Posted on 09/08/2015 8:47:35 PM PDT by Steelfish
Proposed Mosque In Detroit Suburb Draws Sharp Opposition
September 8, 2015 by Steve Friess STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. — The nation’s largest concentration of Iraqi Christians, many driven from their homeland by persecution at the hands of Muslim groups, is mounting an intensive campaign to block a proposed mosque in Sterling Heights, Michigan — sometimes by deploying public anti-Islam invective unusual in its bluntness even in this post-9/11 era.
The 20,500-square-foot mosque, to be built on four acres by the American Islamic Community Center (AICC), is to stand 60 feet tall along a major thoroughfare in a middle-class neighborhood if the Sterling Heights Planning Commission approves the plan at its meeting this Thursday. Opponents have dubbed it a “mega-mosque,” while Muslim leaders say it is of average size for houses of worship, including some nearby churches.
American leaders of the Chaldeans, an ancient Christian sect also known historically as ethnic Assyrians and originating from Iraq, have insisted in recent days that their opposition is based on concerns about traffic and property values, not religious enmity.
Yet a parade of speakers at a four-hour Sterling Heights City Council meeting on Aug. 13 offered vicious accusations that the group behind the mosque planned to use it to plot terrorist attacks and store weaponry, and attacked women who wear headscarves as scary to children. More of that sort of ire is being spewed on popular Chaldean group pages on Facebook and in signage and comments to local reporters at recent street-side protests near the proposed mosque site.
“This mosque is going to bring people like this. I do not want to be near people like this,” one resident, Saad Antoun, said at the City Council meeting as he held up a photo of women in burkas. “This is not humanity. …..
(Excerpt) Read more at america.aljazeera.com ...
What intersection did you say they wanted to build it at? It didn’t say in the article.
I know Sterling Heights pretty well, used to work in the area.
And a quote in the article sums it up, these muslims are pushing this mosque just to stir up some shit with the locals.
I think it’s on 15 mile somewhere between mound & ryan. We call the southern half of Sterling Heights (16 mile & south of) ‘Little Iraq’. You can thank that POS Carl Levin for that.
Heh, heh, that would be the place for a mosque to generate a lot of controversy.
A lot of arabic signs for markets and kabob houses have popped up on Mound, and also along 14 & 15 mile west of mound too.
I have family that lives in Royal Oak, and they’ve even noticed the demographic shift, and are alarmed to say the least.
Fifteen Mile and Ryan.
“these muslims are pushing this mosque just to stir up some shit with the locals.”
It’s the black Muslims as well. They wanna be moving up in the world too.
I just read the planning board denied the mosque.
An acquaintance of mine is a member. Hope he’s got good security.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.