Controversy: South River BOE Member's Anti-Muslim Facebook Posts

SOUTH RIVER, NJ — A member of the South River Board of Education who is a former police sergeant in the town is in the spotlight after his controversial Facebook posts criticizing Muslims and Islam have been brought to light.

The Board of Education member is Kevin Nielsen. Nielsen retired from the South River police force this past June; he served as an officer in that town since 1989, attaining the rank of sergeant when he retired. Nielsen is also very involved in his community: In 2016, he spearheaded a clothing drive for six South River families who were left homeless when their apartment building burned down.

But Nielsen's frequent Facebook posts can be troubling — to say the least — to some. The most provocative of his posts appear to be those where he routinely criticizes the Islamic religion. Here are some of his posts:

"MSNCB has named the world's top ten most dangerous cities. They are all under Islamic control. Funny thing, that religion of love, just saying," he posted in 2011. That same year he posted "Another reason why I hate the religion of love (referring to Islam.)"

"There were two massacres this weekend by those followers of the religion of love," he posted in Sept. 2013, after the Nairobi, Kenya mall terror attacks by Islamic fundamentalists.

"So those followers of the religion of love have massacred a school of children today," he wrote on Dec. 16, 2014 after the Taliban attacked a school in Pakistan, killing 149 people, including 132 schoolchildren.

"Those crazy followers of the religion of love are at it again," he wrote in 2013, while sharing a news article about a British soldier killed while on patrol in Afghanistan.

He also shared a post from the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science calling for "continued opposition to religion fundamentalism" after the Islamic terror attacks in Paris in 2015.

When contacted by Patch last week, Neilsen repeatedly declined to comment for this story. This Patch reporter commented to him that everyone in America is entitled to freedom of speech, to which Nielsen replied "That is absolutely correct."

That was all he would say.

Some have publicly commented that they find Nielsen's posts alarming.

"I cannot fathom why you were never disciplined for anti-Muslim comments while working for the town," wrote one Facebook user. "It's chilling to many that you even remain on the school board overseeing policy that affects school children in a multi-cultural town ... You don't belong in public office."

To which Neilsen replied:

"Because I speak the truth? How dare you call yourself a religion of (piece) yet you throw gay people off of buildings, throw lye in the face of women and kill people because they don't believe in the same God as you?"

He has also put up other posts criticizing illegal immigration and the trendy "drag queen story hours," including one that recently occurred at the Rahway Public Library.

Sylvia Zircher, the superintendent of South River public schools, said she never received any complaints about Nielsen's Facebook posts, and that she wasn't aware of them until the media, including Patch, contacted her about them this week.

Nielsen was first elected to the South River school board in 2010 and he's been re-elected every term since then. He is up for election again this year.

Nielsen's Facebook posts were sent to the media by a South River resident who refused to give his or her name. That person sent screenshots of Neilsen's posts to Patch and other media outlets in New Jersey.

South River Police Chief Mark Tinitigan told NJ 101.5 that he also was unaware of the Facebook posts. However, if he knew about them when Nielsen was still a police officer, he said they would have launched an internal affairs investigation.

"If I was aware at the time they were posted on Facebook, we would have had an internal affairs investigation conducted," Tinitigan told NJ 101.5.

"He is entitled to his opinion but you're supposed to hold yourself to a higher standard. We should not show any kind of bias," Tinitigan said.

Could Nielsen's views on Islam make any Muslim students at South River public schools uncomfortable? After all, as a sitting BOE member, Nielsen would have a vote on whether South River public schools celebrate certain Muslim holidays, or provide funding for various school events.

"No individual board member speaks on behalf of the school district. My position is that the South River School District supports the interests and education of all its students," superintendent Zilcher told Patch. "All board action, (including items such as the district calendar) are based on the recommendation of the superintendent and subject to a majority vote of the full board."

The district does not collect or maintain data regarding student or staff religion, so Zilcher said she couldn't say how many Muslim students attend schools there.

In Toms River, Board of Education member Daniel Leonard is refusing calls to step down — including now from the president of the school board — after Facebook posts he made in April about Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, both Muslim.

The post about Tlaib in particular, where Leonard wrote "My life would be complete if she/they died ..." above an article where Tlaib suggested a hunger strike to protest actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, prompted the most anger. Critics at the meeting called it a threat to Muslims.

Related: Toms River Board Member Refuses To Resign Over Facebook Posts