USA: Notfalltreffen wegen grassierender Islamophobie

In den USA nehmen Übergriffe gegen Muslime und muslimische Einrichtungen besorgniserregende Ausmaße an, berichtet die Los Angeles Times:

The crimes against Muslims do not look random or isolated. Law enforcement authorities in California classified the vandalism at the Madera Islamic Center in the Central Valley that nearly smashed a window as a hate crime when they discovered signs that read "Wake up America the enemy is here" and "No temple for the god of terrorism." In New York, an intoxicated man forced his way into a mosque in Queens and urinated on several prayer rugs. Michael Enright, a 21-year-old New York film student, is being charged with attempted murder in connection with the stabbing of a Muslim cab driver. The act has been classified as a hate crime.

There have been many other incidents, such as a reported pipe-bomb incident at a mosque in Florida and the vandalism and arson that took place in Texas in July. This is to say nothing about efforts to construct mosques in Wisconsin and Kentucky that have come under the kind of attack that would never have happened if the building projects were for Christian churches.

Mit Artikeln wie Würden Sie einen Moslem auf Ihrem Speicher verstecken? ziehen inzwischen die ersten Kommentatoren einen Vergleich mit der Verfolgung der Juden im Deutschland der dreißiger Jahre.

Jüdische, christliche und muslimische Führungspersonen reagierten auf diese alarmierende Entwicklung mit einem Notfalltreffen für die Religionsfreiheit:

The Islamic Society of North America convened a group of American religious leaders, Jewish, Christian and Muslim, at the National Press Club for an "emergency meeting" to respond to the recent surge in anti-Muslim rhetoric and Islamophobia. (...) As you can see in the video, the religious leaders who spoke at the press conference did not pull their punches, condemning such religiously-based biogotry in clear and compelling terms. We also announced a new era of respect for America's tradition of religious liberty.

Ähnlich wie hierzulande Angela Merkel gegenüber den Ausfällen Thilo Sarrazins bezog in den USA Hillary Clinton Stellung gegen die geplante Koranverbrennung eines evangelikalen Hasspredigers. Der allerdings erklärt, er werde sich von seinem Tun nur abhalten lassen, wenn er ein entsprechendes Signal von Gott erhielte.