Comments on this blog regularly reveal some persistent and false stereotypes about Islam. Monday’s arrest of seven suspected terrorists in North Carolina allegedly plotting violent jihad is sure to spark more.

A controversy erupted last week in Chicago after it was publicly revealed that a noted anti-Islam blogger, Robert Spencer, had been invited to an American Library Association panel advertised as “dispelling stereotypes about Islam.

The American Library Association has canceled a panel discussion on Islam planned for its annual conference over the weekend, after three speakers withdrew in protest at the inclusion of the fourth, a controversial critic of the Muslim religion.

The Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Chicago) today announced that Robert Spencer, one of the nation’s leading Islam-bashers, will not speak tomorrow at the annual conference of the American Library Association (ALA) following intervention by CAIR and the withdrawal of the other scheduled panelists in protest.

The Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Chicago) today announced that all other panelists scheduled to speak at an American Library Association (ALA) annual conference session July 12 on stereotyping of Islam have withdrawn in protest over the participation of Robert Spencer, which CAIR calls “one of the nation’s leading Islam-bashers.”

Myra Appel, chair of the Ethnic and Multicultural Information Exchange Roundtable (EMIERT), has released a public statement (below) regarding the recent cancellation of the ALA panel “Perspectives on Islam.”

The Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Chicago) today announced that all other panelists scheduled to speak at an American Library Association (ALA) annual conference session on stereotyping of Islam have withdrawn in protest over the participation of Robert Spencer, one of the nation’s leading Islam-bashers.

The Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Chicago) today called on the American Library Association (ALA) to drop an “Islamophobe” from a panel discussion on dispelling stereotypes about Islam.

Contrary to Nickels’ claim, I have no qualms with freedom of speech. In fact, I am obligated to exercise my First Amendment right to refute your letter. The overriding concern remains that when misguided words are used to defame all of Islam, it creates an intensifying cycle of bigotry and that needs to be countered.

Robert Spencer, the publisher of “Jihad Watch,” will appear Sunday, August 20, on a PRE-TAPED C-SPAN “Q&A” segment.