Christian Minister preaches hate

SHOWING OF PROPHET CARTOONS RILES COLLEGE - TOPGILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press, 3/1/06http://www.forbes.com/business/manufacturing/feeds/ap/2006/03/01/ap2560471.htmlA student panel discussion Tuesday on Islamic extremism that included a display of Prophet Muhammad cartoons drew protesters outside the auditorium and descended into name-calling inside. . .The panel, which included one Muslim speaker, was repeatedly interrupted by people who challenged assertions by the Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson that Islam was an "evil religion" and that all Muslims hate America.Outside, several hundred members of the Muslim Student Union and their supporters staged a protest and teach-in to counter the event, which they said was the equivalent of hate speech.During the panel discussion, a moderator with The United American Committee displayed six cartoons: three depicting Prophet Muhammad and three anti-Semitic cartoons he said had appeared in Middle Eastern newspapers. . .Panelists were cheered when they referred to Muslims as fascists and accused mainstream Muslim-American civil rights groups of being "cheerleaders for terror." . . .Osman Umarji, former president of the Muslim Student Union, equated the decision to display the prophet drawings to the debasement of Jews in Germany before the Holocaust. He said none of the Muslims who protested outside the event would attend if the drawings were displayed."The agenda is to spread Islamophobia and create hysteria against Muslims similar to what happened to the Jews in Nazi Germany," said Umarji, an electrical engineer who graduated from Irvine last spring. "Freedom of speech has its limits."Organizers said displaying the cartoons was part of a larger debate on Islamic extremism sponsored by the College Republicans and The United American Committee. (MORE)