U.S. Representative Peter King is holding a congressional hearing to discuss Muslim radicalism and the failure of Muslim leadership to cooperate in terrorism investigations. Witnesses recounting cooperative and uncooperative efforts are expected to testify.

Metro ran a cover story on a protest in Times Square over these hearings on March 7, 2011. In the same issue, an unrelated letter was printed addressing religious tolerance. I drew a connection between the two and wrote a letter that Metro published the next day.
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Re: "We're not all hateful jerks." John Hemphill's letter was serendipitous given the protest against Muslim extremist hearings in New York. Mr. Hemphill writes that the Westboro Baptist Church, which spews hate toward gays, may encourage some "to label all Christians as being extreme and hateful." The same reasoning could be applied to the Muslim congressional hearings. However, I doubt Congress would dare challenge the Christian community and those who may hold hateful views within it.