In the hopes of avoiding a local holy war, Miami-Dade Transit is stripping ads from buses that they say may be offensive to Muslims.
The ads, plastered on 10 county buses on Tuesday, urged followers to leave the Islamic faith, according to the Miami Herald.
"Fatwa on your head? Is your family or community threatening you? Leaving Islam?" the ads asked. "Got questions? Get answers!"
The ads were sponsored by Stop the Islamization of America, a New York-based religious freedom group, which said they were a response to ads which promote Islam.
"[The ads were] offered in defense of religious liberty," Robert Spencer, associate director of SIOA, told the Herald.
Miami-Dade Transit said that they don't always screen the ads that appear on their buses, but that after reviewing the ads, they determined they might be offensive.
The South Florida Council on American-Islamic Relations agreed, claiming the ads gave false statements about Islam and promoted bigotry.
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"Islam guarantees freedom to and freedom from religion...[We] reject as un-Islamic any extremist interpretation that sanctions the killing of any individual because she decided to leave Islam," said director Muhammed Malik.
The ads appeared on several routes, but Miami-Dade Transit promised they'd be taken off buses by Friday morning.
An article posted on sioaonline.com Thursday said removing the ads was "wrong."
"So Muslims can run bus ads all across America inviting the clueless to convert to Islam, but we cannot make information available to Muslims who want to leave Islam," the article reads. "Still think this is a free country?"
