Pat Robertson Accuses Mosque And Public Officials Of Bribery In Tennessee
Like most of the Christian right, televangelist Pat Robertson has forcefully come out against a proposed Islamic community center and mosque in Lower Manhattan. An organization he founded, the American Center for Law & Justice, which according to its mission statement is "dedicated to the ideal that religious freedom and freedom of speech are inalienable, God-given rights," is even suing to stop the project from going forward.
Unlike many opponents of the project though, Robertson doesn't cloak his opposition in the language of sensitivity and offensiveness. Robertson finds the mere existence of Muslims offensive in and of itself. With him, it's not about the 9/11 families or hallowed ground, but about a religion he has likened to fascism.
Recently, Robertson dispatched self-proclaimed terrorism analyst Erick Stakelbeck to do a story about the Muslim community in Murfreesboro, Tennessee and their proposal to construct a larger mosque for their growing community of about 1,000 people. Like Park 51, the Murfreesboro project is being protested by local Tea Party activists, who, as Time's Elisabeth Kauffman reports, have been inflating the new project's size "from a modest 6,800 square feet to a whopping 53,000 square feet."
True to form, Stackelbeck filed a story portraying the community's desire for a larger space as part of some nefarious anti-American plot. He even advanced the inflated size of the project, uncritically citing a local anti-Muslim activist who falsely referred to the project as "a 52,000-square foot facility for 200 people."
When the segment aired on the August 19th edition of The 700 Club, Robertson and co-host Terry Meeuwsen responded in dismay. "I don't think we should interfere with the free worship of God by any group," Robertson said, "But ladies and gentlemen, this isn't just religious. It just isn't."
"You mark my word," he continued, "If they start bringing thousands and thousands of Muslims into that relatively rural area, then the next thing you know, they're going to be taking over the city council. Then they're going to be having an ordinance that calls for public prayer five times a day." (Muslims represent about 1% of Murfreesboro's total population.)
Meeuwsen chimed in," I mean, are you telling me that two hundred little people in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, are able to raise millions of dollars to build that facility?"
Robertson then accused the parishioners and local officials in Rutherford County of corruption, noting the Muslim community for their "ability to bribe folks."
Oh, you can corrupt with two or three hundred, I understand in some areas. But now we're talking about thousands. These fellas come in with pot loads of money. They don't have restrictions on what they can carry in and out. They can bride politicians just like the gambling interest did in Mississippi and in South Carolina.
Local officials have responded to Robertson's comments, with Rutherford County Mayor Ernest Burgess (R) calling the accusations "so ridiculous they do not deserve a response." County Regional Planning Commissioner Steve Sandlin, one of the four people who approved the project told The Daily News Journal, "I've never known a commissioner to ever take a bribe as long as I've been on the commission." He added, "I can't tell a good person from a bad person. I consider everybody to be good. That's what I see, and that's what I think we're supposed to do."
[h/t: Right Wing Watch]
