Standing in Denver's main mosque on Christmas Eve, Christian, Muslim and Jewish community leaders launched an ad campaign promoting understanding and tolerance between the religious groups. "Love Thy Neighbor" ads on Denver buses are intended to combat anti-Muslim ads produced by the American Freedom Defense Initiative. The controversial group attracted attention with hateful posters in New York subways and DC metro stations.

The Colorado Muslim Society paid $5,000 for the "Love Thy Neighbor" ads, which focus on love as "a shared concept in the three religions." Other religious leaders and interfaith groups then publicly embraced the message:

They said the ad they unveiled — at a time on the calendar devoted to love and understanding — is meant to respond to recent national tragedies and to replace anti-Muslim ads placed on buses last month.

"Our country is in the midst of a lot of divisions," Temple Emanuel Senior Rabbi Joe Black said. "Hatred is only going to further violence and the breakdown of society."

Denver's tolerance initiative follows the lead of many faith groups around the country protesting the Islamophobic ads. The Denver ads proclaim: "9,757 Deadly Islamic Attacks Since 9/11/01. It's Not Islamophobia. It's Islamorealism." Colorado's religious leaders also stood together in solidarity after the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

Public renunciation of anti-Muslim bigotry is much needed, as hate crimes against Muslims have held steady at a record high. Meanwhile, anti-Islamic rhetoric has become commonplace in mainstream media.

Think Progress, 25 December 2012

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A new message encouraging local residents to "Love Your Muslim Neighbors" is slated to go up on a South Church Street billboard by the end of the month.

The message is being placed on a billboard at 1015 S. Church St. by a self-described Washington, D.C.-based Christian advocacy and education organization called Sojourners, according to the group's communications director, Tim King.

King said the organization decided on Murfreesboro as a location after several residents living within a 100-mile radius of the city took notice of the group's message on a billboard in Joplin, Mo., and began calling for one to be placed here.

The billboard on which Sojourners placed its message in Joplin was just three blocks from where six people were shot dead outside a Sikh gurudwara.

King said the people who contacted the organization from the Murfreesboro area told Sojourners of the controversy that surrounded the building of a mosque here.

"I think the people from your area just saw the conflict and controversy and they wanted to put out a very different message," King said, adding that the message is that "Jesus said the greatest commandment is to 'love thy neighbor.'

"There were no other criteria or stipulations," King said.

King said Sojourners is an organization that "does not believe we all need to believe in the same thing to get along."

"Even when people believe in different things, they can live together in peace," he said.

The billboard is set to go up by Sept. 24.

The Tennessean, 15 September 2012

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