MRFF CONDEMNS COWARDLY ATTACK ON ALBUQUERQUE MUSLIM COMMUNITY

by Mikey Weinstein

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) unequivocally condemns this morning’s reprehensible firebombing of southeast Albuquerque’s Islamic Center of New Mexico (ICNM). While this cowardly hate crime fortunately didn’t result in any injuries, it still represents a frightful attack upon Albuquerque’s Muslim community. More worryingly, the attack highlights the precipitous decline in attitudes of religious tolerance within the United States, especially toward Americans of the Muslim faith. These horrendous trends of religious bigotry and vile, racist xenophobia often find as their inspiration the deliberately Islamophobic hate-mongering which has become far too mainstream in recent years, and has emanated from the bully pulpits of the mainstream media, the dark corners of the internet, and even from the desks of our elected officials. As a Jewish-American who also happens to lead a civil rights organization (MRFF) that represents over 39,000 armed service members, including 13.5 % of all Muslim Americans serving in the U.S. Armed Forces, my own family has also experienced attacks of a similar nature launched, no doubt, by spineless cretins cut from the same cloth as this morning’s perpetrators. Our wonderful city is no place for such shameful incidents, and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation extend its profound sympathy to Albuquerque’s Muslim Community, as well as our undying solidarity in the fight against all forms of religious hatred and intolerance.

Michael L. “Mikey” Weinstein, Esq.
              Founder and President,
              Military Religious Freedom Foundation