Letters to the Editor
drichmond
Published Letters: 235 Editor's Choice: 18
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talking heads
[Read the article: Meet your House Republican leaders]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]same as it ever was, same as it ever was...
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Golden Boy contd
[Read the article: Fox isn't the only "fair and balanced" one]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Here's the crux of the issue, as I see it: "These [terrorist associations of CAIR] are in the public record and I don’t dispute it but I do dispute that CAIR is the leadership of mainstream American Islam."
Then who is?
Who speaks for the Jews in this country or abroad? Who leads the Christian church? Is it the Pope? What about the Protestants of many sub-groups from Lutheran down to Pentecostal? The Buddhists? The Dalai Lama may speak for Tibetan Buddhism but not for Zen of which there are two schools of thought not to mention the Hinayana school which isn’t represented by the Mahayana school. Hindus? The Islamic faith has adherents of many different stripes and colors. Would we lump sum Salman Rushdie with the Ayatollah Khomeini because they are Muslim? What of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the late Qawwali singer of Sufi background, did his music preach hate and war? Islam is broken into several groups of which Shi'a and Sunni are the largest and better known, by name alone however for most westerners.
My point being that to mistake CAIR for being the leadership of mainstream American Islam would be like saying Pat Robertson speaks for all American Christians. People with agenda’s whether hidden or not always speak the loudest. CAIR may have a very large and visible record and may actually perform some good despite their ties to ‘terrorist groups.’
While we discuss CAIR, what of AIPAC and their stranglehold on U.S. Foreign policy as it pertains to Israel and hence the Middle East?
But the mistake I think a lot of progressives make is to draw equivalencies between Islam and Christianity out of a principle of ignorance; they hate fundamentalist Christianity and assume Islam is basically the same, and is in fact preferable since it provides such a hard alternative to Christianity. Since Islam derives many ideas from the Judeo-Christian tradition, one will always be able to find similarities in support of that idea.
There may be a grain of truth, a small one at that but I’m rather well versed in religious and political history, so don’t make the mistake of lumping me as an ignorant progressive.
But Islam was conceived as a religion of conquest (thus the core Islamic ideas of taquiyya, dhimmi, jizyat, etc) and its quiescence in the face of strength is a historical tactic, not an invitation to genuine dialogue.
And this differs from Christianities history how? We have Rome under Constantine convert and then we have the pagan tribes that converted to Arianism crushed because their Christian faith was deemed heresy. Not to mention the crusades, the blood shed during the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, the expulsion of the Jews and Muslims from Spain, etc, etc, etc.
During the misnomer of the “dark ages” Islamic culture was far more tolerant and understanding of their neighbors, even in conquest. On the Iberian Peninsula before the expulsion under Ferdinand and Isabella, Jews and Christians were allowed to practice their faiths in relative peace. This acceptance of others even occurred in Palestine and most of the Middle East and had perhaps its day in the sun under Suleyman the Magnificent.
Historical tactics? The Christians haven’t proven themselves any better or worse.
Dialogue with Muslims seems to work best when the Muslims are not in a position of strength.
I’m sorry but this is a statement born of ignorance. Do you actually know any Muslims? Have you ever spoken to one at length and had a conversation about the issues you obviously have with “mainstream American Islam?” Sad but doing a web search on your moniker on Salon has given me a good amount of proof that no matter what I say, or anyone says for that matter you have a knee jerk reaction to Islam. I’m not going to change your mind and you haven’t begun to change mine.