Most Tennesseans favor Muslims' right to build houses of worship.

[TNDemo]

Really, most people here are actually reasonable, but as always there are the vocal knuckle-draggers.



The recent battle over plans to build a mosque in Murfreesboro put tensions about the meaning of Islam in high relief, generating noisy denunciations of Muslims' faith.

But the people making the most noise were outnumbered, a recent poll found.

The statewide poll by Vanderbilt University revealed that 62.6 percent of respondents believe Muslims should have the same rights as other groups to build houses of worship, while 37.4 percent believe local communities should be able to prohibit construction of mosques.

Eric Bell, a Murfreesboro resident and filmmaker who is working on a documentary about the mosque controversy, said he wasn't surprised by the poll results.

"I have found that a lot of your everyday, mainstream people in Murfreesboro are afraid to speak out against the more vocal, xenophobic people," Bell said.

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John Geer, a political scientist at Vanderbilt, said the new findings show a more measured reality.

"Vocal minorities have a right to be vocal," he said. "But the people who make noise aren't necessarily representative of the typical person in the state. Public opinion looks a lot more extreme in the absence of polling data."


http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110209/NEWS02/102090376/Most-Tennesseans-favor-Muslims-right-build-houses-worship