|
|
|
|
|
« Return
|
|
Muslim group launches national ad campaign
2003-031-1
2/13/2003
|
[Episcopal News Service]
A prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group has announced it will launch a year-long 'Islam in America' ad campaign designed to foster greater understanding and to counter what the group says is a rising tide of anti-Muslim rhetoric in the United States.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) will kick off the campaign with an ad headlined, 'We're All Americans,' in the New York Times February 16. The ad features images of an African-American girl, an Asian man, and a man of European heritage, asking the question, 'Which one of us is a Muslim?' The response is, 'We all are...we're American Muslims.'
The weekly ads, each explaining an aspect of Islam, will be distributed by CAIR to Muslim communities around America for placement in local newspapers. As each ad is published in New York, it will be available on a web site, www.americanmuslims.info, specifically designed to promote the campaign.
'Without accurate and balanced information about mainstream Islam and Muslims, ordinary Americans are vulnerable to the purveyors of hate, in this country and around the world, who seek a perpetual religious and civilizational conflict,' said CAIR board chairman, Omar Ahmad.
'American Muslims must take on the task of defining their faith,' said CAIR executive director Nihad Awad. 'Otherwise, that definition will be left to those whose agenda serves religious and political goals that are in conflict with our nation's long-term interests.' He cited the anti-Islamic rhetoric of evangelical Christian and right-wing commentators, and the extremist views of some Muslims claiming to act in the name of Islam.
(For more information visit the CAIR web site at www.cair-net.org or call Ibrahim Hooper at 202-488-8787.)
|
|
|
|
|
|
