When will America stop validating religious discrimination?
On Oct. 27, 1838, Missouri Governor Lilburn W. Boggs issued an official order declaring, "The Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the state if necessary for the public peace." On mayoral Election Day Aug. 6, 1855, the Know Nothing Party -- an anti-Catholic political organization -- sparked riots in Louisville, Kentucky against Catholic immigrants, leaving 22 dead. On Dec. 17, 1862, General Ulysses S. Grant issued Order 11, which read, "The Jews, as a class... are hereby expelled from Tennessee within twenty-four hours..." Expelled Jews, murdered Mormons and massacred Catholics -- and lest we think otherwise, the really gruesome stories involve African and Native Americans.
Boggs believed American Mormons were not real Americans, but dangerous enemies because they blasphemed the name of Christ -- murdering them was the right decision. The Know-Nothings believed American Catholics were infiltrating America for a secret Vatican takeover -- restricting them from our legislature was absolutely necessary. Grant believed American Jews violated trade agreements to control the wealth, working to overthrow the Army -- they had to be expelled. Interestingly enough, each aforementioned discrimination was justified via the excuse of ensuring security against the threat each American minority allegedly posed.
In 2011, we can reflect and ask who in their right mind would tolerate such religious bigotry against American Mormons, American Jews, or American Catholics? Fortunately today, America's politicians do not engage in the aforementioned behavior. That is, unless the minority is American Muslims. In that case, the age-old rule applies. It is not bigotry nor discrimination that is being exercised, but American security that is being protected.
Consider Tennessee State Rep. Rick Womick, for example, who wants to, "expel all Muslims from the military" because "they are commanded to kill us." General Grant anyone? Florida State Rep. Allen West believes, "We are in a war against a political, theocratic, authoritarian ideology and it is called Islam!" Governor Boggs anyone? At a February, 2011 anti-Islam rally, an Orange County politician wanted her Marine son to send "these terrorist [Muslims] to an early meeting in paradise." Know Nothing party anyone? And lest we think otherwise, extremists like Anders Breivik cited American anti-Muslim ideologues as the motivation for his murderous tirade. Likewise, nearly two dozen states have proposed or passed legislation to ban Shariah Law. So much for the First Amendment.
Meanwhile, like their Mormon, Catholic, and Jewish predecessors, American Muslims continue to serve their country. While many criticize Islam for Faisal Shahzad's revolting attempt to take lives, few credit Islam when informed that it was a Muslim who alerted authorities of the bomb, thereby saving lives. On the 10th year anniversary of 9/11, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community coordinated over 260 blood drives nationwide with numerous Muslim, Christian, Jewish and secular organizations. In the end, Americans -- regardless of background -- united to honor 9/11 victims with nearly 12,000 blood donations, potentially saving over 30,000 lives. Speaking of lives, American Muslim soldiers -- perhaps to Representative Womick's dismay -- have also heroically given their own lives in Iraq and Afghanistan.
And now for the really good news: America does learn from her religious discrimination mistakes. Twelve years after issuing Order 11, President Ulysses S. Grant became the first sitting President to attend a synagogue, where he openly acknowledged his prior reprehensible actions. Mormons waited 137 years, but in 1976 Missouri Governor Christopher S. Bond finally rescinded Governor Boggs' anti-Mormon order. And Louisville, Kentucky, a city that had been branded as the site of the nation's most deadly anti-immigrant riots, elected a German mayor just a decade later. Today, six Supreme Court justices are Catholic, the remaining three are Jewish, Joe Biden is the nation's first Catholic Vice President, and Mormons represent 15 members of Congress, including Senate Majority leader Harry Reid.
So here is a message to the Womicks, Wests, and [all anti-Muslim politicians] of the world. Learn from your forefathers, do not excuse liberty for [alleged] security, and understand the choice before you. History can remember you as the reformed President Grant, or as the bigoted Governor Boggs. Your call. American Muslims, however, are here to shed their blood, give their lives, and protect their fellow American citizens -- because this is what America requires of them; this is what Islam requires of them.
The only question that remains is, when will America finally reflect and think whom in their right mind would validate such bigotry against American Muslims?
Follow Qasim Rashid on Twitter: www.twitter.com/MuslimIQ
I feel that, despite the few pundits and politicians that continue the loud-mouthed ignorance, many more Americans are getting to know their Muslim neighbors and seeing the truth of the situation and our truly American identity.
His relationship to Christianity mirrors exactly the 911 hijackers' relationship to Islam.
Your comparisons need to be made over and over again.
The article is yet another attempt to relate Ahmadiyya Islam (and the good works done by its adherents) to mainstream Islam. Perhaps Americans should acquire a better understanding of Ahmadiyyas and some other progressive trends. And, the fact that in their place of origin, Pakistan, Ahmadiyyas are prohibited by law from calling themselves Muslims, their places of worship Mosques, utter the Islamic greeting, etc. And, this plight has been inflicted on them by the next most "peaceful" trend in Islam, viz. Sufism.
The fact that Ahmadiyyas and Ismaelis exits, takes nothing away from the offensive nature of the agendas of organizations allied to the Muslim Brotherhood. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7A27Qmo40Q
That the influence of these organizations are at present limited (only due to their low strength in numbers) is no reason not to dislike them or oppose their agendas.
Luke 19:
27 But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and kill them in front of me.'"
28 After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.
Of course, by no means do I think Christianity is a violent religion. I'm just exposing your bigotry.
Christianity which according to the New Testament has no violence unlike Islam. The Old Testament does not contain teachings of Christ. Don't try to confuse people with your arguments. Physical bigotry is practiced by those who kill others who they think do not belong to their kind and at this moment, it is the muslims who are doing it.
What concerns me is that there are oodles of domestic hate cells with Christian leadership to which people give their cash. But what can we do? Deport them? Arrest them? They have free speech, and so long as they are here we can do little to stop them till they incur actual violence. The same goes for legitimate, Muslim non-profits. They do the same work as Christian non-profits and enjoy the same tax-free status.
To suggest that giving money to women and children (who happen to be related to members of Hamas) is supporting terrorism is the same as suggesting that the State of California supports gang violence, because it gives welfare to people who may be related to gang members.
If "Islamophobia"/bigotry existed, we should see among other things the following: hate crimes perpetrated against Muslims out of proportion to those perpetrated against other religious groups; an inability of Muslims to build places of worship; and an inability of Muslims to succeed, measured in terms of income, college education, and so forth.
But the data doesn't support any of this: far fewer hate crimes are perpetrated against Muslims than against, for example, Jews; the number of mosques has exploded in the last 40-50 years, indicating a flourishing religion, not an oppressed one; and Muslim income and education levels are either about average or in some cases higher than the general U.S. population.
There is simply no such thing as Islamophobia or bigotry against Muslims, at least certainly not so in the U.S.
It would be a far more interesting exercise to examine the fate of non-Muslims in Islamic countries, or, for that matter, the fate of Muslims deemed to be "apostates."
really?
Hate crimes? There have been plenty since 9/11, in the hundreds in fact, just search "hate crimes against Muslims after 9/11," you'll get a number of sites keeping track.
Inability to build places of worship? What is the so-called ground-zero mosque to you? The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community too had trouble building a community center and mosque in Walkerville, MD a while back though we did not push it so there was no controversy. Other than that, search "mosque opposition in the US."
Everything else is harder to proves for reasons cited by Qasim though I do remember the governor of New Jersey hired a Muslim to be a judge in a district court or something like that and people asked him why he did it as if it was the most audacious thing someone could do politically; makes me wonder how many politicians and businessmen actually do think that way and bar Muslims from positions of income, college education, and so forth as you put it but will get away with it for the reasons given in the article.
It also doesn't matter whether the incidences of hatred of one group is greater than hatred of another, both shouldn't exist and that's the point of the article.
Islam is so familiar to us that we pass it by with careless indifference with which we ignore that which we know and know only too well. And yet it is not familiar enough to us to enable us really to understand its uniqueness, and the spirit by which it has won its own place in the sphere of religion, a place which it still rightly occupies by virtue of its very existence.
We find it much easier to understand religions that are completely new and strange to us: as for example, the religions of India and China. A greater degree of insight and of spiritual freedom is required of him who would understand the Arabian Prophet and his book
Tor Andrae in his book
Mohammed: Tha Man and His Faith
It looks like blood relatives understand each other least of all.
A God who is not the same for every body, give or take inevitable cultural coloration, could not provide a satisfactory solution to the fundamental religious question: WHAT IS THE ULTIMATE MEANING OF LIFE?" In fact Islam recognises that the entire humanity one and the same community of equals. I quote the Quran
" God has created you into nations, clans and tribes so that you recognise each other, and in the sight of God the one closest to God is one who is righteous"
That much is the tolerance of Islamic teachings. We have to stop stereotyping and generalising an entire community. A hard core ignorant extremist is an outcaste in all religions
Those who criticise the Quran should read first the following article by Frank Schaeffer on “May be God Rejects the Bible” because the Bible says that "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." But many of the Bible verses quoted by Frank miserably fails to fulfil this principle of profitable doctrines.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/frank-schaeffer/maybe-god-rejects-the-bib_b_666896.html