Residents use pig races to deter building of mosque
KATY — All snout and tail, the pink and brown pigs contentedly rooting in the wire pen behind Craig Baker’s stone shop seem piggishly comic. They’re racing pigs, after all, and that’s got to be funny. But few in the sprawling subdivisions along Baker Road are laughing. These pigs are subtle weapons, here to show the new neighbors — the Katy Islamic Association — they aren’t entirely welcome. Tension has been growing in this west Harris County community since September when the Muslim group announced it had purchased 11 acres south of Interstate 10 to build a mosque, school, community center and athletic facilities.
I never cease to be amazed at what an intolerant, hateful country we’ve become since 9.11. Of course, it’s not as if 9.11 and it’s aftermath did anything but bring already extant feelings to the surface in the form of a raw and still open wound. Nonetheless, since 9.11 normally reasonable “Christian” Americans see nothing at all wrong with aggressively and opening fearing and hating Muslims…as if Islam itself was responsible for 9.11.
Uh…news flash, y’all…ISLAM WAS NOT THE REASON FOR 9.11. The murderous fiends who carried out the attacks of 9.11 were true Muslims about as much as Paul Hill and Timothy McVeigh were true Christians.
Who says the terrorists haven’t won?
Here in America, we’ve always patted ourselves on our collective back in self-congratulations for our perceived tolerance and open-mindedness. Apparently, hating and fearing Muslims hasn’t changed our opinion of ourselves. Yes, you’re welcome to be a Muslim- as long as you don’t do, act, look, or say anything that might frighten good, God-fearing, CHRISTIAN Americans. ‘Cuz Lord knows we were here first, and it’s OUR country.
Now the good, God-fearing, Christian White folk in the uber-White and uber-Christian Houston suburb of Katy have their knickers in a twist because a local Islamic group wants to build a (GASP!) mosque. Hmm…d’ya think these folks would be in a dither if a Baptist church was to be built on the same property? Yeah, right….
Hard feelings started when Baker met association officials, who, he said, advised him he should move his stone shop.
“They told me it was time for my family to pack up,” said Baker, whose family has occupied its land since the early 1800s. “They said a mosque and a marble shop didn’t go too good together.”
Granted, the Katy Islamic Association could perhaps dealt with things a bit more diplomatically. After, when you’re dealing with people you know aren’t going to do anything but assume the worst of you, honey will get you more than vinegar.
The good Christian people of Katy will tell you that they’re concerned about what the proposed mosque will bring to the neighborhood. It doesn’t take much to read between the lines, though. What they’re really concerned about is that they don’t want “them” moving in. They’re terrorists, don’tchaknow?
Angered by the perceived insult and aware of Islamic dietary laws banning pork consumption, Baker responded by announcing he would stage weekly pig races on his Muslim neighbors’ holiest day of prayer.
Yeah, now there’s a way to make friends and influences enemies, eh?
Well, I’ll show THEM….
Since then, the conflict has escalated as residents called a town hall meeting to discuss the planned complex and an anti-mosque page featuring a cartoon pig and a running tally of terrorism victims was posted on the Internet. Numerous complaint calls have been made to county officials.
Good Lord…for all we know, they’ll be making BOMBS in the mosque!!
Claims and counterclaims have flown. Critics raise concerns about traffic congestion, flooding, possible adverse impact on property values and the “unknown.”
Yes, what’s going to happen when they move in and all the women are wearing bedsheets? We haven’t had to worry about that sort of thing since the Klan left town…in 2003.
“One of our concerns is what the mosque will look like,” said Karen Olson, president of the 120-family Windsor Park Estates Neighborhood Association. ” … We look at mosques in other parts of town and they have gold domes. They’re big white structures that stand out. We’re concerned about what we can do as a community to get a development that fits in and doesn’t ruin things.”
Hmm…and if it were a Baptist or a Presbyterian church, no one would be making a peep, would they? Build a megachurch with a 17,000-seat worship center, and no one says “BOO!” But just try and build a mosque that might hold as many as 30 Muslims for worship services, and…well, just try and get out of the way of the shitstorm, ‘cuz it’s gonna get messy.
Oh, the humanity. Oh, the traffic. Oh, the terrorists congestion….
Spokesmen for the Islamic group said the fears are unfounded, noting that they intend to comply with county building codes “110 percent” and that attendance at the largest services will probably not exceed 30 worshippers. Their Baker Road neighbors will be welcome to look at plans for the complex, they said, as the project is developed.
Traffic concerns, Olson said, top her group’s list of worries.
Baker Road, she said, is a narrow, two-lane country thoroughfare, and she is concerned that frequent prayer services at the mosque could paralyze traffic in an area that already is home to four large subdivisions. She also worried that heavy traffic might increase maintenance costs for her association, which owns a stretch of a street connecting Fry and Baker roads.
Uh, traffic concerns? How much traffic can 30 Muslims generate? Let’s be real here, shall we? How about you stop hiding behind your faux concerns about “traffic congestion” and “building code compliance”? What this is really about is fear, ignorance, and hatred of THEM…and the reality that you’ll use whatever cover is available to keep THEM out of your neighborhood.
Both sides probably need to do a better job of trying to create a dialogue. DUMB@$$E$ like Craig Baker certainly aren’t going to help. How do you think he would react if a Muslim trashed and trivialized a cherished aspect of Christianity? If you want respect, even if you’re angry at someone, you need to give respect. Act like an immature child, and you can expect that feelings will be hurt and things will spin out of control almost immediately. Of course, on the plus side, act like an immature child and you’ll quite likely win a DUMB@$$ AWARD.
The good, God-fearing Christian White folk of Katy need to stop pretending that there protests are anything more than exactly what they are- an attempt to stop a group of people the despise and a religion they believe is responsible for 9.11. Their thinly-veiled prejudice has only opened them up for some richly-deserved ridicule.
Silly me; I grew being taught that tolerance and charity were Christian values….
