Remember the Mosque Debate?

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Tuesday September 28, 2010 · 1:25 PM PDT

2010/09/28 · 13:25

No? I wish I didn't either. So enter the fray, more to discuss: a new mosque built in the deep south. Southern Mississippi, heart of former and lingering intolerances, where progress goes to slow.

Hattiesburg American -- CHRIST JESUS said: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." This is the first and greatest commandment.

And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'

Did this commandment say: Only love your Christian neighbor? No, it didn't. In this global society, your neighbor is not just the family living next door to you. Your neighbor could be someone in the next county, state, region, or even in another country.

One appropriate definition of "love" is "affectionate concern for the well-being of others."

One new neighbor in Hattiesburg is the Islamic Center of Hattiesburg located at 211 N. 25th Ave., across from the University of Southern Mississippi.

Of course, there were protests! Effigies! Burned books and mayhem!

Except... No.

After from this minor announcement, an Op-Ed no less, there hasn't been a peep of discouragement, fear, or any negativity I've seen.

They are offering a secular mission with their religious one:

Every Saturday from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. Arabic, Islamic Studies and Qur'anic Studies classes are taught at the Islamic Center of Hattiesburg and the general public is invited.

You are welcomed to learn, firsthand, what the Holy Qur'an says as well as learn its similarities with other scriptures. You can learn Arabic in this global society and economy.

No massive protests in the Bible belt. Even the comments on the op-ed are tame. There is no backlash to dream up..

Nice. And I may take up the Arabic language offer. I hope everyone is well. My point is to say, don't believe the vocal minority the media so enlargens. "Take back our country," they say? They don't even represent themselves. If Mississippi, for all its necessary battering and stormiest history, can exhibit courage met with inclusion, so can all.

(Note: like the original "mosque" controversy, this Islamic Center isn't explicitly a mosque either.)

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