Pig races set across road from mosque

Houston Chronicle:

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.

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."

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.

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.

Claims and counterclaims have flown. Critics raise concerns about traffic congestion, flooding, possible adverse impact on property values and the "unknown."

"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."

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.

...

Baker said he bears no malice toward Muslims, and does not object to construction of the mosque and other buildings if they comply with county codes. He charged, however, that mosque workers illegally started building a parking lot whose impermeable surface would contribute to area flooding.

County permits manager Raymond Anderson confirmed that the parking lot had been started without a permit. He said that the Islamic group has since applied for one.

...

It sounds like a pretty large facility for only 30 members. The article does not mention how the project if being financed.While the pig races may be amusing to some, I doubt whether Baker can sustain enough interest to continue them for any length of time. The Muslims say they were surprised by the intensity of the backlash against their facility. They should not be. Muslim intolerance and public tantrums around the world have caused a lessening of respect for the religion. When Muslims are murdering non Muslims around the world, it is not surprising at all that free people would find their intolerance objectionable.

This is probably another reason why Muslims may be regarded with justifiable suspicion.

Apparently many Americans are suspicious of Muslims after seeing them have public tantrums and shouting death to America. While the article blames the Americans suspicions of ignorance, the root cause of the problem is Islamic bigotry and intolerance against non Muslims. That is what started this war and what sustains it. It is not irrational to be suspicious of groups who have some members who want to destroy us.