Another Lancaster City Official Pisses Off Muslims

UPDATED

Good for him.

What are they putting in the water in Lancaster City?

L.A. Times:

Mayor denounced for saying Lancaster is 'growing a Christian community'
January 31, 2010 2:17 pm

Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris drew criticism from a leading Muslim group today after saying in his annual State of the City address that the high desert town was “growing a Christian community.”

"We're growing a Christian community, and don't let anybody shy away from that,” Parris told the audience of ministers gathered for his address.

“I need [Lancaster residents] standing up and saying we're a Christian community, and we're proud of that," the mayor said.

The Greater Los Angeles area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations denounced the statement and said it plans to file a complaint about the mayor's remarks with the civil rights division of the U.S. Justice Department.

“Elected officials should not use their public positions to impose their religious beliefs on others," said Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Los Angeles chapter of CAIR.

The mayor, reached by telephone today, said his remarks did not intend to impose his faith on others, and he said he would make no apology.

“This is just about very few people wanting to get their 15 minutes of fame,” he said. “I guess they got it.”

-- Garrett Therolf


Email for Communications Director, City of Lancaster, CA

jcabral@cityoflancasterca.org

UPDATED -

An Anonymous commenter writes:

As one who actually lives in this area, here are some observations:

1. The original furor concerned some remarks councilwoman Sherry Marquez made on Facebook, about the case where a "moderate" Moslem beheaded his wife; basically, she said Islam has a problem with women. That, and not the mayor's remarks, was the cause of the original uproar. Moslems from the local mosque in Palmdale swarmed a city council meeting, demanding not only she apologize, but the entire Republican party as well!

2. On Friday, January 29th, there was a rally at the mosque, condemning Marquez; there was another rally, at Lancaster City Hall, supporting Marquez; guess which one was bigger, and had all the city bigwigs attending?

3. It was after Friday that the emphasis suddenly shifted from Marquez to R. Rex Parris himself. My own belief is that he was the one they were really after all along, and le affaire Marquez was just an excuse, or that they got nervous, not wanting Lancasterians/Palmdaleites to really take a close look at how Islam actually does treat women, and its connection with honor killings.

Whatever the case, CAIR-L.A. is now involved.

the Moslems out here have been "bugged" for a long time. This isn't the first time they've played the victim card, or gone after someone; they silenced a Baptist pastor, by the name of Yancey, for speaking out against Islam; they got a teacher at Antelope Valley College fired, for asking a young Moslem woman to remove her hijab while in class. They are, to be blunt, spoiling for a fight. It has nothing whatsoever to do with responding to silly comments; people, especially politicians, say dumb things all the times. It's about advancing Shari'a law.

The local paper, by the way, has always treated the Islamic community here with respect, not to mention rather soppy affection, and always supports them, and is sympathetic to them. So does the local interfaith council, which is also strongly influenced by the local Wiccan/Pagan community (of which we actually have a lot).