You know, it’s nice to live in a bastion of common sense.
The news pages lately are filled with example after example of anti-Muslim
hysteria, anger, and hatred.
But it's not like that everyplace.
So, how refreshing it is, then, to find an example of people who do not get their panties in a twist when a group of Muslims wishes to build something.
Recently, the Santa Clara (CA) Planning Commission approved construction of a 64-foot-tall minaret as an addition the largest mosque in the San Francisco Bay area.
Only one man, Thomas Scott, had filed opposition to the construction, claiming the minaret would be an architectural curiosity and that it would create parking problems. He said he would have opposed a church steeple on the same grounds.
However, Scott was adamant that he did not endorse anti-Muslim views:
Scott called the anti-Islam critics "nutcakes" and credited the mosque for "doing good work."
Apparently a few people at the planning commission meeting were not as respectful as Scott, with at least one person railing against "Islamic domination" and "Muslims taking over America."
But that was a distinctly minority view, and the Planning Commission subsequently approved the minaret construction.
"We're very, very happy," said Mohammed Sarodi, chairman of the board of trustees for the Muslim Community Association on Scott Boulevard.
Sarodi said the minaret, along with a larger construction project to enhance and enlarge the mosque's entrance, could be completed in about nine months.
As the news story notes, the commission meeting also fell on the second evening of Ramadan.
This is a short diary, but I wanted to give credit to the voices of reason and responsibility!