Twitter Reacts With #NotMyAmerica To Anti-Islam Protesters Gathering At 'Draw Muhammad' Cartoon Contest In Phoenix

Twitter is ablaze with strong opinions from the right and left as netizens react to an anti-Islam protest held outside a Muslim place of worship in Phoenix, Arizona Friday night.

Using #NotMyAmerica to voice their opinions, hundreds of Twitter users expressed their disgust at a group of protesters who gathered outside the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix in a "freedom of speech" rally held around a Muhammad cartoon drawing contest similar to the same contest held in a Dallas suburb weeks ago where two Islamic extremists tied to the Islamic State were gunned down by the police before they could kill anyone.

The rally was attended by some 700 people, according to its Facebook group, some of them wearing t-shirts that said "F*** Islam." Its organizer, former Marine staff sergeant Jon Ritzheimer, wears the same shirt but says he does not "condone any threats against the mosque." Still, the protesters were encouraged to bring their firearms and "utilize (their) second amendment right" in the event that other extremists show up.

Another group showed up to oppose the message of the anti-Islam rallyists. Some of them screamed "Go home, Nazis" and other obscenities at the first group, but others opted to follow the advice of the community center president Usama Shami's advice to remain peaceful and chanted "Love thy neighbor."

"We should remind ourselves that we do not match wrongness with wrongness, but with grace and mercy and goodness," Shami told worshippers on Friday.

Although both sides seemed ready to gouge one another's eyes out, no violence occurred at the rally.

Many Twitter users agree with Shami's message of remaining still in the face of bigotry. Muslims have pointed out that people of other religions have actively voiced their support in the face of right-wing protesters wanting them out.

Some Muslim users say they have seen worse in their own Muslim communities, and others, along with non-Muslim users, lament, criticize and our outraged at the fact that anti-Muslim protesters were allowed to bring their guns outside a mosque where people were praying.

Reactions poured in from everywhere, with a lot of people pointing out that one cannot use freedom of speech as an excuse to hate on a minority group based on their religion.

However, some users, while not saying they agree with wielding guns at an anti-Islam protest, believe Islam should not be part of America.

Others, however, have leaped out of the Islam/not Islam dichotomy to look at the bigger picture, pointing out a few reminders about America's racist past to explain what is happening right now.