Korean women scrap meeting Japanese mayor over brothel remarks

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Boy Scouts approve plan to accept openly gay boys

By DAVID CRARY and NOMAAN MERCHANT | Associated Press – 3 hrs ago

Associated Press/Tony Gutierrez - John Stemberger, an Eagle Scout and Orlando, Fla. based attorney speaks out during a news conference against the Boy Scouts of American decision allowing openly gay scouts to participate in scouting Thursday, May 23, 2013, in Grapevine, Texas. Local leaders of the Boy Scouts of America voted Thursday to ease a divisive ban and allow openly gay boys to be accepted into the nation's leading youth organization — one of the most dramatic moves the organization has made in a century. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Former Cub Scouts den leader Jennifer Tyrrell, who was ousted from Scouting because she is openly gay, wears a button on her uniform shirt that reads "We Support All Boy Scouts" as she responds to a reporters question Thursday, May 23, 2013, in Grapevine, Texas. Local leaders of the Boy Scouts of America voted Thursday to ease a divisive ban and allow openly gay boys to be accepted into the nation's leading youth organization — one of the most dramatic moves the organization has made in a century. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Former Cub Scouts den leader Jennifer Tyrrell, who was ousted from Scouting because she is openly gay, becomes emotional as she responds to a reporters question Thursday, May 23, 2013, in Grapevine, Texas. Local leaders of the Boy Scouts of America voted Thursday to ease a divisive ban and allow openly gay boys to be accepted into the nation's leading youth organization — one of the most dramatic moves the organization has made in a century. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

GRAPEVINE, Texas (AP) — After lengthy and wrenching debate, local leaders of the Boy Scouts of America have voted to open their ranks to openly gay boys for the first time, but heated reactions from the left and right made clear that the BSA's controversies are far from over.

The Scouts' longstanding ban on gay adults remains in force, and many liberal Scout leaders — as well as gay-rights groups — plan to continue pressing for an end to that exclusion even though the BSA's top officials aren't ready for that step.

Meanwhile, many conservatives within the Scouts are distraught at the outcome of the vote and some are threatening to defect. A meeting is planned for next month to discuss the formation of a new organization for boys.

The vote was conducted by secret ballot Thursday during the National Council's annual meeting at conference center not far from Boy Scout headquarters in suburban Dallas. Of the roughly 1,400 voting members of the council who cast ballots, 61 percent supported the proposal drafted by the governing Executive Committee. The policy change takes effect Jan. 1.

"This has been a challenging chapter in our history," the BSA chief executive, Wayne Brock, said after the vote. "While people have differing opinions on this policy, kids are better off when they're in Scouting."

However, the outcome will not end the membership policy debate, as was evident in the reactions of leaders of some of the conservative religious denominations that sponsor Scout units.

"We are deeply saddened," said Frank Page, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's executive committee. "Homosexual behavior is incompatible with the principles enshrined in the Scout oath and Scout law."

The Assemblies of God said the policy change "will lead to a mass exodus from the Boy Scout program." It also warned that the change would make the BSA vulnerable to lawsuits seeking to end the ban on gay adults.

John Stembeger, a conservative activist and former Scout from Florida, founded a group called OnMyHonor.net to oppose the policy change. He assailed the BSA executive committee for its role in gaining a "Yes" vote.

"What kind of a message are we sending to young people about being brave when its top adult leaders don't even have the courage to stand up to the pressure of a militant lobby when the bullies in Washington D.C., Hollywood or even some of their own renegade councils start pressuring and harassing them?" he asked.

He said OnMyHonor.Net and other like-minded organizations and individuals would meet in Louisville, Ky., next month to discuss the creation of "a new character development organization for boys."

Texas Gov. Rick Perry also expressed dismay.

"While I will always cherish my time as a Scout and the life lessons I learned, I am greatly disappointed with this decision," he said.

The result was welcomed by many liberal members of the Scouting community and by gay-rights activists, though most of the praise was coupled with calls for ending the ban on gay adults.

"I'm so proud of how far we've come, but until there's a place for everyone in Scouting, my work will continue," said Jennifer Tyrrell, whose ouster as a Cub Scout den leader in Ohio because she is lesbian launched a national protest movement.

Tyrrell recalled having to tell her son she had been forced out as den mother.

"He doesn't deserve to be told that we're not good enough," she said. "We're not going to stop until this is over."

Pascal Tessier, an openly gay 16-year-old Boy Scout from Maryland, had mixed emotions after the vote.

"I was thinking that today could be my last day as a Boy Scout," he said. "Obviously, for gay Scouts like me, this vote is life-changing."

Tessier is on track to receive his Eagle Scout award — he only needs to complete his final project — but said he is troubled that on his 18th birthday he could transform from someone holding Scouting's highest rank to someone unfit to be a part of the organization.

"That one couple hours (between 17 and 18) will make me not a good person," he said.

James Dale, 42, who was the first person to challenge the Boy Scouts gay ban in court, agreed, calling the decision "a bit of a step backward" for gay youth.

"It sends a very convoluted, mixed message to gay kids. It says that being gay is a youthful indiscretion, and that there's no future for you," Dale, of New Jersey, told The Star-Ledger.

Dale sued the Boy Scouts in 1990 after he was removed as an assistant scoutmaster because of his sexual orientation. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that the organization was within its rights to ban gays.

Tessier has indeed been an exception — an openly gay Scout whose presence was quietly accepted by local Scout leaders. In general, the Scouts' policy has been to avoid any questioning of would-be Scouts as to their sexual orientation, but to dismiss boys who did speak openly about being gay.

For example, Scout officials refused to grant the Eagle Scout rank to Ryan Andresen, an 18-year-old Californian, after he came out as gay last year.

The vote followed what the BSA described as "the most comprehensive listening exercise in Scouting's history" to gauge opinions, including a survey sent out starting in February to members of the Scouting community.

Of the more than 200,000 leaders, parents and youth members who responded, 61 percent supported the current policy of excluding gays, while 34 percent opposed it. Most parents of young Scouts, as well as youth members themselves, opposed the ban.

The proposal approved Thursday was seen as a compromise, and the Scouts stressed that they would not condone sexual conduct by any Scout — gay or straight.

"The Boy Scouts of America will not sacrifice its mission, or the youth served by the movement, by allowing the organization to be consumed by a single, divisive and unresolved societal issue," the BSA said in a statement.

Among those voting for the proposal to accept openly gay youth was Thomas Roberts, of Dawsonville, Ga., who serves on the board of a Scout council in northeast Georgia.

"It was a very hard decision for this organization," he said. "I think ultimately it will be viewed as the right thing."

The BSA's overall "traditional youth membership" — Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and Venturers — is now about 2.6 million, compared with more than 4 million in peak years of the past. It also has about 1 million adult leaders and volunteers.

Of the more than 100,000 Scouting units in the U.S., 70 percent are chartered by religious institutions.

Those include liberal churches opposed to any ban on gays, but some of the largest sponsors are relatively conservative denominations that have previously supported the broad ban — notably the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Southern Baptist churches.

While the Southern Baptists were clearly upset by the vote to accept openly gay youth, the Utah-based Mormon church — which has more Scouting troops than any other religious denomination — reacted positively.

"We trust that BSA will implement and administer the approved policy in an appropriate and effective manner," an LDS statement said.

Utah's largest Boy Scout councils supported the change.

"This is a win for youth and a win for the community," said John Gailey, spokesman for the Utah National Parks Council, which covers central and southern Utah. "It gives all youth the opportunity to take advantage of the values instilled by Scouting."

The National Catholic Committee on Scouting responded cautiously, saying it would assess the possible impact of the change on Catholic-sponsored Scout units

___

Crary reported from New York. Associated Press writer Brady McCombs also contributed to this report from Salt Lake City.

___

Online:

BSA Membership Standards Resolution: http://bit.ly/185yyXk

___

Follow David Crary on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/craryap

Follow Nomaan Merchant on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/

Quote:

Refer to Sodom and Gomorrah, if you are a believer then the answer is clear.

Question: "What was the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah?"

Answer:The biblical account of Sodom and Gomorrah is recorded in Genesis chapters 18-19. Genesis chapter 18 records the Lord and two angels coming to speak with Abraham. The Lord informed Abraham that "the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous." Verses 22-33 record Abraham pleading with the Lord to have mercy on Sodom and Gomorrah because Abraham's nephew, Lot, and his family lived in Sodom.

Genesis chapter 19 records the two angels, disguised as human men, visiting Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot met the angels in the city square and urged them to stay at his house. The angels agreed. The Bible then informs us, "Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom — both young and old — surrounded the house. They called to Lot, 'Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.'" The angels then proceed to blind all the men of Sodom and Gomorrah and urge Lot and his family to flee from the cities to escape the wrath that God was about to deliver. Lot and his family flee the city, and then "the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah — from the LORD out of the heavens. Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all those living in the cities..." Read more:

http://www.gotquestions.org/Sodom-and-Gomorrah.html#ixzz2UE7OA2oy

Ezekiel 16:49-50declares, "Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and diddetestablethings before me..." The Hebrew word translated "detestable" refers to something that is morally disgusting and is the exact same word used inLeviticus 18:22that refers to homosexuality as an "abomination." Similarly,Jude 7declares, "...Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up tosexual immoralityandperversion." So, again, while homosexuality was not the only sin in which the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah indulged, it does appear to be the primary reason for the destruction of the cities.

Read more:http://www.gotquestions.org/Sodom-and-Gomorrah.html#ixzz2UE82HMMO

Quote:

Boy Scouts approve plan to accept openly gay boys

By DAVID CRARY and NOMAAN MERCHANT | Associated Press – 3 hrs ago

Associated Press/Tony Gutierrez - John Stemberger, an Eagle Scout and Orlando, Fla. based attorney speaks out during a news conference against the Boy Scouts of American decision allowing openly gay scouts to participate in scouting Thursday, May 23, 2013, in Grapevine, Texas. Local leaders of the Boy Scouts of America voted Thursday to ease a divisive ban and allow openly gay boys to be accepted into the nation's leading youth organization — one of the most dramatic moves the organization has made in a century. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Former Cub Scouts den leader Jennifer Tyrrell, who was ousted from Scouting because she is openly gay, wears a button on her uniform shirt that reads "We Support All Boy Scouts" as she responds to a reporters question Thursday, May 23, 2013, in Grapevine, Texas. Local leaders of the Boy Scouts of America voted Thursday to ease a divisive ban and allow openly gay boys to be accepted into the nation's leading youth organization — one of the most dramatic moves the organization has made in a century. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Former Cub Scouts den leader Jennifer Tyrrell, who was ousted from Scouting because she is openly gay, becomes emotional as she responds to a reporters question Thursday, May 23, 2013, in Grapevine, Texas. Local leaders of the Boy Scouts of America voted Thursday to ease a divisive ban and allow openly gay boys to be accepted into the nation's leading youth organization — one of the most dramatic moves the organization has made in a century. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

GRAPEVINE, Texas (AP) — After lengthy and wrenching debate, local leaders of the Boy Scouts of America have voted to open their ranks to openly gay boys for the first time, but heated reactions from the left and right made clear that the BSA's controversies are far from over.

The Scouts' longstanding ban on gay adults remains in force, and many liberal Scout leaders — as well as gay-rights groups — plan to continue pressing for an end to that exclusion even though the BSA's top officials aren't ready for that step.

Meanwhile, many conservatives within the Scouts are distraught at the outcome of the vote and some are threatening to defect. A meeting is planned for next month to discuss the formation of a new organization for boys.

The vote was conducted by secret ballot Thursday during the National Council's annual meeting at conference center not far from Boy Scout headquarters in suburban Dallas. Of the roughly 1,400 voting members of the council who cast ballots, 61 percent supported the proposal drafted by the governing Executive Committee. The policy change takes effect Jan. 1.

"This has been a challenging chapter in our history," the BSA chief executive, Wayne Brock, said after the vote. "While people have differing opinions on this policy, kids are better off when they're in Scouting."

However, the outcome will not end the membership policy debate, as was evident in the reactions of leaders of some of the conservative religious denominations that sponsor Scout units.

"We are deeply saddened," said Frank Page, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's executive committee. "Homosexual behavior is incompatible with the principles enshrined in the Scout oath and Scout law."

The Assemblies of God said the policy change "will lead to a mass exodus from the Boy Scout program." It also warned that the change would make the BSA vulnerable to lawsuits seeking to end the ban on gay adults.

John Stembeger, a conservative activist and former Scout from Florida, founded a group called OnMyHonor.net to oppose the policy change. He assailed the BSA executive committee for its role in gaining a "Yes" vote.

"What kind of a message are we sending to young people about being brave when its top adult leaders don't even have the courage to stand up to the pressure of a militant lobby when the bullies in Washington D.C., Hollywood or even some of their own renegade councils start pressuring and harassing them?" he asked.

He said OnMyHonor.Net and other like-minded organizations and individuals would meet in Louisville, Ky., next month to discuss the creation of "a new character development organization for boys."

Texas Gov. Rick Perry also expressed dismay.

"While I will always cherish my time as a Scout and the life lessons I learned, I am greatly disappointed with this decision," he said.

The result was welcomed by many liberal members of the Scouting community and by gay-rights activists, though most of the praise was coupled with calls for ending the ban on gay adults.

"I'm so proud of how far we've come, but until there's a place for everyone in Scouting, my work will continue," said Jennifer Tyrrell, whose ouster as a Cub Scout den leader in Ohio because she is lesbian launched a national protest movement.

Tyrrell recalled having to tell her son she had been forced out as den mother.

"He doesn't deserve to be told that we're not good enough," she said. "We're not going to stop until this is over."

Pascal Tessier, an openly gay 16-year-old Boy Scout from Maryland, had mixed emotions after the vote.

"I was thinking that today could be my last day as a Boy Scout," he said. "Obviously, for gay Scouts like me, this vote is life-changing."

Tessier is on track to receive his Eagle Scout award — he only needs to complete his final project — but said he is troubled that on his 18th birthday he could transform from someone holding Scouting's highest rank to someone unfit to be a part of the organization.

"That one couple hours (between 17 and 18) will make me not a good person," he said.

James Dale, 42, who was the first person to challenge the Boy Scouts gay ban in court, agreed, calling the decision "a bit of a step backward" for gay youth.

"It sends a very convoluted, mixed message to gay kids. It says that being gay is a youthful indiscretion, and that there's no future for you," Dale, of New Jersey, told The Star-Ledger.

Dale sued the Boy Scouts in 1990 after he was removed as an assistant scoutmaster because of his sexual orientation. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that the organization was within its rights to ban gays.

Tessier has indeed been an exception — an openly gay Scout whose presence was quietly accepted by local Scout leaders. In general, the Scouts' policy has been to avoid any questioning of would-be Scouts as to their sexual orientation, but to dismiss boys who did speak openly about being gay.

For example, Scout officials refused to grant the Eagle Scout rank to Ryan Andresen, an 18-year-old Californian, after he came out as gay last year.

The vote followed what the BSA described as "the most comprehensive listening exercise in Scouting's history" to gauge opinions, including a survey sent out starting in February to members of the Scouting community.

Of the more than 200,000 leaders, parents and youth members who responded, 61 percent supported the current policy of excluding gays, while 34 percent opposed it. Most parents of young Scouts, as well as youth members themselves, opposed the ban.

The proposal approved Thursday was seen as a compromise, and the Scouts stressed that they would not condone sexual conduct by any Scout — gay or straight.

"The Boy Scouts of America will not sacrifice its mission, or the youth served by the movement, by allowing the organization to be consumed by a single, divisive and unresolved societal issue," the BSA said in a statement.

Among those voting for the proposal to accept openly gay youth was Thomas Roberts, of Dawsonville, Ga., who serves on the board of a Scout council in northeast Georgia.

"It was a very hard decision for this organization," he said. "I think ultimately it will be viewed as the right thing."

The BSA's overall "traditional youth membership" — Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and Venturers — is now about 2.6 million, compared with more than 4 million in peak years of the past. It also has about 1 million adult leaders and volunteers.

Of the more than 100,000 Scouting units in the U.S., 70 percent are chartered by religious institutions.

Those include liberal churches opposed to any ban on gays, but some of the largest sponsors are relatively conservative denominations that have previously supported the broad ban — notably the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Southern Baptist churches.

While the Southern Baptists were clearly upset by the vote to accept openly gay youth, the Utah-based Mormon church — which has more Scouting troops than any other religious denomination — reacted positively.

"We trust that BSA will implement and administer the approved policy in an appropriate and effective manner," an LDS statement said.

Utah's largest Boy Scout councils supported the change.

"This is a win for youth and a win for the community," said John Gailey, spokesman for the Utah National Parks Council, which covers central and southern Utah. "It gives all youth the opportunity to take advantage of the values instilled by Scouting."

The National Catholic Committee on Scouting responded cautiously, saying it would assess the possible impact of the change on Catholic-sponsored Scout units

___

Crary reported from New York. Associated Press writer Brady McCombs also contributed to this report from Salt Lake City.

___

Online:

BSA Membership Standards Resolution: http://bit.ly/185yyXk

___

Follow David Crary on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/craryap

Follow Nomaan Merchant on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/

Jury in Arias case gives up after no consensus

PHOENIX (AP) — As jurors in Jodi Arias' murder trial filed one by one from the courtroom after a dramatic five months of gut-wrenching testimony and gruesome photographs, three women on the panel cried and one looked to the victim's family, mouthing the word, "Sorry."

The silent gesture offered a glimpse into what was likely a tense few days inside the deliberations room as the jury finally determined it could not agree on whether to sentence Arias to life in prison or execution for murdering her boyfriend.

After about 13 hours of deliberations over three days, the panel gave up.

Judge Sherry Stephens gave a heavy sigh as she announced a mistrial in the penalty phase of the case Thursday. A conference with the judge and attorneys was set for June 20 to determine how both sides want to proceed. In the interim, Stephens set a July 18 retrial date, sending prosecutors back to the drawing board to rehash the shocking case and details of sex and lies to another 12 people.

"This was not your typical trial," Stephens told jurors. "You were asked to perform some very difficult duties."

The jurors declined to comment and left the courthouse.

The mistrial set the stage for a whole new proceeding to determine whether the 32-year-old former waitress should get a life sentence or the death penalty for murdering Travis Alexander five years ago. Arias stabbed and slashed him nearly 30 times, slit his throat slit from ear to ear and shot him in the forehead in what prosecutors described as a jealous rage after the victim wanted to end their affair and planned to head off on a trip to Mexico with another woman.

Prosecutors have the option to take the death penalty off the table, in which case a new trial wouldn't be necessary and the judge would determine whether to sentence Arias to spend her entire life behind bars or life with the possibility of release after 25 years. Should the state decide to seek death again, jury selection alone could take weeks, given the difficulty of seating an impartial panel in a case that has attracted global attention.

The guilty verdict of first-degree murder would stand, leaving the new panel only tasked with sentencing Arias. However, former Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley said the case could drag on for several months as the new jury reviews evidence and hears opening statements, closing arguments and witness testimony in a "Cliffs Notes" version of the trial.

If the second jury cannot reach a unanimous decision, the judge would then sentence Arias to one of the life-in-prison options. The judge cannot sentence Arias to death.

Arias, who first said she wanted to die but later changed her mind and pleaded with the jury for mercy, looked visibly upset about the mistrial and sobbed in the courtroom before it was announced. Her family didn't attend Thursday but has been present for much of the trial.

Alexander's family member cried as they left the courtroom without commenting.

Jurors began deliberating Arias' sentence Tuesday and first reported they had failed to reach a unanimous decision the next day. Stephens instructed them to keep trying.

The same jury on May 8 found Arias guilty of murder in Alexander's June 4, 2008 death at his suburban Phoenix home.

Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery thanked the panel in a statement after the mistrial was announced, and noted prosecutor Juan Martinez would have no comment given the pending proceedings ahead.

"We will assess, based upon available information, what the next steps will be," Montgomery said, "and we will proceed with the intent to retry the penalty phase."

For now, Arias will remain in the Maricopa County jail system, where she has spent the past five years. Sheriff Joe Arpaio said Thursday she will be confined to her cell 23 hours a day and not be allowed to give anymore media interviews.

The mistrial came two days after Arias spoke to jurors and pleaded for her life. She said she "lacked perspective" when she told a local reporter after her conviction that she preferred execution to spending the rest of her days in prison.

That same night, Arias gave a series of media interviews from jail, telling reporters about her many fights with her legal team and her belief that she "deserves a second chance at freedom someday."

Arias contends she killed Alexander in self-defense when he became enraged after a day of sex, forcing her to fight for her life.

Her case became a sensation from the beginning as she gave a series of jailhouse interviews following her 2008 arrest in which first she blamed the killing on armed, masked intruders.

Testimony in the trial began in January as the case soon provided endless amounts of cable TV and tabloid fodder, including a recorded phone sex call between Arias and the victim, nude photos, bloody crime-scene pictures and a defendant who described her life story in intimate detail over 18 days on the witness stand.

Arias told jurors of an abusive childhood, cheating boyfriends, dead-end jobs, her sexual relationship with Alexander, and her contention that he had grown physically violent, yet no evidence was offered to prove her allegations. Her defense largely hung on her words alone.

The trial's penalty phase featured dramatic statements from Alexander's sister and brother as they described how their lives were shattered by the loss of their sibling. Arias' attorneys had planned to call several witnesses on her behalf to convince the jury her life was worth saving but after the judge denied their repeated motions for mistrials and efforts to quit the case, just one person spoke to the jury — Arias herself.

Alexander, 30, overcame a tough upbringing in Southern California to become a successful businessman at a legal insurance company and a source of inspiration to his colleagues, his friends at his Mormon church and his family.

Arias found it difficult to resist the spotlight. She spoke to a Fox affiliate minutes after her conviction, and did a series of jailhouse interviews just hours after the jury got the case in the penalty phase.

"The prosecutor has accused me of wanting to be famous, which is not true," Arias told the AP on Tuesday as she sat beneath bright lights before TV cameras, her hair makeup done and her hair combed perfectly.

Terror in London Sparks Tensions, Upsurge in Islamophobic Attacks

At 7.15 pm, a man, reportedly armed with a knife, threw an incendiary device into a small mosque in Braintree, a market town in Essex. At 8.40 pm, another small mosque in another English market town, Gillingham in Kent, sustained a broken window and damage to a bookcase housing copies of the Koran. Back in Woolwich, the far right English Defence League (EDL) staged a demonstration against Islam and skirmished with police. In a video posted on the group’s website, its leader Tommy Robinson (also sometimes known as Stephen Lennon and Paul Harris), said “We are at war, and unless you can name the enemy you won’t win that war… The enemy is Islam.” The far right British National Party is calling for a demonstration against “the wicked and cruel enemy within.”

Since news broke of the Woolwich murder, tensions in Britain have ratcheted up. Scotland Yard has increased the numbers of officers on patrol. Social media users were quick to ask whether the May 24 emergency landing of a British Airways jet at Heathrow might be terror-related; BA said a technical fault had caused the incident. Mere hours later, Royal Air Force jets escorted a Pakistan International Airlines flight from Lahore away from its intended destination of Manchester, in Northern England, to Stansted, near London. Two men were arrested, accused of endangering an aircraft. There is no clarity, as yet, on what happened, but in the febrile atmosphere after Woolwich, it’s all too easy to see links where there may be none. And there has been an upsurge in small acts of aggression. The Tell MAMA hotline, which normally takes three or four calls a day reporting Islamophobia in various forms, has logged 72 incidents. British Muslims feel “a real endemic fear now,” says Fiyaz Mughal, co-ordinator of Tell MAMA and a director of an interfaith organization called Faith Matters. “It really is quite deep. Muslims have a fear that their institutions like mosques may be under potential attack. And they have a sense that unfortunately something nasty may happen.”

Brooks Newmark, the Conservative MP who represents Braintree, emails that “the tension is palpable especially amongst the Muslim community in our town. They wholly condemned the brutal murder that took place in London only hours before [the mosque attack]. They said the men who carried out the vile acts in London do not represent a vision of Islam that they believe or even recognize. But they are wondering what they can do to heal wounds that they did not cause.” He adds: “We have a small Muslim community in Braintree, who are well integrated. They are shopkeepers, restaurant owners and doctors. They are respected members of our community. There was a sense of shock and disbelief when our small town hit the headlines the same day as the brutal murder of a British soldier by Islamic radicals. How could someone in our community connect the dots between the vile actions of two fundamentalists 50 miles away in London with the peaceful small Muslim community in our town?”

That question, about how the dots get connected—and how to stop dangerous distortions emerging when they do—is a key concern for the British authorities as they continue to focus on solving the primary crime, Rigby’s brutal slaying, and to make sure that his murder was not part of a broader terror campaign. They have released few details about the two men arrested at the scene of the murder, both of whom have been hospitalized after being shot by police, but the second Woolwich suspect is reported to be Michael Adebowale, a 22-year-old from nearby Greenwich. More information has emerged about Adebolajo, the 28-year-old suspect filmed with a cleaver, and his alleged association with Anjem Choudary, the former leader of Al-Muhajiroun. The group came to notoriety in 2003 for organizing an anniversary celebration of the 9/11 attacks and was banned the following year under British anti-terror legislation. Links between the group and its offshoots and a significant number of British terror plots, including the 7/7 bombings in London, coordinated suicide attacks that claimed 56 lives (including the lives of the four bombers themselves), illustrate how easily the contagion of hatred spreads—whether that hatred stems from the misappropriation of the name of Islam or the fear of Islam.

Politicians from Britain’s mainstream parties have joined forces in calling for calm after Woolwich.”After an event like this it is natural that questions will be asked about what additional steps can be taken to keep us safe,” said Prime Minister David Cameron. “I will make sure those questions are asked and answered but I am not in favor of knee-jerk responses. The police have responded with heightened security and activity and that is right. But one of the best ways of defeating terrorism is to go about our normal lives and that is what we shall all do.”

Nigel Farage, the leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party, a fringe party whose fast rising popularity is fueled in part by robust anti-immigration policies, also put out a statement: “I hope and believe that this is an isolated incident and appeal for calm amongst all our communities.” Speaking at a May 24 event at London’s Foreign Press Association, he rejected the suggestion that UKIP’s rhetoric risks feeding the hostilities behind the mosque attacks and far right protests. He singled out the “cowardice of the British establishment” in failing to curb the influence of radical preachers. “We have been turning a blind eye to hate preachers, turning a blind eye to polygamy, turning a blind eye to Sharia law in British cities,” he said. He told TIME that more unrest could be expected from Britain’s far right over the coming holiday weekend. “They’ll all be on the booze. They’ll all be on the streets. It will be ugly,” he said.

There has been no shortage of ugliness on British streets in past days, and the ugliest moment of all came in Woolwich when a young soldier fell victim to a toxic idea. But the very spot where he died has also sprouted a strange loveliness, as friends and strangers, moved by his story, leave flowers and messages and other tributes. The makeshift memorial, and a quiet determination not to let extremism win the argument, continue to grow.

More: After Eden: Norway’s Tragedy Spotlight’s Europe’s Far Right