Montini: Hateful anti-Islam rally returning to Phoenix

Back in May roughly 250 anti-Muslim demonstrators led by local resident Jon Ritzheimer transformed Phoenix into the de facto Capitol of Hate by staging an ugly, heavily-armed protest outside the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix.

They wore T-shirts with profane messages denouncing Islam. They shouted profane messages. They argued with a roughly equal crowd of counterprotesters standing on the other side of a line of police officers standing between the two groups.

At the time, Ritzheimer said he'd like to see more protests like this all over the world.

And it's happening, sort of.

Under the almost humorous but clearly ridiculous name of "Global Rally for Humanity" anti-Islam protest rallies are planned for Oct. 9 and 10 across the U.S. and in other countries.

A note on the Facebook page for the Arizona group reads in part: "For all the Patriots in the greater Phoenix area who may have missed the Free Speech Rally or Stand By The Flag Rallies back in May and July, we got one for ya! This is your shot! THE MAIN EVENT GONE GLOBAL!!! Patriots, Veterans, Bikers, Militia, Reservists, active-duty Infidels and all AMERICANS who still LOVE LIBERTY and cling to the CONSTITUTION!! We'll see y'all back at the Islamic Center of Phoenix starting at 9AM on October 10th…"

According to the page, roughly 90 "guests" have pledged to attend the protest with around 40 others listed as "maybe." Not much.

Then again, a small, noisy, gun-toting, profanity-shouting group of people can get a lot of media attention on a slow news day.

We'll see.

There was a much bigger protest following that first anti-Islam gathering.

It happened not too many days later and was called the "Love is Stronger than Hate" rally.

Before the event, I spoke with Rev. Erin Tamayo of Arizona Faith Network, one of the 20 or so faith-based organizations to participate.

She told me, "We did this in partnership with some of the members of the Muslim community. We wanted to have a positive message that helps to build up our community. There have been so many people trying to divide members of the faith community, to tear us apart. But it's really important that we stay strong and stay united, so we just want to show our Muslim brothers and sisters that we are there for them, and we support them. Because the next time it might be one of us."

It's a lovely message. And true.

But this is America in the Internet age.

And while compassion and coexistence make sense.

Hate makes news.