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Dear CNN,

I just watched your segment on CNN I-Desk about a Tennessee church that welcomed their new neighbouring Mosque. I didn't time it but I think the whole segment ran about 45 seconds. For me, it was incredibly nice and heart-warming to see a report about christian-muslim relations that are actually good.

In the past few days, media outlets all over the world have been pouring out every little speck of information about the Florida Quran burning. It has reached, at least for me, ridiculous proportions. And I don't really see the point of reporting that story in the first place. In my opinion, the reverend Terry Jones is a publicity-seeker first and foremost.

Living in Europe, I have seen up close the way islamophopic groupings and political parties use the media in this exact fashion to get the publicity they need to secure votes. Here in Sweden, the new nationalist party Sverigedemokraterna have been making outrageous claims, among other things stating muslims comprise half of this country's rapists. And it works! They get their first page headlines and stand uncontested until someone writes an op-ed the day after. Problem is, the people that want to have their muslim stereotypes confirmed won't read beyond that first headline article. Polls conducted in the last months have seen Sverigedemokraterna gaining in popularity. Enough even to get into the Swedish parliament on election night, September 19. As you know, this is part of a trend that has been sweeping across Europe in the last few years, with nationalist and right-wing extremists taking office in several countries.
America obviously has it's share of muslim-christian tension as well.

So in these islamophobic times, I want to offer my sincere thanks to you for running the aforementioned segment.

My question, however, is this: why does the Florida Quran-burning church recieve so much attention compared to the Islam-friendly congregation from Tennessee? The difference is just staggering. I understand that Terry Jones has stirred up controversy and protests (though I don't believe those protests are as widespread as news reports suggest) and that it is in deed news-worthy. But I still feel the whole thing wouldn't be so controversial if he hadn´t recieved so much attention in the first place.

Sincerely
Jimmy Halvarsson