I had difficulty sleeping last night and so did a lot of thinking until I dropped off. One of my Facebook friends had a conversation about the "mosque" that included this sentiment from one of her friends, "this them using our freedoms to poke us in the eye."
It finally dawned on me that for most Americans who are upset about this "mosque," Muslims are foreigners they distrust. Obvious, perhaps, but a key point. Yet, the Imam that Fox News is up in arms about (Feisal Abdul Rauf) is an Arab American. As I pointed out on FB, "our" freedoms are actually "his" freedoms too.
As I keep saying, this is a sentiment that Bush tried to keep repressed and not encouraged. Perhaps it was because he did a lot of fund raising among Muslim Americans, or maybe it was because he genuinely wanted to curry the favor of moderates. But the conservatives of today have decided that there are no moderate Muslims.
And once again, conservatives wrap themselves in the Flag, claim ownership of 9-11 and of religious freedom, as if the only way others get access is through their good graces.
4 comments:
The constant objection to conservative Christians that has been voiced for years by liberals is that conservative Christians want to violate the separation of church and state.
There is no separation of church and state in Islam. Yet that fact has not caused liberals to hesitate in their endorsement of Muslims. What's going on here?
Schaeffer, not sure I understand your point. No liberal I know supports some kind of Muslim theocracy any more than we want a Christian theocracy. Our "endorsement" of Islam is their freedom to worship as they choose. And by the way, that was one of the reasons Bush and others defended going into Iraq and Afghanistan--to extend freedom to Muslims.
Pres. Bush's approach to Islam is one of the few bright spots to his Presidency in my opinion.
This is the current "Scare old white people" story being used by the Republicans to gin up support in the upcoming election. Six years ago, it was the Gays, then it was the Hispanics, now it is the Muslims!
They are less than one percent of our population. I would think a country that was 99.2% something else could defend itself from imposition of Sharia law!
Where does this fear come from?!
And now? A mosque in California is vandalized and a Muslim cabbie in NYC was stabbed and slashed. Only a matter of time before the rhetoric of fear, purposefully wielded for short-term political gain, leads to this kind of hate crime.
Every time they use this "others" approach to drive political wedges, it leads to violence. They're not us, so be afraid of them taking over.
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