There's a lot of buzz around TLC's new reality show "All-American Muslim" since hardware retail giant, Lowe's, pulled all its advertising from the show on December 5th after hearing concerns through emails, phone calls and news reports. When asked by a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors just how many e-mails they received, a Lowe's spokesperson said "dozens," not thousands.
Who's behind these e-mails? The Florida Family Association (FFA), a conservative group based in Tampa, initiated an e-mail campaign calling on advertisers to drop advertising support for the series. FFA alleges the show is "propaganda clearly designed to counter legitimate and present-day concerns about many Muslims who are advancing Islamic fundamentalism and Sharia law."
Their ridiculous assertion is that presenting peaceful Muslims is propaganda, whereas true Muslims advocate for extremism and Sharia law. And apparently, they convinced Lowe's.
In an e-mail to FFA's executive director, Lowe's wrote:
"There are certain programs that do not meet Lowe's advertising guidelines, including the show you brought to our attention. Lowe's will no longer be advertising on that program... We appreciate your feedback and will share your comments with our advertising department as they evaluate future advertising opportunities."
But Lowe's wasn't able to quietly pull this off. As Reza Aslan, founder of AslanMedia.com and author of "No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam," put it on a recent tweet,
"In past, cowards who caved to bigots thought they could hide and get away with it. Not today."And it's not just Muslims who are protesting Lowe's actions.
Rabbi Marc Schneier, founder and president of The Foundation for Ethnic Understanding and vice-president of the World Jewish Congress, joined Russell Simmons in condemning Lowe's as "caving in to bigotry" and calling on advertisers to reject FFA's -- and other anti-Muslim groups -- demands to drop advertising support for the series.
Chris Stedman, the Interfaith and Community Service Fellow for the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard University and the Emeritus Managing Director of State of Formation at the Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue, has been at the forefront of the "twitter war" on Lowe's. After learning of the FFA boasting that they had compelled Lowe's to remove their advertisements, Stedman bombarded Lowe's with tweets about their actions and encouraged others to do the same.
His efforts caught the attention of Lowe's, who responded directly to him saying
"We did not pull our ads based solely on the complaints or emails of any one group. It is never our intent to alienate anyone."But this did little to quench his thirst for answers.
"To me," says Stedman, "the question remained: why did they pull the ads, then? Why would they email FFA and say that they pulled the ads because the program didn't meet their 'advertising guidelines'? What were these guidelines? Of course, I got no response to my follow-up questions -- but I and others kept pressing them."
An atheist, Chris Stedman may seem to be an unlikely advocate for the rights of Muslims, but he has proven that justice and tolerance are not confined to any particular religious, or non-religious, group. His goal is to eventually see interfaith cooperation become a social norm. Such selfless voices of reason and integrity represent what America is all about. Religious differences should be used as a force to build relationships, not tear them apart.
This is not the end for Lowe's. Russell Simmons is calling for their CEO to step down. Stedman is calling for the boycott of their business. Why? He says, "if an organization acts in ways that you cannot in good conscience support, then don't give them your money." It is unclear whether an economic boycott will solve the problem, as it may actually further a divide that is separating our nation. Efforts to bring people together should be priority number one.
What is clear, however, is that this episode illustrates how little is understood about Islam, and I call on Lowe's to take this as an opportunity to connect with the consumers they have marginalized by learning about them. I welcome such a dialogue if they so choose.
As Stedman so aptly argues: "Unless we're able to change the way we talk about religious difference, things like this will happen again and again. Our society needs to learn how to handle, and embrace, religious diversity -- how to stop seeing those with different religious identities as alien and threatening. In the end, our shared humanity should come first. We have a lot of work to do to get there, and simply boycotting Lowe's isn't going to cut it."
Follow Harris Zafar on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Harris_Zafar
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And as bokhattak aptly pointed out, the interfaith response to this issues is comforting, as it shows that tolerance, good will, and common sense are not qualities of just one faith group. We see people of various faiths, as well as those of no faith, who have shown their integrity to call for an end to bigotry and misunderstanding. I'm hopeful that mistakes like the one Lowe's made will be seldom, God willing.
In the end, we need to understand the people of various backgrounds. Calling for censorship of a show that's trying to do that holds us back.
What is most disconcerting is how the outrage against perceived an manufactured Islamic radicalism has created a radicalized Christian group. This is a growing problem where otherwise open-minded and compassionate non-Muslims have become polarized and aggressively opposed to a Muslim presence, citing "facts" that are clearly propagandized to expose the manufactured "Islamic threat".
This example goes one step further to the point where the FFA is actually upset and offended to find Muslims who are not extremists. This sort of thinking actually lends to disenfranchising American-born and immigrant Muslim populations. Sadly, I have lost count of the times I've had to explain why jihad and shariah are not things to be feared, and how I have not and will not participate in anti-American activities.
The resounding inter-faith response to this action from Lowe's definitely is a bright spot in this maelstrom and perhaps a turning in the tide of this cultural misunderstanding.
Thanks again, Mr. Zafar...blessings to you and yours for a happy and healthy New Year...
Many blessings and wishes of peace to you and your loved ones in the New Year.
As a Muslim I find myself constantly trying to defend Islam, that it is a peaceful religion, and that the horror stories covered in the media are not the norm. But what we really need is people to find out for themselves!
Hopefully this discussion will lead more people to get up and research Islam.
Thank you for speaking for understanding, common sense and the prevention of censorship.
.Its sad that our fellow Americans don't know its not news.
I would like to see the day when people stop being surprised that most atheist are good people who care about what is right.
Some atheists do not approve of Mr. Stedman's willingness to tolerate people of faith, I'm afraid.
There are the immovable, steadfastly-stubborn few who have their agendas and will not change their outlook even if they are aware of how wrong they are. Fortunately, I believe those types are the exception and not the rule.
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/allamericanmuslim/2011/12/anya-cordell-how-to-make-this-situation-a-winwin-for-muslims-and-lowes/ by Anya Cordell, Recipient, Spirit of Anne Frank Award, www.Appearance-ism.com
This describes me, as well.
This isn't about religion.
It's about the rights of all Americans to live free from unreasonable, fiction-based prejudice.
Given that the number of adherents to Islam is growing in the United States, it seems reasonable to me that there should be a greater awareness of Muslim life here. People in the US have a high degree of fear of Muslims in large part because we don't *know* them. In aggregate we have no gut feel for "which way the frog will jump" when dealing with a "scary Muslim" so we feel discomfort and even fear. The antidote to this is for those of us Americans who are not Muslim to learn more about those of Americans who *are* Muslim.
Muslims are not going away. Jews are not going away. Christians are not going away. Atheists and agnostics are not going away. Neither are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Shintoists, Animists or any of a truly large number of other religious traditions.
We are all going to have to learn to live with one another. It's time to be truly American and put some focus back on 'e pluribus unum'.
You are right. I would add: people even have the right to live a life based on (what others call) myths, nonsense, and fairy tales, as long as this does not reduce the choices of others.
Their ridiculous assertion is that presenting peaceful Muslims is propaganda, whereas true Muslims advocate for extremism and Sharia law.
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I fail to see bigotry in the FFA statement.
I do not understand why that assertion should be called ridiculous. Agree with the statement or disagree, but ridiculous bigotry? It is simply undeniable that both kinds of Muslims are citizens of America.
Since 9/11, a national debate has been taking place on the relationship, if any, between jihadists, terrorists, Islamists and the religion of Islam. I think it is likely that more Americans have a considered opinion on this religious issue than any other except abortion.
It is absurd to claim that only virtue appears on one side of this debate and only bigotry on the other. Very few issues are that black and white, and this certainly is not one of them.
In the last decade, less than 200 of them have been arrested on suspicion of terrorism. The number one source for reporting those people to the authorities was American Muslims, themselves.
And so, while it may be factually accurate to say, as you did, above:
"It is simply undeniable that both kinds of Muslims are citizens of America."
... it is extremely misleading.
Jon Stewart made a poignant (and I thought very amusing) point when he suggested that they had to add an "abortion-clinic bomber" character to the show "Touched By An Angel", in order to give a "balanced" view of Christians.
The FFA is suggesting that it's "propaganda" to depict regular American Muslims as regular Americans, because the show doesn't say anything about (what they imagine to be) "Shariah law".
However, what they fail to recognize is: what Shariah (religious law) is to Muslims, and what Shariah is to the FFA, are obviously two very different things.
Maybe if Muslims were:
A. More than 1% of our population.
&
B. Doing or saying anything to suggest that their detractors have any merit at all to their negative statements about "Muslims".
.... more of us would be more concerned about it.
Terrorism is not the only and not necessarily the chief concern among critics of political Islam. More relevant in an American context is the the development of social enclaves in which an antipathy towards certain American rights and American culture is often visible. Since 50 percent of American Muslims believe in the literal truth of the Quran (http://pewresearch.org/assets/pdf/muslim-americans.pdf, page 23), a book that reflects the state of the primitive surrounding culture at the time of its writing more than 1,300 years ago, it is apparent where the dislike expressed by literal believers towards modern society and rights stems from.
While religious fundamentalists share the same rights as the rest of us, it would be a mistake to give their views a pass simply because they are a minority and rarely commit terrorist acts.
and then
I fail to see bigotry in the FFA statement.
You just flunked the course "Awareness of Bigotry 101"
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Why?
Do Muslims really want to be lumped into that pile of crap they call reality shows. I hope they have more self respect.