Protesters have recently been rallying against a proposed Islamic educational center containing a mosque near Ground Zero, claiming that the proximity of anything Muslim to Ground Zero would contaminate a hallowed place. Protesters claim they aren't anti-Muslim; they merely want the center and mosque to be built someplace else.
But it turns out that "someplace else" is not acceptable, either. Protesters in Tennessee, Wisconsin, and California are fighting proposed mosques in their communities, as well. Some of these mosques would be built in formerly used store fronts, others on vacant land. The New York Times reports that protests are going beyond concerns about traffic, noise, and zoning. They increasingly reflect fears that "mosques will be nurturing terrorist bombers, that Islam is invading, that civilization is becoming undermined by Muslims."
Such fears run counter to the facts. A recent study by Duke University and the University of North Carolina found that community mosques actually deter radicalization and extremism through a range of efforts, such as publicly denouncing violence, confronting extremists, providing programs for youth, and cooperating with law enforcement.
But factual reality doesn't seem to be enough to stop conservative pundits and politicians -- in fact, a whole cadre of critics -- from fanning public fears with apocalyptic warnings about the spreading menace of Islam in America.
Anti-Muslim Ranting Puts Our Security at Risk
Who knows whether Islamophobes like Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin actually believe their own rants. The sad thing is, they're getting away with blatant nonsense. There are nearly seven million hard-working, law-abiding Muslims in this country. They participate in virtually every sector of society and engage in vibrant interfaith efforts that bring together Christians, Muslims, and Jews to work for the common good. Yet most Americans know almost nothing about Muslims or Islam -- not to mention the media, which loves apocalyptic battles, as long as the weapons of mass destruction are words.
But anti-Muslim ranting is more than a war of words. Hateful speech against Muslims and Islam puts our nation's security at risk. Gingrich and Palin -- and others like them -- are playing into a dangerous "us vs. them" framework that terrorists use to prove the United States is fighting a global war against Islam. What better recruiting tool than Newt decrying Muslim civic engagement as a threat to American values? Or Sarah tweeting that a mosque near Ground Zero is a stab in the heart of 9/11 victims? (Never mind that Muslim Americans also died at Ground Zero).
Anti-Muslim rhetoric is also a repudiation of America's core values. Right after 9/11 President Clinton walked through the Harlem neighborhood where his offices are. He pointed to nail salons, carry-out shops, beauty salons, barber shops, restaurants -- dozens of enterprises run by men and women from countries around the world who'd come to America for a better life for themselves and their families, and who were living and working side by side. That is what makes our country great, Clinton said -- and what the terrorists wanted to destroy.
What If We Saw Christianity Through the Same Lens that Distorts Islam?
Many people have persuasively argued over the past several years that Islamophobia weakens our security and threatens our values. The fact that Muslim Americans strongly denounce terrorism, prove their patriotism, and serve their communities and nation every single day has been demonstrated in ways large and small. Yet anti-Muslim hateful speech still thrives.
It's time to look at this problem another way.
In order to truly see how distorted, offensive, and dangerously wrong anti-Muslim rhetoric is, it is useful to switch religions for a moment and substitute Christianity for Islam. This might seem hard to do at first because Christianity is so embedded in our culture and such a familiar part of our nation's founding and heritage. But what if we knew nothing of Christianity except what we learned from extremist groups and critics of the religion? What if we viewed Christianity through the same distorted lens that is too often used to view Islam?
First, a few words about that lens and how it distorts Islam:
So what do we see if we pick up this distorted, uninformed lens and use it to look at Christianity?
We see the essence of Christianity in a group like the Michigan Christian Militia, which was arrested by the FBI this spring for trying to kill local law enforcement officers with improvised explosive devices. Militia members call themselves Christian warriors and say they are preparing to battle the anti-Christ (an evil force described in the Christian Bible). One of their symbols is the cross.
We see the core beliefs of Christianity in a group called the Branch Davidians -- a Protestant sect whose founder had 140 wives, some as young as 12 years old.
Searching for Christian martyrs, we find Eric Rudolph, a member of the white supremacist Christian Identity movement who bombed abortion clinics, including one in Birmingham, Alabama that killed a police officer and wounded others. Rudolph also bombed a lesbian bar in Atlanta and was the Olympic Park bomber during the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 that killed a woman and wounded over 100 people. Distilling the essence of Christianity from Rudolph would tell us that it is a religion that believes in violence, in the superiority of white people, and in spreading its rule to others.
What about Christian beliefs and rituals that are practiced by millions of Christians around the world? Are some of them sinister? Absolutely -- if we view them through a lens of ignorance and distrust.
The first thing to worry about is the cross. It is a sacred symbol to Christians, displayed by many around their necks, inside their houses of worship and educational institutions, and even on public grounds they own. Christians persist in these public displays, despite the fact that the cross represents human sacrifice. Christians have commemorated this sacrifice for centuries and worshipped the one sacrificed. They have memorialized other acts of biblical violence in their paintings, sculpture, poetry, and song -- heads served on platters, blood gushing from wounds, knives thrust into flesh, thousands slaughtered in the name of their God. Many of these gruesome scenes can be found in the stained glass windows of their churches.
One of their sacred rituals is to symbolically drink the blood and eat the flesh of the human sacrifice they worship. Some sects do this weekly (Episcopalians), while some in other sects (Catholics) do it every day. And they indoctrinate their children -- some as young as seven -- in this cannibalistic ritual.
It is true that many followers of Christianity -- in fact, they claim to represent the vast majority of Christians -- denounce groups like the Michigan Christian Militia and terrorists like Eric Rudolph. They say such extremists don't represent their faith, and they point to the good work that Christians do. Millions devote themselves to the environment, health care, human rights, peace, anti-poverty work, and more. And they provide shelter, food, and clothing to those in need. Christians point out passages in the Bible that promote love and mercy, justice and peace. They say the most important commandments in their Bible are to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself.
All that may be true. But if these Christians want to be listened to, they first need to get rid of their crosses and stop their bloody rituals. They need to speak out more forcefully against extremists in their ranks. They need to tackle the dangerous problem of fellow Christians who are being radicalized by extremists, especially those in the media and on the internet calling on Christian patriots to take up arms to save their country and protect their faith. Once moderates clamp down on these radical elements and get all Christians to repudiate extremism and violence -- maybe then we can begin to have a conversation.
Back to the Real World
Such a blatantly malicious and ignorant diatribe doesn't remotely reflect the true nature of Christianity or its followers and deserves to be attacked as biased, offensive, and untrue. This would quickly happen in America. Christianity is held precious by millions (including me) who would feel committed to set the record straight and refute such biased lies and prejudice.
What we need to do regarding Islam is make similar assessments based on reality rather than rants. We need to be more informed about the religion and its followers and push back against hate speech and fear-based rhetoric that lumps one of the world's greatest and most diverse faiths into a monolithic block.
It's the right -- and smart -- thing to do. The vision of America that draws people to our shores -- that prompts many Muslims to say America is the best place to live -- is one of vibrant diversity, tolerance, understanding, and respect. Our nation is a lively hum of divergent views and beliefs, creativity and energy. Muslim Americans are part of this lively hum. They are religious and patriotic -- just like Catholics, Baptists, Methodists, Lutherans, and millions of others. More of one doesn't mean less of the other.
America has real enemies in the world -- forces that want to kill us and destroy our democratic values. Some of them use the language of Islam in an attempt to elevate their violence to a holy cause and draw people to their ranks. We would be smart to refute their claims by more forcefully declaring and acting on what we know to be true -- that Islam and democracy are wholly compatible, that Muslims were part of America before we were a nation, that they have fought alongside their fellow Americans in every war we have endured, and today are helping to strengthen our national security and fulfill our country's promise of equality, liberty, and justice for all.
Stuart Whatley: Democratic Values, Islam and the Judeo-Christian Tradition Fallacy
Biblical GOD knows all, sees all, does oops, forgot "Female"... Instead of from scratch like all, puts "IT" to sleep/ uses parts to create Female... The "IT" either is sexual, with what??? Or, is non sexual... Does NOT speak of a very bright/ Intelligent, GOD...
Biblical GOD in creating, finally, sexual couple, creates Incest... NO way beyond First Generation... Within first generation, Biblical GOD "product" is so flawed, Cain kills Able...
Biblical GOD supposedly Heavenly Father of Mankind... This Father Murders HIS own Children??? Mass Murder = Noah's Ark, Sodom and Gomorrah, examples... Commands, Thou shalt NOT Murder, ( uh em), do as I, say, not as I, do! Also, can Heavenly reward, or punish with eternal Torture, HIS Children...
Observation: People who believe in the Bible, reject Organized Religion... Many use Bible to justify/rationalize their beliefs... Organized Religion is FEAR based... FEAR is the Hook for flock... Fear is also, bark of the dogs that keeps flock together...
Even though Jesus was able to break the endless spiral of violence by absorbing its force into his own body, and his teachings on nonviolence demand that we love our enemy and honor God as one "who makes the sun shine on both the evil AND the good," most believers are still worshippers of war and mammon. They have turned the first-century iconoclast into an icon.
Even the harshest opponents of the Ground Zero Mosque have not said anything about Islam that the great figures of the Enlightenment did not say about Christianity (which is hardly surprising since these two forms of monotheism have a great deal in common, and not in a good way, either).
Meanwhile in Britain, the number of Sharia Courts is projected to triple this year.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article6721158.ece
More evidence that we are well beyond the point of "it can happen here."
It IS happening here.
Yes, I'm sorry, you are a bigot. Screw Sharia law, I'm scared of Christian law that so many right wing fundamentalists are trying to pass in our court system.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703426004575338471355710184.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLTopStories
It refers to Saudi Arabia's systematic- well funded- campaign to propragate spread its itself. This is no accident, of course.
..."Our [American] civilization is not indestructible. It needs to be actively defended". Diplomacy and setting our needs and expectations is a place to start. Rolling over isn't an option, though.
Remarkable how many apologists step up for Islam yet can find nothing good to say about Christianity.
However I find your analogy to be somewhat flawed...... The Romans used some of the very same arguments against the church to justifiy some of their persecutions..... Yet today the Christain clergy always condems violence on the part of Christians.... there may be splinter groups like that guy who protests at military funerals - but the mainstream churches all condemn violence in the name of God..
The Muslim clerics could stop all this terrorism if they wanted. A series of fatwas would go a long way.. The silence of the Imams on this is deafening. There are a few who condem - but unlike Christains - they are a minority. For the majority - I view their silence as consent.
Secondly, I didn't hear any churches condemn the guy who flew his plane into the IRS building. If I'm not mistaken, he was a Christian.
When these guys stop refering to suicide bombers as martyrs and refering them as deranged criminals who senselessly murder & maim the innocent in the name of God.... then maybe I'll see the equality..
Until then - open your eyes man......
Your analogy of Timothy McVeigh is what is ridiculous........... Timothy McVeigh was a lapsed Catholic, a self proclamed agnostic at the time of his crime and a coward....... he however did not blow up that building in Oklahoma City in the name of God or to smite infidels like your Muslim buddies..... Every religion has it's screwballs..... In Islam the screwballs are also the heroes......
If that is not what the Muslim faith is about - let the Ayatollahs speak up and denounce the behavior.... they don't - and that's why the bloodshed continues. Consider that.....
Sura 4,38. 'Men are superior to women on account of the qualities with which God hath gifted one above the other'.
Sura 4,3. '............of other women who seem good in your eyes, marry but two, three or four.'
Sura 39,71. ' By troops shall the unbelievers be driven towards hell.'
To emphasise this last, in the minbar, the preacher, when delivering the khutbar, leans upon a weapon of some sort to symbolise the fact that Islam is to be propagated if necessary by force of arms.
Compatible with democracy ?
There are people of many different faiths that ascribe to peace, service and tolerance. There are also those who don't, but to try to make the point that an entire faith is or is not a suitable one is not only disingenuous, but bigoted. It is what it is.
It's ALL about what other people should do, and it isn't even recognizable.
I don't ever remember a mention of what people outside the church owed us. It's sickening to see these strangers spewing their hatered. they seem sick not saved.
On one side, we have the forces of light who use love, caring for others, reason, and logic to shape ourselves. (Sorry, but the lines are so clearly drawn that I could think of no better words than "light" and "darkness" to describe them.)
On the other, we have the forces of darkness whose leaders mold their followers through greed, fear of the unknown future), and hatred for anything and everyone different.
No one knows how the coming conflict will end.
I have found a lot to think about (both good and bad) in the Book of Revelations and the prophecies of Nostredamus.
But factual reality doesn't seem to be enough to stop conservative pundits and politicians -- in fact, a whole cadre of critics -- from fanning public fears with apocalyptic warnings about the spreading menace of Islam in America."
Unfortunately, facts rarely have anything to do with issues such as this. Power driven pundits, think tanks and spin doctors feed a continual message trying these misrepresentations of threats to freedom and American values to strong emotional centers and deep rooted conceptual metaphors we all use to sort information about the world around us. The only way to make facts relevant again is to get a stronger progressive message of tolerance, knowledge, and understanding connected to emotional centers and the deep rooted conceptual metaphors about freedom and American values, and repeat it over and over until it has replaced the message of fear and misunderstanding that has driven the myopic views about which you have written in this article.