A national Muslim advocacy group is calling on Brevard County officials to block the use of a county building next week for a meeting that will feature a controversial University of Central Florida professor whose lectures they have criticized as anti-Islamic.
Associate Professor Jonathan Matusitz is scheduled to address an ACT! For Space Coast Florida meeting Tuesday in the Brevard County Commission meeting room in Viera. The group, which meets to discuss issues such as terrorism, geopolitics and Islam, regularly holds meetings there, drawing an average of about 50 people. Tuesday’s meeting topic was advertised as “The Islamic Threat to America.”
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) issued a statement Friday urging county officials to pull use of the room.
“Our position is that anti-Islam hatemongers have a right to freedom of speech but when it’s in a school or a taxpayer-funded government facility, it creates the impression of endorsement,” said Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesperson for CAIR, a group that has challenged episodes of what it terms “anti-Islamic” hate speech and activities across the nation.
Brevard County Commission officials did not immediately respond to calls.
Matusitz has faced criticism in the past few months from CAIR over his viewpoints.
“There’s really a clash of civilizations between their culture and our culture, it’s really a war of ideas,” Matusitz said during a videotaped lecture in January that was posted on YouTube.
Roger Gangitano, the leader of the Brevard chapter of ACT!, says the intent of the lecture is to inform residents about what he sees as the creeping threat of Islamic laws in the U.S.
“I’m not opposed to Muslims. But Islam is not just a religious system but it’s also a political entity,” he said.
“I do not have any hatred for Muslims. It’s the philosophy ... they’re getting into our textbooks, into our banks, the intent by groups like the Muslim Brotherhood is to destroy our country. The separation of mosque and state should be a must,” Gangitano said.
The lecture also comes as the Brevard County School District is embroiled in another controversy regarding Islam, the world’s second largest faith. The school district is reviewing copies of a world history textbook after complaints from Florida House Representative Ritch Workman and others that it was biased toward Muslims. The group ACT! Space Coast Florida is a chapter of the national group whose stated mission is to warn against the threat of what it terms, “radical Islam,” according to the ActforAmerica.org website.
Matusitz teaches at the University of Central Florida’s school of communications and has tenure as an associate professor. He authored the book “Terrorism & Communication: A Critical Introduction,” in 2011. The tome examined how terrorists use communications to get messages to the masses. He also teaches courses on nonverbal communication, intercultural communication and terrorism.
University of Central Florida officials would not comment directly on Matusitz, his views or the complaints from CAIR. Matusitz, who is listed as living in Sanford, could not be reached by phone.
“Dr. Matusitz is expressing his opinion, which is his right,” said Grant Heston, a spokesman for the university in an email. “He is not speaking on behalf of the university, and we do not endorse his views.”