US Muslims launch campaign to combat intolerance

Aug 31, 2010, 5:48 GMT

Washington - A US Muslim group on Monday launched a campaign to raise social awareness in response to what they see as a 'rising tide of anti-Muslim sentiment' in the country.

The campaign My Faith, My Voice set up a website with messages that call for dialogue, with a view to later taking the leap to adverts on the country's major television networks, organizers said.

'In recent weeks, a lot of people have been telling you what to think about Muslims. They say you should fear me, suspect me, hate me,' says the one-minute video posted on www.myfaithmyvoice.com.

'But the truth is I don't want to impose my faith on you. I don't want to take over this country. And I don't support terrorism of any form. Islam teaches me to respect all people, improve society and stand up for justice for all.'

'I'm here and have been here for generations, wanting the same thing you do: the chance to pursue life, liberty, peace and happiness. I am an American, I'm a Muslim. This is my faith, this is my voice.'

The video features Muslim men and women of several races and professions, dressed in a variety of ways and speaking English, Spanish and even sign language.

'As American Muslims we are concerned about this rising tide of anti-Muslim sentiment that we are hearing from the airwaves,' Hassan Ahmad, a lawyer and one of the coordinators of the citizen initiative, told a press conference in Washington.

According to Ahmad, the website allows citizens to post videos at their own initiative. It seeks to promote 'a fruitful dialogue' to help US Muslims build bridges toward Americans of different faiths and to promote understanding.

The initiative My Faith, My Voice joins other, similar efforts launched by the Muslim community recently in the United States.

Last week, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) unveiled a manual to help US Muslims put forward their religion in a positive way, and to help them deal with possible incidents in mosques.

A private initiative to build a Muslim centre including a room for worship, a few blocks from Ground Zero - the site in downtown New York where the World Trade Center's Twin Towers were destroyed in the al-Qaeda strikes of September 11, 2001 - has renewed debate about Islam in US society.

The Ground Zero issue has become a lightning rod for politicians from around the country while sparking concerns about intolerance.

Last week, one New York taxi driver who hails from Bangladesh was attacked with a knife by a drunken customer, after the attacker found out the Bangladeshi driver was Muslim.

The debate got even more complicated when US President Barack Obama indirectly supported the mosque initiative by saying that all faiths have a right to express themselves in the United States, before saying the next day that he didn't necessarily consider it wise to build the Muslim centre so near Ground Zero.

Most recently, Obama told broadcaster NBC on Sunday: 'If you can build a church on that site, if you can build a synagogue on that site or a Hindu Temple on that site, then we can't treat people of the Islamic faith differently, who are Americans, who are American citizens.'