Linn County Attorney (Jerry Vander Sanden) questions Mosque lecture

[Lucas Daniel Smith]

Linn County attorney questions Mosque lecture

The [Cedar Rapids] Gazette
By Rick Smith, The Gazette
Published: May 21 2014 | 12:01 am

Voluntary event intended to teach diversity


Excerpt:

CEDAR RAPIDS — Linn County Attorney Jerry Vander Sanden is all for the county’s diversity education initiative for its employees.

Even so, Vander Sanden is questioning the county Diversity Committee’s invitation to all county employees to take paid time off to attend a lecture during the workday on “Intro to Islam, Including Information about Ramadan, and Muslim History in Iowa.”

The hourlong sessions on June 3 and June 4 will be conducted by Imam Taha Tawil and Sara Tawil at the Mother Mosque of America, the first permanent structure to be built specifically to serve as a mosque in the United States, at 1335 Ninth St. NW, Cedar Rapids.

Vander Sanden said the event can be viewed in a legal sense as government promotion of religion, which would be a violation of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

In essence, they are promoting a proposal where government employees are getting paid time off to go to a religious facility and learn about the history of that religion,” Vander Sanden said. “It doesn’t matter what the religion is.

“… I can’t state unequivocally that this is outside the bounds of the First Amendment. But it certainly is in that murky area. And I believe that the average person might look at this and consider it to be an improper use of taxpayer money.”

...

Lisa Powell, Linn County human resources director and a Diversity Committee member, on Tuesday said that her office came up with the idea of a Diversity Committee for county employees about three years ago. It’s an idea that she said has been strongly supported by the Linn County Board of Supervisors.

...

“If you’re interested, if you want to be educated, fine,” she said. “But we don’t promote one thing over another. It’s just an opportunity to learn about something you might not know anything about.”

Powell said a few employees have questioned the June program at the mosque, wondering if it was promoting a particular religion.

“Which is not the case, which couldn’t be further from the truth,” she said.

...

Supervisor Ben Rogers on Tuesday said he appreciated Vander Sanden’s comments, but he said he expected the scheduled June program at the mosque for county employees to take place.

“Really, this is an opportunity for employees, if they choose, to learn about a diverse population in Linn County that we serve,” Rogers said.

“It’s not favoring a religion. It’s not putting beliefs onto people. It’s just an opportunity, if our employees choose, to learn about diverse groups in Linn County.”

Rogers said the county’s public health director, Pramod Dwivedi, and his wife, Seema, are from India, and Seema Dwivedi gave a “fascinating” talk as part of the Diversity program recently to county employees about India and the country’s culture and way of life.

“This included an open dialogue on her religion, Hinduism,” Rogers said. “Linn County has a considerable Indian population, and the information she provided gave a deeper insight and perspective on what it means to be Indian in Iowa.

...

Vander Sanden likened the county’s plan to give county employees paid time off to attend a session at a mosque on Islam to the recent controversy at the Cedar Rapids Fire Department over Christian imagery and a Biblical verse on the bucket of the department’s 100-foot ladder truck.

The department removed the image, which had been in place since 1997, after someone complained that it favored one religion. The executive director of the city’s Civil Rights Commission said removal of the image was a good choice.

...


Read more at: http://thegazette.com/subject/news/l...cture-20140521

[Lucas Daniel Smith]

Challenger Banowetz mixes it up in Linn County supervisor race

The [Cedar Rapids] Gazette
By Rick Smith, The Gazette
Published: May 23 2014 | 4:02 pm - Updated: 23 May 2014 | 5:47 pm

Doesn’t like paid-time off for class on Islam and Muslim history


Excerpt:

CEDAR RAPIDS — Mark Banowetz says he is not running against incumbent Linn County Supervisor John Harris in the Republican primary on June 3. Instead, he’s running for the District 5 supervisor seat because he thinks he can do a good job, he says.

Nonetheless, Banowetz on Friday stepped out and drew a clear distinction between himself and Harris, saying he disagreed with Harris and others on the Board of Supervisors and their decision to give county employees paid-time off work in June to attend a diversity training session on Islam at the historic Mother Mosque of America in Cedar Rapids.

Banowetz also said he didn’t like that the county’s diversity training initiative sponsored an earlier program on India and Hinduism.

...

“If we’re going to do that with these different religions, we should go ahead and offer (lessons) on Christianity as well,” Banowetz said. “But we get someone complaining (about Christianity), and we roll over and play dead on it right away.”

He pointed the complaint in recent weeks that prompted the Cedar Rapids Fire Department to remove a Christian image and Biblical verse from the bucket of the department’s 100-foot ladder truck.

Banowetz, a former Ely City Council member who owns a coffee shop and bakery and a shed-building company in Ely, said he also objects to the county paying county employees via paid time off to attend a lecture on Islam.

“Does that mean that the county should pay for anybody in the whole county to take time off if they want to go hear about Islam?” he said. “Maybe we could give them a rebate on their taxes.

“I guess I’d have trouble coming up to you (as a taxpayer) and saying we need 25 bucks from you because we want to send this guy to hear about Islam or Hinduism,” Banowetz said.

...


Read more at: http://thegazette.com/subject/news/p...-race-20140523

[Lucas Daniel Smith]

Psalm 23 image on Cedar Rapids fire truck sparks controversy

KWWL
Written by Justin Andrews, who has been with KWWL since October 2013.
Posted: Mar 12, 2014 11:33 AM UST. Updated: Mar 12, 2014 11:56 AM UST

(KWWL is the NBC-affiliated television station in Waterloo, Iowa, and serves as the primary NBC affiliate for the northeastern third of the state of Iowa, including 21 counties and the larger cities of Waterloo, Cedar Rapids, Dubuque and Iowa City.)


Excerpt:

CEDAR RAPIDS (KWWL) - After 16 years an image plastered on a Cedar Rapids fire truck is now causing some controversy.

A complaint was filed with the Cedar Rapids Civil Rights Commission last week over an image of a shepherd on the side of a bucket on a ladder truck housed in the Cedar Rapids Central Fire Department.

Below the image, the caption says "The Lord is my shepherd."

It's that Psalm 23 scripture and image plastered on the 100-foot ladder fire truck that has some saying: 'they shall not want.'

cedar rapids iowa fire truck pslams 23 christian complaint.jpg
Image credit: KWWL
cedar rapids iowa fire truck pslams 23 christian complaint 2.jpg
Image credit: KWWL

"I think that it should be removed," says Tom Capo, pastor at Peoples Church Unitarian Universalist. "It's not representing the fire department, it's not representing the city, it's representing a one-person's or few people's religious background."

Reverend Capo's congregation consists of agnostics, Buddhist, Christians, and all other beliefs. He says there is nothing inherently wrong with the image or passage, but it's definitely not inclusive.

...

Fire Chief Mark English says the shepherd image has been on the Central Fire Department's truck since it was purchased December 1997, and the image was on truck was on there when the department got possession of it

"It is a concern that we are more than willing to address," said English. "We can go down one of two paths, exclusionary and remove it or inclusionary and include other religions and have them help us pick out some symbols to put on the vehicle to show that we are inclusionary."

English says he simply wants to add the beliefs of everyone in the community.

...


Read more at: http://www.kwwl.com/story/24949602/2...ks-controversy

Also see: Cedar Rapids group files complaint over image on fire truck http://www.kwwl.com/story/24935718/2...-on-fire-truck

[Lucas Daniel Smith]

CEDAR RAPIDS, IA (CBS2/FOX28) - A training session being put on by the Linn County Diversity Committee for employees is drawing criticism from the County Attorney.

County Attorney, Jerry Vander Sanden, said a training session at a Muslim mosque is overstepping the bounds between church and government.

The optional session allows employees two opportunities to visit the Mother Mosque of America for an hour long session teaching employees about Muslims in Iowa. A flyer sent to employees states that the session will include an introduction to Islam that will include the month of Ramadan and Muslim History in Iowa. When employees attend, they will be paid.

"This is an information-only session for interested employees who want to learn more about our diverse community and use that knowledge to better serve our customers," Lisa Powell the HR Director for Linn County said.

At the Mother Mosque on Wednesday, one local Cedar Rapidian arrived with a friend to show him the Mosque. His friend had just stepped off the plane from Saudi Arabia.

"I just got him from the airport. I was supposed to take him home to have some rest," Awad Elhussien said.

However, taking his friend to the Mother Mosque of America was too important to Elhussien to wait.

"I told him, the first mosque being built in this country was in Cedar Rapids," Elhussien said about the Mother Mosque.

El Hussien explained the Mother Mosque is just an example of how Americans and Iowans have embraced diversity.

That's the idea behind the session being offered at the mosque for Linn County employees.

"The goal really is to make them aware of some of the things as a community that makes us more distinct and unique," Ben Rogers with the Linn County Board of Supervisors said.

Yet, Vandersanden said the session is raising a red flag. Not only is he worried about the appropriate separation between church and government, but he's also concerned about using tax payer's dollars to teach about a religious group.

"This venture could be seen as an effort by a government entity to promote religion, and I see that as a potential constitutional issue," Vandersanden said.

"I was raised Jewish."