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Detroit Transit Sued for Nixing SIOA ‘Leaving Islam?’ Bus ads
June 1, 2010
By admin
Washington Times:

A bus-ad campaign that seeks to offer resources to those considering leaving Islam already has stirred up controversy in Miami and New York, but its next city may create the most fireworks – Detroit, the U.S. metropolitan area with the heaviest concentration of Middle Easterners.

The Detroit-area bus authority has refused to run the ads from Stop Islamization of America, an organization headed up by conservative activist and anti-jihad blogger Pamela Geller, prompting SIOA to file a federal lawsuit Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

Mrs. Geller said the transport authority’s refusal to run her ads violates her First Amendment right of free speech, and she will take the lawsuit to the Supreme Court if necessary.

“It is against the law, and I tell you, those ads will go up whether they like it or not,” Mrs. Geller said.

SIOA initially encountered a similar refusal in Miami, but Mrs. Geller said a lawsuit prompted the transport-authority there to relent in less than 24 hours.

Several calls to the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation, which operates the bus system serving Detroit and two surrounding counties, were not returned Thursday.

Dawud Walid, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations of Michigan, said he expects that even if the ads do run in Detroit, they will not elicit any response besides puzzlement. The Detroit area, centering on Dearborn, is home to a quarter-million Muslims, whom Mr. Walid does not expect to react favorably to the presence of SIOA’s ads in their city.

“If she’s planning to put those Islamophobic ads in Detroit, she’s wasting her time,” Mr. Walid said.

The Detroit area also has a large Arab and Middle Eastern Christian population, centering on suburbs north of the city proper.

Mrs. Geller said SIOA began its national city-by-city ad campaign in response to bus ads in Florida inviting people to convert to Islam.

[..]

But a public educator in Dearborn, speaking on the condition of anonymity owing to fear of retribution, said there is a climate of fear in the Detroit area’s Muslim community.

“The fear is palpable. I know there are things I am ‘not allowed’ to say. A discussion of religion with a Muslim person is often prefaced by the statement, ‘Dont say anything about the Prophet [Muhammad].’ In free society, open and honest conversation is not usually begun by a prohibition. Threats and intimidation are just part of life here.”

CAIR’s denial of the dangers of apostasy are part of the reason behind Mrs. Geller’s campaign, which she defined as a religious-freedom issue.

“We’re not encouraging people to leave Islam,” she said.

Whether or not the ads actually encourage apostasy, the furor elsewhere already have received a considerable amount of negative attention from American Muslims.

“The ads are to serve a purpose – to incite Islamophobia,” Mr. Walid said. “The average person here will see them for what they are.”

The Dearborn educator, however, said the ads serve a positive purpose.

“This kind of campaign and Americans support of it could assure these frightened Muslims that they have the rights that every other American has, that they will be protected, not abandoned or exposed to their leaders should they act upon their desire to be free,” the teacher said
5 Responses to “ Detroit Transit Sued for Nixing SIOA ‘Leaving Islam?’ Bus ads ”

sam michael on June 1, 2010 at 4:12 AM
why when muslim calls other people in christian country is good for them and why when we call muslim to left islam is bad for them ad the matter fact islam not from god but from some people cooperated with mohamed to make new religion let tell you something id all american trnselated qurans and you read it you will know its not from god but from evils in egypt we use to hear our cursing every days when muslim prays insulting jews and christians in 5 prayers they have and disciped us with all nasty words and if you lift islam in egypt and convert to christian you will be kill is that fair to forced others to believed in mohamed,is that religions of mercey as muslim said,believe me muslim smile in your face but inside hes heart he cursin you if you not musli9m and strong like mohamed told them,but when muslim be strong look what they going to do with you, god bless america forever