This story was originally published in the summer 2015 issue of This Land.
Muslims in Oklahoma, like other minority communities in the state, haven’t always felt secure in their homes and places of worship. Earlier this year, the Oklahoma chapter for the Council on American-Islamic Relations decided to spend a day at the Capitol meeting with representatives, holding workshops, and sharing their faith in a public prayer.
The 18-degree morning promising snow was met with protest. A man in a hoodie was projecting his voice above the heckling and the jeers:
Muslims want Islam to dominate this country! [Loud cheering and a “hear, hear!” from the crowd.] We don’t want a Muslim or the Lucifer in the White House. [Others concurring, “No! No!” and drowning him out.] Allah is Satan! Mohammad is in Hell! Allah is Satan! You’d all be killed by Jihadi John. Jihadi John would chop your heads off. Allah is Satan. Mohammad is in Hell.
James Gilles, from Indiana, holding a 5-foot-tall, slender black sign that read, “JESUS CHRIST, God manifested in the flesh, CRUCIFIED, RESURRECTED, And Coming Again Has a Pressure Cooker (The Lake of Fire) For Every Dead MUSLIM!” was also yelling, calmly, in a weighty monotone: “Mohammad was a pedophile. His favorite wives were only six and nine years old. You have blood on your hands!”
In contrast, smiling, snuggled close, Marty and Amy Monn, a mother-and-daughter duo, were there from the local Interfaith Alliance with supporters in equal or greater numbers to the anti-Islamic protesters. They formed two lines near the entrance to the Capitol building, allowing the Muslim conference attendees to walk between them as they sang “Amazing Grace” and other hymns.
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