Mosque Fire Set By…a Muslim

On Christmas day, a fire caused “significant” damage to a Houston mosque, immediately drawing suspicion from the ATF. According to investigators, the fire seemed to have multiple points of origin, lending credibility to an early theory that it was set intentionally. In lieu of any suspects, however, officials could not make any claims as to motive.

That didn’t stop the news media from speculating, of course. Slate and the Washington Post were two of thousands of news outlets where comments like the following were common:

If arson is confirmed, the incident would be the latest in a series of hate crimes and vandalism targeting Islamic centers of worship across the country.

Driving the point home further, a writer for OccupyDemocrats.com went on a full-fledged rant against conservatives and Islamophobia. The post ultimately got more than 13,000 shares on social media. “Bigots in Texas decided to celebrate their Christmas by giving hate and terror to others by torching yet another mosque,” wrote the site. “Arson appears to be a favored tactic among domestic terrorists, who are notorious for torching Planned Parenthood clinics and black churches in the South.”

As it turns out, the Houston mosque was not set ablaze by conservatives or “domestic terrorists.” The suspect now in custody is Gary Nathaniel Moore, a Muslim who attended services at Savoy Masjid five times a day, seven days a week for the last five years. He has been charged with arson, though the reason he chose to burn the mosque remains a mystery.

Liberals, hoping that this would be their opportunity to turn the national conversation away from Islamic terrorism and on to Islamophobia, were doubtlessly chagrined. Although, to be fair, it’s hard to start a significant movement in that direction when you’re comparing death tolls in the teens (and in the hundreds, when you include Paris) to property damage.

But that won’t stop the left. They are rallying the troops to prove that Donald Trump is as dangerous to Muslims as ISIS is to the West. And they’re willing to fabricate evidence – like Hillary’s taunt about video propaganda featuring Trump – in order to get this message across.

In truth, though, it doesn’t matter if there is a mosque fire here or a package of bacon left there. That’s not to say that these crimes shouldn’t be investigated and prosecuted, but they do not share moral equivalency with these depraved acts of terror that have shaken Americans over the last two months. If Islamic radicals behaved this tamely, they would barely be on the national radar.

Islamophobia, if it can even be said to exist at all, is not nearly the problem liberals want to make it out to be. But when you have no argument, you have to say something. At the very least, though, they should wait until the facts are in.