Mark Williams Apologizes To HINDUS For Saying Muslims Worship 'Monkey God'

Tea Party leader Mark Williams, under fire for saying Muslims worship a "monkey god," has apologized -- to Hindus.

In another post on his blog, Williams writes:

A few days ago I wrote an article critical of a monument to the 911 hijackers to be built at Ground Zero and scheduled to open on 9/11/11. I can only assume the date is only to emphasize the perverted message of the monument. The only thing sicker is that Americans will not only allow it but that they will defend it.

In the course of the article I described the "god" worshiped by terrorists as "a monkey god". I was wrong and that was offensive. I owe an apology to millions of Hindus who worship Lord Hanuman, an actual Monkey God.

Moreover, Hanuman is worshiped as a symbol of perseverance, strength and devotion. He is known as a destroyer of evil and to inspire and liberate. Those are hardly the traits of whatever the Hell (literally) it is that terrorists worship and worthy of my respect and admiration not ridicule.

So, again, to my Hindu friends I offer my sincerest apologies for my horrible lapse and my insensitivity. It was unintentional, inexplicably ignorant and I am ashamed at my offense toward you.

He did not apologize to Muslims, and has since password-protected the original inflammatory blog post.

Comments

[duncansdad]

09:30 AM on 05/25/2010

I guess someone told him that now he needs to watch his back every minnute of every day.
Deal with it!

[ChristyH]

09:11 AM on 05/25/2010

WHEN ARE WE GOING TO LEARN.... PEOPLE SAY OUTRAGES THINGS, THE WORLD REACTS (appropriately) AND THEN THESE SAME IDIOTS SAY "I'm sorry".... AS IF THAT MAKES IT ALLRIGHT!

OBVIOUSLY, these statements are EXACTLY what this guy thinks - and NONE OF US SHOULD ALLOW HIM TO NOW "TAKE IT BACK" - this isn't 3rd grade and this isn't the playground....

THESE PEOPLE WANT TO MAKE LAWS TO EFFECT OUR LIVES - if they are bigots they should be OUTED and SHUNNED.... To allow the TeaParty to HIDE behind the Constitution, when their views are so appaulling is APPAULLING!

[SayWhat1955]

12:04 AM on 05/25/2010

Stop apologizing for the statements you make, because your fake apologizing does not deserve merit.

[norepublicanleftbehind]

02:52 AM on 05/24/2010

You know all of my life I have disagreed with John Adams.....until now.

[Garspies]

12:48 PM on 05/23/2010

Pretty tough to "unring" a bell.

[lockDown]

11:28 AM on 05/23/2010

Why apologize? He said what he meant. His entire TEA Party reeks of the hateful spirit of white supremacist groups.

[invirginia]

02:34 PM on 05/22/2010

Wow, that Teapartier really got two birds with one stone. Whadunidiot!

[Richard Pearce]

01:04 AM on 05/23/2010

Somehow I get the feeling that he was as ignorant of Hinduism as he is of Islam, and accidently sideswiped Hindus while taking a deliberate swing at Muslims.

[LonosCurse]

09:03 AM on 05/25/2010

Don't short-change this guy, he is ignornat on so many levels.

[lonemoderate]

06:03 PM on 05/26/2010

Sometimes you get that feeling?
I am pretty sure Williams himself acknowledged as much in his apology to Hindus.

[CXO Mail]

01:33 PM on 05/22/2010

I love all Monkys Except Mark Williams,
Quick calss for Monky Mark.

In Islam, God, known in Arabic as Allah, is the all-powerful and all-knowing Creator, Sustainer, Ordainer, and Judge of the universe.[1][2] Islam puts a heavy emphasis on the conceptualization of God as strictly singular (tawhid).[3] God is unique (wahid) and inherently one (ahad), all-merciful and omnipotent.[4] According to tradition there are 99 Names of God (al-asma al-husna lit. meaning: "The best names") each of which evoke a distinct attribute of God.[5][6] All these names refer to Allah, the supreme and all-comprehensive divine name.[7] Among the 99 names of God, the most famous and most frequent of these names are "the Compassionate" (al-rahman) and "the Merciful" (al-rahim).[5][6]

[Steven Meece]

12:19 PM on 05/22/2010

Let him say what he wants about Hanuman but if he starts putting down Nataraja I say JIHAD, Hindustan style!

[Sevgi92]

04:31 AM on 05/22/2010

Just another example of why we need to better fund education in this country.

[invirginia]

02:34 PM on 05/22/2010

But then there might not be a Tea Party.

[Richard Pearce]

01:09 AM on 05/23/2010

No, extremists will always walk amongst us, though better, more rounded education that emphasizes the need for critical thinking does reduce their frequency by innoculating the vast majority against the disease they carry (and I'm a firm believer in booster shots for added protection against it, which is why I'm handing them out so freely)

[IfIonlyknew]

02:26 PM on 05/23/2010

No worries, They are ignorant by choice.

[me again]

08:08 PM on 05/21/2010

Not a very swift individual.

[aseasonforreason]

03:16 PM on 05/21/2010

"Don't judge Tea Party by a few random folks! Every group has crazies!"

Okay, can we judge it by LEADERS who say things like "monkey God'?

[ChrisR]

05:06 PM on 05/21/2010

ha ha - great!.

[Billy Jack]

02:09 PM on 05/21/2010

You can apologize, but you can't take back the words you said. We now know who you really are

[AAKAlan]

01:56 PM on 05/21/2010

The only thing Williams got wrong was "inexplicably ignorant".
Not, it is perfectly "explicably ignorant" in that the words came out of Williams' pen.

[MARYHOBE]

12:48 PM on 05/21/2010

We need to know every thing these fellows do and everything they say. It is becoming obvious that the more they talk, the more they look foolish. And they all do it! Sarah Palin, Rand Paul, Newt Gingrich (who I thought knew better) and then their is this guy, Mark Williams, who should be reined in by his media handlers from FOX.