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Town Rallies Around Vandalized Cold Lake Mosque

cold-lake-mosque

(h/t: BSha)

via. CBC News

When Mahmoud Elkadri arrived at the mosque in Cold Lake, Alta., early Friday morning, he was met with a disturbing sight.

The words “Go home” and “Canada” had been sprayed across the front face of the building sometime over the night. Vandals had also smashed two of the mosque’s windows.

“When you’re coming in the morning for a peaceful prayer, it is hard,” said Elkadri, who is one of the mosque’s board members.

“This is our home. My kids have been born and raised in Cold Lake. … I have been in Cold Lake since 1996.”

Only a couple hours later, it was a much different sight. Over the course of the morning, dozens of people from the town showed up to help repair the damage. Some helped paint over the damage, while others taped their own messages to the window reading “You Are Home” and “Love Your Neighbour.”

Cold Lake resident Matt Downey, who came down to the mosque with his daughter to deliver flowers to Elkadri, says he wanted to show that the vandals didn’t speak for the majority of the people in town.

“It’s sad. I mean, these guys are peaceful. I think it is important for the community to show them that we know the difference between extremists and a religion,” he said.

Elkadri said he’s received visits and messages of support from soldiers stationed at the Canadian Forces base in Cold Lake.

“We were crying together in the morning. People coming here, people expressing their feelings,” he said.

Cold Lake Mayor Craig Copeland says the mosque is an important part of the town and that he was disappointed that someone in the community could be behind the damage.

“I just want to say that the Muslim community is at home in Cold Lake, so maybe they need to evaluate whether or not they belong in Cold Lake,” he said of the vandal.

Copeland thinks the vandalism is in response to the shooting in Ottawa that killed Cpl. Nathan Cirillo on Wednesday. He said that people are taking out their frustration on the wrong place.

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    • A Muslim Guy

      During tumultuous times when tempers flare and hate pervades, it’s nice to know that there will always be some good people around.

    • John Smith

      A feeble attempt in trying to deflect attention to Iran and ISIS but an attempt nevertheless. I guess the Iraqi and Syrian and Lebanese and Kurdish forces dying in the fight against ISIS don’t count as Muslims because that would invalidate your entire argument.

    • golden izanagi

    • Friend of Bosnia

      Well you see, religious extremism is not restricted to Muslims alone (as the islamophobes always say). And what did Einstein say about human stupidity…

    • Friend of Bosnia

      Ah, if only we saw this more often…

    • mindy1

      Oh FFS what do those people think they will accomplish by acting that way?

    • JD

      Ultra-Orthodox Jews Attack Jerusalem Buses Over Women Of The Wall Ad

      http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/23/ultra-orthodox-jerusalem-bus-ad_n_6036936.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular

      JERUSALEM (AP) — Dozens of ultra-Orthodox Jews hurled stones and slashed the tires of buses bearing ads promoting female worship at a key Jerusalem holy site, Israeli police said Tuesday.

      The attack, which happened on Monday night in Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox Mea Shearim neighborhood, underscores the still simmering tensions in Israel over religious extremists who want to separate the sexes in public spaces.

      Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said police units were dispatched to quell the violence in Mea Shearim where about 50 men slashed tires and pelted the buses with stones.

      The ads were posted by the group Women of the Wall, which seeks to achieve gender equality at the Western Wall, the holiest place where Jews can pray. The advertisements showed girls and women wearing prayer shawls and holding a Torah scroll — rituals seen by many Orthodox Jews as reserved for men only.

      Video footage on the YNet news site showed the words “end the obscene pictures” spray-painted on a bus.

      The ads aimed to promote Bat Mitzvah ceremonies for girls at the Western Wall. The coming-of-age ceremonies for girls are only allowed to be held at a nearby prayer site, designated for worshippers who don’t follow the Orthodox tradition adhered to at the main area of the Western Wall.

    • mindy1

      Countering hate with love, nice :))))

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