I’m FROM Texas, you motherfuckers, and this attitude is completely, and totally, uncalled for. What the hell happened to being neighborly? I’m almost too angry for words.
While the concerns about property values, drainage, and traffic might be valid to some extent, the outright anti-Islamic responses really, really chaps me. You might not agree with Islamic beliefs, but these folks want to set up a mosque and a community center, not train up the next round of the Great Brown Threat in the middle of Texas.
My god. I cannot believe the sheer… awe-inspiring attitude that this woman has. Maybe another one of you Dopers can provide suitable language to describe it – I can’t. What part of being a decent human being (and Christian, if that so describes you) includes this kind of reaction? I’m literally seething here. What, is this the 60’s with McCarthy and the Commies coming in the window in the middle of the night?
Finally, Craig Baker’s quote. I’ll let it speak for itself. Okay, maybe not. What, you’re NOT a laughingstock now?
This doesn’t surprise me at all. Makes me want to bake a pie and bring it over to the Katy Islamic Foundation, along with a nice vase of flowers and a sheepish “sorry we’re idiots here.”
Yeah, I read about this in Sunday’s paper. The land is within a minute or two of my office. It’ll be interesting to watch this one develop. However, my sense is that most folks in the area are pretty normal and reasoned but that a couple of loud bigots are pushing their own ignorant agenda.
Irony being a powerful force in all of our lives, would this guy need some sort of special zoning permit to raise & race pigs on his property, on account of they’re, you know, unclean?
This is another instance (or at least linked to other instances) of chickens coming home to roost and all that. Multiple times Conservative Christian groups have claimed the application of planning/zoning laws to churches in the same way as to non-religous organizations violates Freedom of Religion, and have been successful at least on lower levels in getting legislation exempting churches from many of the restrictions placed on other buildings. Suddenly people then discover that a mosque is not subject to the same noise restrictions as any other building would be when calling people to prayer multiple times a day, for example.
If they want to build a Wal-Mart next door to you, you may be able to stop it. They want to throw up a Mega church with exactly the same traffic consequences, you are likely SOL.
If the pig racing is done with the expressed intent of being a jerk toward Muslims, they’d probably object. But as far as I know, the prohibition is just against eating them. If the guy wanted to be a real asshole, a dog track might be worse. At least Baker’s quote is funny.
Well, another Houston suburb has adapted pretty well to an “exotic” house of worship (I used to drive by it all the time, and it looked rather weird plunked down in the middle of tract housing). Maybe the Muslims would like to build their mosque next to this.
Seriously. I live in Houston and work in Spring, which means I miss the traffic both ways. I don’t know how the real commuters do it. I’d kill someone.