It's unfortunate that this interaction has degraded to the point of trying to be offensive. While the farmer hosting the race is being provocative with his choice of day and animal to race, I think we have a responsibility post-9/11 to do our best to put our best foot forward. It is only natural that people who are ignorant about Islam would be afraid and resistant to a mosque in their community; we need to take advantage of the national, and international, coverage of Islam to show it for what it really is and not what the people on the news are saying.