Islamophobia: "Christian Identity" White Supremacists Charged on Plan to Destroy US Mosque

Three men, Eric Ian Baker, 32, Michael Corey Golden, 23, and Jonathan Edward Stone, 19, had planned for a week to burn down the Islamic Center of Columbia, according to the First Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul O'Brian.

Two of the men Stone and Baker told officers they were members of the Christian Identity movement, an extreme doctrine that claims white Europeans are God's chosen people.

According to the complaint, Stone said he earned "two stripes" for the act from Baker, who was described as his sponsor in the movement. "Stone admitted to special agents that he is a member of the Christian Identity movement and that stripes or promotions are earned for committing acts of violence against 'enemies,'" the complaint said.

The men are accused of using gasoline, rags and empty beer bottles to set fire to the storefront mosque on Saturday.  They also painted a swastika and the phrases "white power" and "we run the country" on the mosque's exterior.

Meanwhile a church offered its support and raised $1000 for the mosque, and offering up space for worship on Fridays at First Presbyterian Church. This again reminds me of the ayah in the Quran:

"...and nearest among them in love to the believers will you find those who say, ‘We are Christians,’ because amongst these are men devoted to learning and men who have renounced the world, and they are not arrogant" (5:82)

Of course, had these people been Muslims and God forbid if a synagogue was involved, there wouldn't be one major news network that wouldn't have made this front and center for coverage. And making it as sensationalist as possible, using words such as Islamic-terrorist, etc. But we cannot fall into the same trap. These three weren't "Christian-terrorists", they were simply terrorists, who had perverted and misused what they called their "Christian Identity". These same people would have no problem attacking blacks or other minorities. That is why Islamophobia and racism usually go hand in hand.

Also remember the pyramid of hate that I talked about in my post on Islamophobia. These incidents suggest that hate has started reaching towards the top of this pyramid, and thus Muslims are in for dangerous times, may Allah protect us all. And this is yet another proof in the pudding that Islamophobia is real and that such actions motivated by anti-Muslim feelings are also real. This is an excerpt from the Islamophobia post, which talks about the pyramid of hate:

Similarly, one can think of racism or prejudice as a pyramid, with the bottom base being a myriad and widespread negative opinions and beliefs, which I have already described in the preceding paragraphs. The next, less-widespread, step up on this pyramid would be hate-talk. A step further up will be actions motivated by hate, like throwing a pig’s head into a mosque. Further steps up (less frequent but of higher intensity) would include direct attacks on Muslims and eventually to Muslim deaths and even large-scale terrorism (a plan by a Florida doctor to bomb Muslim educational centers was derailed in Florida in 2002 before it could be enacted). The question is not whether such hate-crimes will happen (because they already are); rather the question is when and how many.  [Islamophobia Part 1- It Exists]

More info. @ AP & Al-Arabiya

Hat-tip to Islamophobia-Watch