The battle over plans to build a mosque near the site of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York is fuelling a surge in anti-Muslim protests across the US, including opposition to new Islamic centres from California to Georgia.

Religious leaders and civil rights activists warn that anti-muslim feeling has swept the country since the destruction of the twin towers is being heightened by political exploitation of the New York dispute before nationwide elections and is increasingly bound up with hostility to immigrants.

They say the outpouring of condemnation at the outrage of a mosque close to the hallowed ground of the World Trade Centre site also goes hand in hand with the increasing acceptability of what they describe as hate speech.

Many religious leaders have spoken out against Muslim-bashing, including rabbis in New York who have defended the plans for the mosque two blocks from the site of the 9/11 attacks, which would not be visible from Ground Zero.

But John Esposito, director of the Centre for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University said the dispute over the proposed mosque had given cover for more open hostility unleashed after the 9/11 attacks.

Historically we've had problems in Mississippi or Georgia or New York or wherever when someone wants to establish a mosque. The cover for opposition used to be that people will say: we're not really prejudiced but it'll affect the traffic in the area, not facing the fact that it is very common if you have a significant number of Jews or Protestants or Catholics to expect that they're going to want to have a synagogue or a church and chances are the town's going to go along with it.

But today, Americans increasingly no longer shy away from saying they oppose mosques on the grounds that Muslims are a threat or different.

In New York, a group called the American Freedom Defence Initiative is placing adverts on New York buses showing a plane flying into one of the World Trade Centre towers and what it calls a Mega Mosque and asking Why There?.

Obama: Rights but not right

Based on article from washingtonpost.com

One day after President Obama defended the freedom of Muslims to build an Islamic complex near New York's Ground Zero, he offered a less forceful version of that position on Saturday: Yes, Muslims have that right, Obama said -- but that doesn't mean he believes it is the right thing for them to do.

Speaking to reporters during a family vacation visit to Panama City, Fla., Obama reiterated the stand he took Friday night at a White House dinner observing the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. In this country we treat everybody equally and in accordance with the law, regardless of race, regardless of religion, Obama said.

But he went on to explain that he was not endorsing the construction of the Islamic center. I was not commenting and I will not comment on the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there, he said. I was commenting very specifically on the right people have that dates back to our founding.

Update: 700 people protest against Ground Zero mosque

25th August 2010. Based on article from christianpost.com

Hundreds of protesters, singing to the tune of spiritual classic We Shall Not Be Moved as their theme, rallied Sunday morning against the construction of a mosque near ground zero.

Organized by The Coalition to Honor Ground Zero – a network opposing the growth of Sharia law, stealth jihad, and radical mosques worldwide – the rally attracted some 700 opponents shouting, No Mosque, singing God Bless America, and giving heated speeches in challenges to explore the purpose behind the planned mosque.

Numerous Christians were among the organizers of the event opposing Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf of Masjid al-Farah who is spearheading the new mosque: I hate to disappoint the Imam, but we are not a Sharia state yet! shouted event coordinator Beth Gilisky, head of Women United, from a street stage at the center of the event to crowds replying, Never! Never! We shall not comply [as a Sharia state]! she protested.

Update: Egyptian Copts to protest against Ground Zero mosque

26th August 2010. Based on article from nacopts1.blogspot.com

On September 10, 2010, Coptic Christians will rally, chant, sang, pray and march in front of the National Press Club to stand against the Ground Zero Mosque, to get the attention of U.S. administration and the American Public on the continuing human rights violations against the Copts (Christians who live in Egypt).

Iranian authorities have banned all advertisements for pets, pet food and other pet products.

The decision by Iran's Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance comes after the fatwa was issued by powerful cleric Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi.

In June, Ayatollah Shirazi declared dogs unclean, saying that dog owners were blindly imitating the West and that their devotion to the animals would result in evil outcomes. Many people in the West love their dogs more than their wives and children, he said.

Egyptians, Muslims and Christians alike, are closely watching the controversy associated with the Ground Zero Mosque project, though for different reasons. The Egyptian media is giving this issue full coverage with articles mostly accusing Americans of Islamophobia, and supporting Muslims to hold on to their rights to build a mosque anywhere as guaranteed by the US constitution, regardless of what Americans think.

On the other hand, some influential Muslims rejected the idea of a Mosque near Ground Zero only on grounds that it would backfire on Islam, by connecting it to the 9/11 events. Dr. AbdelMotey Bayoumi, a member of Al Azhar's Islamic Research Academy, believes it could be a Zionist conspiracy to harm Islam.

American-Egyptian Copts were also accused of organizing the rally which is to be staged on 9/11 with Geert Wilders, reported the Egyptian daily youm7 on August 20, 2010.

I cannot believe the double standards of the Egyptian Muslims, commented Coptic activist Magdy Guindi. It is obvious that Americans don't approve of this Mosque being near Ground Zero. Is this not one of the conditions applied to church building in Egypt?

Much of the on-going sectarian strife in Egypt is related to the ability to build churches. Unlike Muslim citizens, who only need a municipal license to build mosques, the Copts require presidential approval for a church, based on the 1856 Ottoman Hamayoni Decree, in addition to ten humiliating conditions laid down by the Ezaby Pasha Decree of 1934, before being considered for a presidential decree. These include the approval of the neighboring Muslim community.

Muslim clerics and Islamists easily persuade Muslims that a church is equivalent to slandering Islam, so they take advantage of this Muslim approval condition, said Guindi.

In 2005 President Mubarak issued a decree, which delegated authority to the country's 26 governors to grant permits to Christians to expand or rebuild existing churches. Instead of making matters easier, many local officials intentionally delay or refuse to process applications without supporting documents that are virtually impossible to obtain. State Security often block them from using permits that have been issued on security concerns.

Most Copts interviewed on the issue of the Ground Zero Mosque thought that even if Moslems had the right to build a mosque, it should be somewhere else, to save the victims families any pain. Others thought the Muslim attitude was typical They go to a country and want to take it over, making the best of democratic rights to their advantage, but when it comes to Islamic countries, matters are different, and they forget about the rights of others, commented one young Coptic girl.

Let Muslims experience the rage and frustration we have been going through for centuries, every time we want to build or repair a dilapidating church in our own country, commented Coptic activist Mina Hanna, in what sounded like Schadenfreude. It would be interesting to see what happens if the West decided to treat Muslims like Christians in Egypt.