'Leaving Islam' ad drive draws Muslim criticism

NEW YORK » The questions on the ads aren't subtle: Leaving Islam? Fatwa on your head? Is your family threatening you?

A conservative activist and the organizations she leads have paid several thousand dollars for the ads to run on at least 30 city buses for a month. The ads point to a website called RefugefromIslam.com, which offers information to those wishing to leave Islam, but some Muslims are calling the ads a smoke screen for an anti-Muslim agenda.

Pamela Geller, who leads an organization called Stop Islamization of America, said the ads were meant to help provide resources for Muslims who are fearful of leaving the faith.

“;It's not offensive to Muslims; it's religious freedom,”; she said. “;It's not targeted at practicing Muslims. It doesn't say 'leave,' it says 'leaving' with a question mark.”;

Faiza Ali, of the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the ads were based on a false premise that people face coercion to remain with Islam. She said Muslims believe faith that is forced is not true belief.

“;Geller is free to say what she likes just as concerned community members are free to criticize her motives,”; Ali said.

Geller said she had no problem with Muslims, but was working to “;maintain the separation of mosque and state.”; She is also among those speaking out against the building of a mosque and cultural center near Ground Zero in New York.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokesman Aaron Donovan said all ads are screened and that the agency had received no complaints since the ads went up May 14.

Officials deny atheist's anti-God plate request

BISMARCK, N.D. » North Dakota transportation officials have turned down a Fargo atheist's request for a personalized license plate declaring there “;ISNOGOD.”;

Brian Magee said the state has allowed plates proclaiming “;ILOVGOD”; and other religious messages. He said North Dakota's Department of Transportation should accept his plate application or recall the religious plates it has already given out.

The agency is considering Magee's request. Transportation Department policy bars license plate slogans that have obscenities, racial or ethnic slurs and offensive or sexual references.

Mennonites told to keep steel wheels off roads

OSAGE, Iowa » A Mitchell County magistrate has upheld the constitutionality of an ordinance that bans vehicles with steel wheels from the county's hard-surfaced roads.

In the ruling last week, Magistrate DeDra Schroeder upheld charges against 13-year-old Matthew H. Zimmerman, a member of the Old Order Mennonites who was found guilty in March of violating the ordinance.

The county says the wheels damage the roads, but Old Order Mennonite farmers say the use of conventional wheels would violate church rules.

In arguments earlier this month, attorney Colin Murphy defended members of the church and their constitutional right to exercise religious freedom.

But County Attorney Mark Walk argued that the ordinance affects everyone equally and reflects nothing more than a desire to protect public roads and avoid costly repairs.