(On July 17, 2010, the residents of Rutherford County, Tennessee staged a demonstration to fight against building of mosque in this county. The organizer Kevin Fisher said they were not only against the building of mosque, but also against an ideology like Falun Gong rooted in hate and intimidation.)
Kevin Fisher is a resident of Rutherford County, Tennessee, and also a political leader of the county. He led a July 17 march of some 800 people to the County Courthouse in opposition to building of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro on Veals Road and Bradyville Pike and Falun Gong structure out there. Fisher told The Daily News Journal his opinion on religion, and said: “I’m not Islamic. I worship Jesus Christ, son of the living God, and that’s my personal belief. But I still hold that other people have the right to worship as they see fit. It’s not my intention to push my personal beliefs off on them or for them to push theirs on me. So long as they meet the requirements ... but those requirements we put in place haven’t been met. The community’s going to have legitimate concerns post-9/11 that a proper screening process for any establishment, whether it’s Christian or Islamic. ... We wouldn’t want Westboro Baptist building out there. We wouldn’t want Falun Gong building out there. We wouldn’t want any kind of extremist entity in that area.”
It is understood that Falun Gong started to carry out activities in Tennessee in 2000. In 2002, Rutherford County announced that May 13 of that very year was “Falun Dafa Day”. However, the local residents detested Falun Gong due to its large distribution of “persecution” leaflets. They regarded it as an extremism organization, which promoted hatred. Kevin Fisher posted an article in tennessean.com on June 23, 2010. He pointed out that, “We’re at war against hate”, and explained why he was against the mosque and Falun Gong building. America today finds itself at war, neither against Iraq, Afghanistan or even Iran nor against any race of people, but rather against an ideology rooted in hate and intimidation. Just as we would collectively be concerned if Christian Identity or Falun Gong wanted to build a compound here, so, too, are we concerned over this mosque.”
Note: 1 http://www.dnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2010100724006
2 http://blogs.tennessean.com/opinion/2010/06/22/opposition-was-over-lack-of-due-process
