Muslim leader embraces challenge Warren presents.
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As some of his future neighbors flung hate-filled comments about Islam and cursed Muslims last month at a Warren Planning Commission meeting, Steve Elturk listened quietly. The rude welcome showed him that getting formal approval from the commission that night to open Warren’s first mosque was probably the easy part. Winning acceptance from skeptical neighbors in a city known for its resistance to change is the bigger challenge. Elturk hopes to ease the lingering tensions with an open symposium intended to correct misperceptions about Islam and the Islamic Organization of North America. Elturk, from Troy, is president of the nonprofit organization, which wants to open the mosque and learning center in an existing building his group bought on… More : accessmylibrary.com |