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Tampa Tribune - January 1, 2006
FL: Threatened gathering relocates
BY CHRIS ECHEGARAY
TEMPLE TERRACE - Except for the Arabic symbols on the PowerPoint presentation and the occasional hijab in the audience, the retreat could have been for young people of any religion. The men and women listened intently, their hands shooting up for a question here and there.
But this retreat went on despite a last-minute relocation and threats of torture and death.
Local members of Tampa's Muslim American Society will gather through Monday in Temple Terrace to learn about their faith, leadership and the biblical Joseph's role in the Koran.
A right-wing blogger's Web site alleged a different curriculum - Joe Kaufman suggested in a link on AmericansAgainstHate.com that it would be a "children's jihad retreat, with a guest speaker who exalts terrorists and another who is linked to al-Qaeda."
The retreat was scheduled for Cedarkirk Camp and Conference Center, a Presbyterian-affiliated center in Lithia. A flurry of threatening e-mails and phone calls to Cedarkirk, its director and Muslims prompted the campground's board of directors to close the camp and cancel all activities this weekend.
At home on the Cedarkirk grounds Saturday, camp director the Rev. Debbie Bronkema declined to comment about the closure. She later posted a statement on the conference center's Web site that said the Muslim group provided a copy of its retreat curriculum in November and invited Cedarkirk staff to attend.
Law Enforcement Cleared Speakers
"During the week of December 25th, terrorism allegations were made against the Muslim American Society and retreat speakers," it reads. It states Cedarkirk officials contacted local and federal law enforcement to check on the speakers and learned "there was nothing at all about the scheduled speakers or this group that should cause us to not allow this group to come on retreat."
Still, "due to threats received," Cedarkirk's board decided to close the camp down for the Dec. 31 weekend.
Mohamed Moharram, the Muslim society's president, said workshops were held in other Florida towns for the last four years without a problem. He said Kaufman's false accusations are harmful and silence moderate voices.
"I am very upset about this," he said. "If you allow lunatic extremists to feed hate, we will lose the war on terror. This is not the American way."
Moharram said the e-mail and phone calls ranged from threats of physical harm to derogatory comments. He said the threats have been forwarded to authorities.
A 23-year-old Muslim convert said one e-mailer wrote her that he would paint her body with pig fat and light her on fire.
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