A standoff between a Rutherford County weekly periodical and a group of local residents has been simmering for more than two years now.

Ever since news broke in May 2010 of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro’s plans to construct a new facility, the Rutherford Reader has been doing its best to educate the people of Murfreesboro on the potential dangers of Muslims assimilating into American society, the truth about Sharia Law (which purports to supercede U.S. laws on the basis of being supposedly God-ordained), the possible threat of Muslim Brotherhood-backed terrorist training facilities, and the promotion of what its publisher considers to be the truth (Christianity) in contrast to the teachings of—in his view—a false prophet (Muhammad).

Meanwhile, a loosely organized group of people who say they are standing up for religious freedom and civil liberties for all, continue to approach businesses who advertise in and distribute the Reader.

Seth Spuff Limbaugh, administrator of the Stop the Rutherford Reader from Hate Speech group, said, “This ‘newspaper’ has dedicated numerous pages, each week, to bashing Muslims. The publisher is dead set on persecuting people of another religion. The purpose of this group is to either persuade Pete Doughtie, owner and editor, to refrain from hate speech, or to actively get this paper pulled from every business that carries it.” Limbaugh posted the group’s description at facebook.com/groups/stopthereader.

On the group page, members share lists of businesses that contain Rutherford Reader news racks, and letters written to advertisers, encouraging them to stop financing hate speech.

John Mack Green details his interactions with Roly Poly: “Roly Poly Sandwich Shop on Rutherford Boulevard in Murfreesboro carries the Reader. After being shown the [anti-Muslim] content, of which she claims she was unaware, Joan, the shop owner, says she’ll ‘think’ about taking it out. How about we encourage her decision by sharing our business elsewhere and letting her know it?” Green posted on the page.

Days later he shared that the Roly Poly owner “e-mailed me and states she will no longer allow the Rutherford Reader to be distributed there. She ‘does not want to offend her customers.’”

He paid the store a visit, and a few days later posted another follow-up.

“Thrilled to report that daughter and I just stopped in Roly Poly. No Rutherford Reader. No distribution rack for said nastiness . . . Please show Roly Poly your gratitude by patronizing and when you do, thank them for doing the right thing!”

Reader publisher Pete Doughtie contends that this sort of activity is misguided.

“They’re economic terrorists,” he says of those in the group protesting his family’s business.

He says he sees his publication’s ongoing coverage of Islam as serving the public interest.

“We have people call or write us all the time saying we have educated them, because they knew nothing about Islam or Sharia Law,” Doughtie said. “There’s this culture, out of nowhere, that’s in our face. Their goal is to have Islam dominate the world. Christianity is under attack. All of this indoctrination that ‘we’re a peaceful religion’ is making them (involved in the Reader protest group) brainwashed.

Pete Doughtie

“I don’t want them (Muslims) involved in our school systems either,” Doughtie continued. “What they’re trying to do, they’re infiltrating our school systems. What easier way is there to indoctrinate people into Islam, than through teaching kids?”

He warns his readers that their beloved town and country are under attack.

“We don’t believe the enemy lives within our society, planning and waiting for the right opportunity to strike, mainly because we don’t want to believe,” Doughtie editorialized. “We are a Christian nation and we need to fight and commit to keeping it that way.”

While Doughtie repeatedly personally writes of politics, religion, society and local events in the Reader, he said that was not the reason he started the paper in 2000.

“I’m not a journalist, I’ve never been a journalist. But I’ve been in the newspaper business since 1965,” Doughtie said. He started the Reader as a shopper, an advertising piece, he said, but along the way added news items and columns from the public.

“We only got started in the news side from people requesting it,” he said. “I didn’t sit down and put a plan together. It just took on a life of its own, and I started to develop my own opinions on things. I really do not seek to go out and upset anyone.”

He said he does not hate Muslims, and does not propagate hate speech.

“Sharia Law is where the problem is. [The problem is] not with some of the people,” Doughtie said.

Still, many simply see the Reader as appealing to and perpetuating fear and hate against certain individuals.

Area resident Stephen Levenhagen said the Reader contains “an endless barrage of negativity, not just a slanted article of concern here and there,” but cites as a specific example of exclusionary thinking Doughtie’s call to ban the burka.

“Doughtie went on extensively how we should follow the example of France and ban the burka. His only argument was that it offended him,” Levenhagen said. “The Rutherford Reader [is] absolutely coming out against the freedom of Muslim citizens to practice their religion as they see fit. The Reader has stated that we need to ban the burka. This is absolutely encouraging the harassment of the female population [who] express their devotion to God as they see fit. The anti-Muslim rhetoric here in Murfreesboro makes the Reader and its allies anti-freedom. They are our own version of al-Qaeda. Let all worship; these are American families that have been in this community for decades.

“Don’t get caught in the hate if you truly want to reach out to your Muslim neighbor,” Levenhagen said.

Still, others see Doughtie as a freedom fighter of sorts, standing up for the truth, and publishing information and viewpoints the mainstream media avoid.

Justin Smith, a columnist for the Reader, said, “Kaye and Pete Doughtie, editors/owners of the Rutherford Reader, fight the fascist tactics of the New Left and Islam fearlessly with intelligence and knowledge, as myself and millions of others across our beloved America stand with them and refuse to endure such despotism or submit and remain silent in the face of this new combined and growing Left-Muslim fascist movement. And, anyone even remotely considering removing the Rutherford Reader should look deep within their own worldview, their own souls . . . anyone removing the Rutherford Reader does a great disservice to the freedom-loving people of Rutherford County, the state of Tennessee and these United States,” Smith said.

One anonymous local media consumer expressed the opinion that neither the Reader nor the group opposed to it are really adding a whole lot to the discussion or changing many minds.

“The more I look into it, the more I think both sides are being ridiculous,” the observer said. “There’s just so much anger, fear and intolerance coming from both the Reader and the group attempting to stop it, I’m not sure if either side is capable of having a rational, meaningful dialogue. The Reader is getting more publicity out of its ongoing jabs at Islam than it could ever dream of. Why would the publisher ever stop? And if the group really wants to stand up for American values and liberty, I’m not sure targeting and complaining to laundromats and restaurants who have a Rutherford Reader news rack in their business is their best use of time and energy. Some involved do seem to want to have genuine discussions on important issues, yet some are just as narrow-minded and prone to stereotyping as the Reader itself.”

Regardless, the Reader—through its “stories, editorials and hard-to-describe items where opinions and facts were commingled,” as described by Huffington Post writer Janell Ross—has established itself as a player in the local social and political discussion, and will most likely continue exercising its freedom of the press to its fullest extent.