Preachers plan protest against mosque opening in NW Pompano

[Soldier4Christ]

Preachers from some of the northwest area's most influential churches plan to bring their flocks and sermons to City Hall tonight to demand that leaders keep a mosque from opening in their neighborhood.

The City Commission decided last month to allow the Islamic Center of South Florida to move 2 miles, from the northeast side of town. City leaders said the mosque met all legal requirements. The current mosque is too small, its owners said. On a 4.8-acre patch of land they bought a few years ago, they plan to build a 29,000 square-foot center equipped with a preschool, a soccer field and a basketball court.

 Opponents say the land is better suited for affordable homes. Others agree with Commissioner E. Pat Larkins, who last month told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that people in his northwest district have a perception that Muslim grocery store owners take advantage of the community.

Some say Islam has no place in mostly black and mostly Christian northwest Pompano Beach. The residents will be led by a contingent of about 10 pastors -- including the Rev. O'Neal Dozier, who on Sunday resigned from a panel that helps recommend Broward County judges to the governor because of comments he made against Muslims. The Rev. Charles Branch, of the Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church, who helps run a radio show, also will protest in front of City Hall. The City Commission's regular bimonthly meeting is tonight.

No other churches have contacted City Hall to weigh in on the mosque.

"We want to make such a fuss that the Muslims will pack up," Dozier, of the Worldwide Christian Center, which has more than 100 members, said at a meeting with fellow pastors recently. To leaders of the Islamic Center, the answer is not in protests and anger.

"We should be looking at mending fences and bringing our community together and try to spread tolerance and understanding rather than tension," said Imam Hasan Sabri.

The negative reaction to a mosque being built was a wake-up call to the state of relations between the black and Muslim communities in Pompano Beach, Islamic leaders said.

"We have to start reaching out to the community in that area," said Areebv Naseerv, a member of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "In the end, they will see the good that comes out of this center."

The council sent Dozier, as well as several other leaders in the community, a letter on June 19 asking him for a meeting.

"Let us sit down under your leadership and work towards enhancing the experience of all peoples, so that our community can make further progress, fostering peace, harmony and friendship," wrote Altaf Ali, the organization's executive director.

"He said, `Let us come together and reason,'" Dozier, standing behind a pulpit, recounted on a recent Sunday to his congregation. "Now what do I look like? Do you think I would sit down and talk to them and compromise?"

So in Dozier's office last week, pastors planned their protest, surrounded by photos of Dozier posing with President Bush, Gov. Jeb Bush, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

"Can we get a podium?" Dozier asked his counterparts.

"Can we get a bullhorn?" the Rev. Alonzo Neal, of the Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, said.

Their agenda was clear: Make their congregations aware that they will protest at the City Commission meeting tonight, even though the issue is legally settled.

"We want to tell our people from the pulpit," Dozier said, sitting in a large brown leather chair behind a well-kept desk. "I've been talking on it every Sunday."

"Me too," Neal said.

"History will judge us badly if these people came to our area and converted a lot of poor black people into that cult," Dozier continued.

Neal jumped in: "The only thing we as men of God can do is stand and be counted."

Not all residents of northwest Pompano Beach agree with the pastors. Some who live directly across the site of the future mosque say Islam should be welcomed.

"What does that have to do with me?" asked Shantell Barber, carrying a toddler. "Half these kids need religion. Even if it is Muslim."

INSIDE: Dozier confirms he was asked to resign from the Judicial Nominating Committee after controversial remarks on Muslims. He resigned on Sunday.