What the hell is going on in Dayton, Ohio? 2007 ended with the trial of China Arnold, a woman who microwaved her baby. 2008 started with a missing pregnant Marine, Maria Lauterbach, originally from Dayton, who was murdered, burned and buried in the back yard of a house.
Today, I woke up to a news story about the five-member Sugarcreek Twp. Board of Zoning Appeals. They voted unanimously Thursday against a conditional use zoning request by architects for the Islamic Society of Greater Dayton to build a Mosque on South Alpha-Bellbrook Road.
Everyone who knows me will tell you, I am not one to defend the Muslim community since they don’t seem to find my religious humor entertaining. On the other hand, I have to take a neutral position in this situation because I believe we have rights as Americans.
The Islamic Society of Greater Dayton submitted a zoning request to build a Mosque on property they own! In a statement posted on the township’s Web site, the board said it denied the request “due to an inadequate proposal for treatment of sanitary waste and effluent, traffic concerns, and other adverse impact on neighboring properties.”
The last part is what bothers me most “and other adverse impact on neighboring properties.”. What are they trying to say? Do they think a Mosque would create an environment where terrorists can plot future attacks? Maybe they fear suicide bombers will run rampant through the streets of Bellbrook scaring off all the business patrons! People need to wake up and realize that not every Muslim is a terrorist. Why is it Americans can separate from groups like the KKK and skinheads by grouping them as “extreme” people even though they are white Americans just like most people in this country? Why is it that when it comes to Muslims there is no difference and everyone is grouped as terrorists? I’m a Muslim stand up comedian. The only time I’ve ever bombed is when I was on stage. Am I a terrorist now?
The icing on the cake was the statement of an annonymous caller. She called the township explaining why the Islamic Society of Greater Dayton shouldn’t be able to build a Mosque. She identified herself as a member of the First Baptist Church or Kettering, and was quoted as saying “because of what it says in the Quran, and these are bad people,”
Interesting statement that was obviously made based on her religious beliefs. I wonder what would have happened if a Baptist Church wanted to build on that same property? I’m going to take a wild guess and say it would have been approved immediately.
I think this whole city needs a dose of reality and maybe a little anti-stupid medicine. If I was rich I would have bought all of these people plane tickets to New York for the 2008 Arab American Comedy Festival this weekend. Then they could laugh at our jokes and quickly realize…..they were about them.
THIS JUST IN…..Among the nation’s largest college campuses, Ohio State University reported the most forcible sex offenses and burglaries, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
(Sherif is a widely acclaimed standup comedian and satirist whose topics include family, education, religion, careers, dating, television, stereotypes, racism and growing up in the Middle East. Reach Sherif at www.FunnySherif.com. Copyright Arab Writers Group Syndicate, www.ArabWritersGroup.com.)
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“[sic] Other adverse impact on neighboring properties” is just the standard verbiage added to these documents; it is nothing more than that. Don’t worry so much.
As for the overall Muslim Question, just get used to the situation. Between jihadis, islamists and the evil that is CAIR, the Muslims are never going to be popular in the US.
What Christian Church is known to recruit people for Jihad? None. What mosques, religious schools, and imams are known to recruit people for Jihad? Many, even in the West. There is your answer right there.
I do not consider ever Muslim a terrorist. I do believe that the deeper we go into the conflict of Islamic Jihad against the West, the more animosity will result against the Muslim community. For one thing, official organizations such as CAIR, and Muslim Society of North America (I apologize if I mixed up their name) and others being named as donors to terrorist organizations is not positive press. Second, the reluctance of average, every day Muslims standing up and saying that above mentioned organizations don’t speak for and that they (everyday Muslims) renounce all jihad of the sword and any wish to establish sharia in the West. Until that happens many people will view that every day Muslims are tacitly supporting the Jihad.
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