The proposed construction of a mosque in the middle of Tennessee has produced a sharp exchange of words between candidates for an open congressional seat.<\/p>\n\n
In May, the Rutherford County Regional Planning Commission approved the construction of a 52,000-square-foot facility to house a mosque and Islamic center in Murfreesboro. More than 600 residents turned out at a county commission meeting in mid-June to protest the construction plans, ABC’sWorld News <\/em>reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n Candidates looking to represent Tennessee’s 6th congressional district, which includes Murfreesboro, were quick to take sides. According to The Tennessean<\/em><\/a>, self-described “tea party Democrat” George Erdel declared that “Islam is a system of government. Islam is a system of justice…. I’m afraid we’ll have a training facility in Rutherford County.”<\/p>\n\n Republican candidate Lou Ann Zelenik took a similar stand in a press release<\/a>, saying, “This ‘Islamic Center’ is not part of a religious movement; it is a political movement designed to fracture the moral and political foundation of Middle Tennessee.” A local television news station reported<\/a> that Zelenik soon afterward received death threats. Most recently, Zelenik claimed<\/a> the center has a “radical agenda” and called for an investigation<\/a>. A board member of the Islamic center has been suspended<\/a> as a result of Zelenik’s accusations.<\/p>\n\n Ben Leming, a Marine and Iraq combat veteran who is also running as a Democrat for the 6th district seat, countered Zelenik’s views in statements<\/a>covered by the local Daily News Journal<\/em><\/a> and NashvillePost.com’s “<\/em>Post Politics<\/a>” blog. “The Americans that want to build this mosque are already our neighbors. They live next to us and they are a part of our community. They are not the enemy,” he said.<\/p>\n\n Continue the discussion on twitter<\/a><\/b> or facebook<\/a><\/b>.<\/p>\n\n \u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The proposed construction of a mosque in the middle of Tennessee has produced a sharp exchange of words between candidates for an open congressional seat. In May, the Rutherford County Regional Planning Commission approved the construction of a 52,000-square-foot facility to house a mosque and Islamic center in Murfreesboro. More than 600 residents turned out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sub_headline":"","sub_title":"","_crdt_document":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","relatedPosts":[],"reportMaterials":[],"multiSectionReport":[],"package_parts__enabled":false,"package_parts":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0,"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"bylines":[{"key":"2fc78678-7d2e-4322-acd7-a218326ecb24","termId":921}],"acknowledgements":[],"displayBylines":false,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[]},"categories":[45,24],"tags":[],"bylines":[],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"level_of_effort":[],"primary_audience":[],"information_type":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[458],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[],"research-teams":[517],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-73885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-election-2010","category-religion","formats-report","research-teams-religion"],"label":false,"post_parent":0,"word_count":286,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/religion\/2010\/07\/13\/a-mosque-in-the-middle\/","art_direction":false,"_embeds":[],"watchers":[],"table_of_contents":[],"report_materials":"","report_pagination":{"current_post":null,"next_post":null,"previous_post":null,"pagination_items":[]},"parent_info":{"parent_title":"A Mosque in the Middle","parent_id":73885},"materialsOrdered":[],"chaptersOrdered":[],"partsOrdered":[],"partsEnabled":false,"datacite_doi":"","prc_seo_data":{"title":"A Mosque in the Middle","description":"The proposed construction of a mosque in the middle of Tennessee has produced a sharp exchange of words between candidates for an open congressional seat. 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