Posted on 05/10/2015 6:17:56 AM PDT by HomerBohn
Nestled in the heart of Virginia and the Blue Ridge Mountains lies an Evangelical Mecca, where Christianity and Country music are as indigenous to the region as the seven hills of Lynchburg and thousands of students make their annual pilgrimage, every fall, to study at the largest Christian University in the world. But in the ‘buckle of the bible belt,’ some residents answer a different call to prayer.
And if Obama has his way, many of the 100,000 Muslim refugees expected to arrive this year will be dumped right in the heart of America’s Bible Belt, transported and supported on the backs of hardworking US taxpayers.
WSET: The Muslim community in the Lynchburg area is made up of around 50 families. Like many of those families, Mohammad and Asma Rahman moved here to seize a better opportunity.
Going only on his word, Asma, Mohammad, and their two sons made their way to Lynchburg in 2006. “We knew about Liberty and Jerry Falwell.”
Asma Rahman says she had reservations and was a little scared. “Here when we came at first, I was a little bit, because I knew there weren’t that many Muslims” said Asma Rahman. “We didn’t have a mosque at the time,” added Mohammad Rahman.
A stark contrast to the mosque in New Jersey where their kids attended Islamic school– or their native Bangladesh — home to some of the largest mosques in the world. “People in the Boonsboro area and the Lynchburg area were praying in people’s homes on Fridays,” said Mohammad Rahman.
So a group of Muslim families, including the Rahmans, formed the Greater Lynchburg Islamic Association and raised enough funds to buy and repurpose a home. “Alhamdullilah, we’ve been very grateful,” said Mohammed Rahman.
At the same time GLIA was constructing Lynchburg’s first mosque — tensions overseas were escalating as the U.S. entered its 7th year in the “War on Terror.” And Al-Qaeda militants and its subsidiaries’ claims to be fighting in the name of Islam, were further changing perceptions of Muslims at home.
9/11 put Islam in the national and international spotlight, often in the context of terrorism. But Asma Rahman can recall an incident that predates the attacks. “When my children were young, I was in New Jersey, my son came home a couple of times even before 9/11 and said mom why do they talk about that we are terrorist?” said Asma.
Since, headlines have been filled with Islamic extremist claiming responsibility for a number of attacks — the Boston Marathon bombings, the Charlie Hebdo attack, brutal beheadings. But how can a religion many of its believers argue is peaceful… be used to justify such atrocities?
“In any religious text out of its content, it becomes a pretext. You can use it for whatever you mean,” said Liberty University professor and Theologian Dr. Chris Gnanakan. Dr. Gnanakan says terrorism justified by religion is often rooted in power and politics.
“Religion was never meant to be volatile. I think peace is what all religions seek. Muslims will say that, Hindus live that and Christians pursue peace,” said Gnanakan.
Many Muslims in the U-S have publicly condemned and disassociated themselves from extremist views. “We are non-violent people… Sometimes people get scared because of hearing all the news. And sometimes that may lead to something but fortunately for me I haven’t been exposed to any of that,” said Mohammed Rahman.
The Rahman family has now lived in Lynchburg for 8 years. They say from the start, their neighbors welcomed them with open arms. “As they interact with us, they see what we are, so I never felt any kind of discrimination,” said Mohammad Rahman.
To see the ABC Special Report Video of this story click HERE
Tennessee alone will get up to 10,000 Somali Muslims this year. As crime rates soar in every city in America that has a significant Somali Muslim population, home values drop like a stone.
Thanks for posting. A must see.
My only comment to this is that I’m thinking we here (as in the people, not the government) in the rural areas are far more equipped to deal with this sh*t than the larger cities are. We are far less open to multiculturalism being crammed down our throat and much closer to agreeing on a common belief and lifestyle, and far less willing to be progressively altered by an outside influence.
Not a matter of if, but when, they decide to push assimilation on us rather than allowing it to happen to them the local authorities will be facing our way to calm the people down with their backs to them to contain the violence.
Go ahead and make fun of the rednecks, but piss them off as a whole and unrestrained they will be a force to deal with here.
Laz, there is currently a mosque in Alpharetta and one has just opened here in Johns Creek. They're spreading like fire ants and are about as welcome.
The Saudis are funding them.
Reference.
But you applaud when violent people kill in the name of Islam.
“Tennessee alone will get up to 10,000 Somali Muslims this year. As crime rates soar in every city in America that has a significant Somali Muslim population, home values drop like a stone.”
They are the dregs of Africa. We have them here driving taxi’s. Nasty. If this does not stop our country is over.
They're so very upset with how they're being talked about, they're crapping on the floors of stores, and their woman spread 'em and pee in the middle of Walmart. Happening now.
Have you seen that huge mosque downtown? My girlfriend was down there recently and drove by it. She said it takes up an entire block. She was shocked.
Home churches are probably the way of the future. It’s getting very tough to find one that hasn’t sold out to multiculturalism, politically correct BS of the 21st century.
I would bail out of that church Today. If necessary, start a house church. Either that or fire the “pastor”.
I know in some of these state’s towns, the faithful will convert them and eject those that won’t convert.
There are counties with only 1/2 of a state trooper to cover the county, they are far beyond the reach of the Politically correct crowd. Reporters come around those parts, they are quickly educated in the fact they aren’t welcome.
There aren’t any jobs there, so I don’t know why they would send them to some of these towns anyways. The only jobs available are working for someone you know on a farm or stores that supply the farms.
They import hoards of criminals so that later we will welcome it when we are all treated as suspects.
Eventually, we will be happy that TSA is strip-searching little blond girls at neighborhood checkpoints.
Really? Howis it treason when all 3 branches of big government are in agreement?
No, this isn’t treason. This is the uniparty reshuffling the deck to get rid of pesky Christians and conservatives.
The uniparty has set things up for itself very nicely indeed. Bleed the middle class dry, then bring in a bunch of folks to replace the pesky Christians and conservatives with more malleable folk.
I have been harping that the GOPe is not dumb but complicit for over twenty years.
I think you are right. They appear angry and disdainful, and their shoulder chips just shine right through. They CANT hide it.
We are indirectly funding them ourselves because we buy their oil and have for decades. The Bush family is very friendly to the House of Saud.
As it began, there are plenty of ways to get real Bible teaching on the internet.
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