” (or “Fitna” for that matter)didn’t play a part, what else can we expect once people start watching it in greater numbers? The film is being distributed in the mail mainly in swing states to influence the election to the benefit of McCain.

I don’t really buy that. Both films are good at exposing the violent nature of the dangerous religion of Islam. I’m very excited about Religulous coming out this weekend; is that movie going to be blamed for hate crimes as well?

I got this prompt reply from Stuart Bechman, President of Atheists United in Los Angeles:

Hi Richard, thank you for your e-mail.

I agree that this is the kind of thing that Atheists United should speak out
about. In fact, since it occurred in Ohio, I’m going to pass it on up to
Atheist Alliance International, of which we are a member, and have them also
send out a press release denouncing the attack. They will probably forward it
to the other secular groups on the board of the Secular Coalition for America.

Have you perchance signed up on our AU-ChurchState listgroup? That’s probably
the best place we have to post issues and rally for action around issues like
this. (It’s not just limited to violations of the First Amendment.) I’d love
to have you posting articles like this as they come up to the listgroup so our
advocacy subscribers can be aware and take action. You can sign up by sending a
blank e-mail to: AU-ChurchState-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Thanks,
Stuart

shouldn’t this be considered terrorism, isn’t that what the goal was, to terrorize. this should be getting heavy media coverage. Seriously even if this happend to an atheist group the coverage would be alarmingly more intense. I find it sickening that “assumption”—> because this is happening to muslims it is overlooked which passes on the implication of acceptablility. i do however find myself slightly offended at this comment –> “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…” why are we still focusing on religion here, this was a crime against human beings, STOP INCLUDING RELIGIOUS BELIEFS IN THIS!!! I dont care who the hell you are or WHAT your beliefs are or if you even care about religous freedoms! If you are a HUMAN BEING you should be pissed off at what happend! If you live and breathe you should be appalled affiliated or not this is disgusting!

Given the multitude of religious wars on the front at the moment i would think it’s safe to say that damn near ALL of them are political films. you know a hundred years from now Iraq will be considered a Christian VS Islam engagement. It’s sad that it takes a hundred or so years for people to see things as they really were. When they’re not still caught up in the B.S. surrounding these events it’s easier to see them as they REALLY are.

As some of the readers may not recognize, if you follow the link now, it goes to the new story pointing not only do the police have no evidence of a hate crime, they seem to have little evidence of an actual attack. They did find a pepper spray canister nearby, but they couldn’t even find trace elements of pepper spray on the girl who made the accusation or in the room. Weird, huh?

If it is a hoax — and I just don’t know what happened here or not — then it wouldn’t be the first hoaxed anti-Muslim attack in the Dayton area.

Just sayin’.