Thursday, July 22, 2010

A Model to Emulate

When Sarah Palin announced her desire that "peaceful" Muslims "refudiate" a proposed Mosque to be built a few blocks from the World Trade Center site, I was stunned at her brazen devolution into religion demogoguery. Put aside the fact that the organization building the group is the epitome of a "peaceful" Muslim group. As Adam Holland observes, there really isn't any other way to characterize the opposition of Palin and her ilk other than as naked religious bigotry.

A law school friend of mine was defending Palin, and I told him that the argument (such as it is) against the Mosque reminded me of a decision by the Egyptian government to forbid Jews from utilizing a recently restored synagogue in retaliation for Israeli "aggressions" against Muslim holy sites. When I read that story, I saw a human rights violation. Sarah Palin, I said, saw a model to emulate.

I didn't mean it farcically, but I hardly expected Palin or one of her allies to actually consciously admit that they viewed religious discrimination the Middle East as a guide for us to follow. Yet here's Newt Gingrich, explicitly pointing to Saudi bans on synagogues and churches as a reason to bar a Mosque in New York. What I see as barbaric, Gingrich apparently sees as pathbreaking. If only we could be as humane and open-minded parochial and bigoted as the Saudis! What a great vision for America!

The similarity between Palin (and Gingrich) and the bigoted policymakers in the Egyptian and Saudi government doesn't surprise me, as Palin clearly cut from the same cloth as those who would render me a second-class citizen -- perhaps why she is one of the most singularly unpopular politicians amongst American Jews (others have alternative explanations).

10 comments:

joe said...

That ad was for all intents and purposes self-parody. What exactly do these mosque opponents expect from "the political class"? A law that the courts would quash within a week? A constitutional amendment?

joe said...

Okay, that was dense of me. The answer is obviously fundraising.

Superdestroyer said...

The real point is that is Muslims gain any form of political power in the U.S. , that those same muslims will discriminate on the basis of religion and will be shameless in the discrimination.

On of the tenets of Arab/Muslim culture is that non-Muslims will never be considered their equals.

It is nice that the anti-religious left is more tolerate of militant Islamics that they are of Christians.

And last, why should conservatives be concerns about what liberal, very hypocritical Jews think about them. Jews are as liberal as blacks in the U.S. but much more hypocritical.

Rebecca said...

Well, I haven't noticed Keith Ellison, Democratic representative in Congress from Minnesota, who is a Muslim, doing anything to discriminate against other religions during his term as Congressman.

Superdestroyer, haven't you heard of that provision in the 1st Amendment that guarantees freedom of religion for both the religions we like and those we don't like?

I'm a liberal, religious, not anti-religious, Jew, and I don't understand what you mean by calling Jews hypocritical.

joe said...

No really, Superdestroyer. Tell us how you really feel about every minority group in the U.S.

Superdestroyer said...

Rebecca,

Please list the majority Muslim countries that have freedom of religion for all religions.

And while your at it, you may want to look up the rules in Israel.

That Muslims and Jews do not like Chirstians is standard throughout the world.

joe said...

So you want the U.S. to be more like countries you don't like and abolish freedom of religion?

Got it.

Superdestroyer said...

Joe,

Shouldn't Muslims in the U.S. be held to the same standard that the left wants to hold the Tea Party? Muslims in the U.S. should be forced to renounce the way that the Islamic religion in practiced in every majority country in the world and should claim that they support freedom of religion and freedom of speech.

The Muslims should also be forced to exclude any Muslim that wants to establish Muslim culture in the U.S.

Unless American Muslims are wiling to renounced the bigotry of their fellow Muslims, then no one should trust them.

PG said...

Superdestroyer:

Define what you mean by "freedom of religion." If it's a country that, like the UK, allows various religions to be practiced but has a state church (Church of England), then there are literally a dozen majority-Islamic nations that fit the bill.

If it's a country that, like the U.S., doesn't have a state church and has freedom of religion guaranteed by the nation's constitution, there are several more countries that meet your requirements (including Indonesia, which has the largest Muslim population in the world and a national motto that translates literally as "many, yet one" because of the massive ethnic, linguistic and religious diversity).

joe said...

I can only guess the ramblings on the standard to which "the left wants to hold the Tea Party" refers to recent criticisms by the NAACP.

Which of course said nothing about the government forcing the TPers to change their cherished bigoted beliefs. "The left" has merely expressed moral condemnation. I know it's difficult to distinguish between that and a legislative agenda for those in the business of legislating morality, but try to keep up.

(I also find it interesting that Superdestroyer implicitly admits that "the Tea Party" is rife with racism. Of course, he obviously doesn't see that as a bad thing... but still, from the mouths of babes.)