Posts Tagged ‘Islam’
November 28, 2011
Sometimes intolerance can be so wildly nonsensical that you can only laugh. Thursday in the Australian parliament Luke Simpkins, Liberal MP from Western Australia, sounded a warning* about the sinister implications of unwittingly eating meat from animals that had been slaughtered in accordance with Islamic law.
“Mohammed, the prophet of Islam—as reported in the Hadith, the traditions of Islam, the book second only to the Koran—talked of how Islam would be furthered to those parts of the world that had not yet embraced it. He reportedly said, ‘The non-believers will become Muslims when, amongst other things, they eat the meat that we have slaughtered.’ This is one of the key aspects to converting nonbelievers to Islam.”
“By having Australians unwittingly eating halal food we are all one step down the path towards the conversion, and that is a step we should only make with full knowledge and one that should not be imposed upon us without us knowing.”
If Mr. Simpkins is right, we probably should stay away from the Hebrew National hot dogs sold at Costco snack bars (more…)
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Tags:Australian parliament, conversion, Costco, ethics, Hadith, halal, Hebrew National, intolerance, Islam, Islamic Law, Islamophobia Today, Luke Simpkins, Mohammed, non-believers
Posted in Ethics-general, Religion, Tolerance | 2 Comments »
August 28, 2011
Six days after the 9/11 attack on the United States, President George W. Bush went to the Islamic Center of Washington to publicly embrace Islam and, especially, American Muslims. He led Americans away from any idea of blaming Islam for the horror of 9/11. He repeated that theme over and over, making it a part of his second inaugural address, and returning to the Islamic Center for its rededication in 2007.
Bush’s healing message stands sadly in contrast to the ugly anti-Muslim rhetoric we hear lately from so many prominent Republicans, notably Newt Gingrich, Eric Cantor, Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Peter King, and Frank Gaffney. To their credit Mitt Romney and Rick Perry have not joined in, but neither have they been very vocal in rejection of Islamophobia.
Ethics Bob never thought he’d be missing George Bush’s leadership, but on this issue he surely does. Bush’s statements are worth reading:
September 17, 2001, at the Islamic Center of Washington (complete remarks):
“Thank you all very much for your hospitality. We’ve just had a—wide-ranging discussions on the matter at hand. Like the good folks standing with me, the American people were appalled and outraged at last Tuesday’s attacks. And so were Muslims all across the world. Both Americans, our Muslim friends and citizens, taxpaying citizens, and Muslims in nations were just appalled and could not believe what we saw on our TV screens.
“These acts of violence against innocents violate the fundamental tenets of the Islamic faith. And it’s important for my fellow Americans to understand that. (more…)
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Tags:9/11 attack, American Muslims, anti-Muslim rhetoric, diversity, Eric Cantor, ethics, Frank Gaffney, George W Bush, Herman Cain, Islam, Islamic Center of Washington, Islamophobia. leadership, Koran, Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Peter King, Republicans, Rick Perry, Rumi, Sermon on the Mount, Sinai, terrorists second inaugural address
Posted in Ethics-general, Politics, Religion, Tolerance | Leave a Comment »
January 25, 2011
Freshman Rep. Allen West (R-FL), in an interview with Shalomshow TV, calmly stated that Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY), one of two Jews in congress, represents “the antithesis of the principles upon which this country was established.”
If it’s not clear why West attacked Weiner, this quote from a campaign town meeting, may help explain:
“We already have a 5th column that is already infiltrating into our colleges, into our universities, into our high schools, into our religious aspect, our cultural aspect, our financial, our political systems in this country. And that enemy represents something called Judaism, and Judaism is a totalitarian theocratic political ideology, it is not a religion. It has not been a religion since 622 AD, and we need to have individuals that stand up and say that.”
Actually, EthicsBob is pulling your leg. Obviously. It would be unacceptable to openly attack Jews like that. Rep. West was really attacking Islam: to read West’s real statements substitute Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), Muslims, and Islam for Weiner, Jews, and Judaism, respectively, and you’ll have the congressman’s exact words. Glad he wasn’t attacking Jews. That would have made people mad.
Thanks to IslamophobiaToday.com for calling this to our attention. The website does a great public service by its work exposing hatred against American Muslims.
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Tags:5th column, Allen West, American principles, Anthony Weiner, ethics, Islam, IslamophobiaToday.com, Jews in congress, Judaism, Keith Ellison, Muslims in congress, Shalomshow
Posted in Ethics-general, Government, Religion, Tolerance | 3 Comments »
August 18, 2010
Some days ethics backs you into a corner. You have to choose between doing what your inner voice is saying is right—or not. That day is here for President Obama.
He made a stirring statement about religious freedom last Friday at a Ramadan dinner. The next day he equivocated: “I was not commenting and I will not comment on the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there. I was commenting very specifically on the right people have that dates back to our founding. That’s what our country is about.”
Score a miss for Presidential leadership. His conflicting statements poured fuel on the burning controversy.
· Americans generally believe Muslims have a right to worship, just not there.
· One and one-half billion Muslims thought America was a land of religious freedom, not at war with Islam, but aren’t certain.
· Manhattanites mostly think people ought to be able to do whatever they want.
· Families of 9/11 victims are divided
You can’t please everybody, Mr. President. Time to do the right thing. But what is the right thing? Should a Muslim community center-cum-prayer area be built on the site of a decrepit ex-Burlington Coat Factory, hard by an Off-Track Betting parlor, a bar, a porn shop, and some run-down office buildings 2-1/2 blocks from Ground Zero?
The opponents say it’s a matter of respecting sensitivities of people who lost loved ones on 9/11. (more…)
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Tags:9/11 families, Burlington Coat Factory, ethics, Ground Zero, Islam, mosque, Muslim community center, Muslims, President Obama, Presidential leadership, Ramadan, religious freedom
Posted in Ethics-general, Government, Politics, Tolerance | 1 Comment »
August 1, 2010
The Anti-Defamation League has in the past stood against, not only anti-Semitism, but against all kinds of racial and religious bigotry. Those days sadly are gone. In a shameful statement the ADL summed up its position this way:
“Proponents of the Islamic Center may have every right to build at this site, and may even have chosen the site to send a positive message about Islam. The bigotry some have expressed in attacking them is unfair, and wrong. But ultimately this is not a question of rights, but a question of what is right. In our judgment, building an Islamic Center in the shadow of the World Trade Center will cause some victims more pain – unnecessarily – and that is not right.”
So if you are a victim and you blame Islam—not al Qaeda—for 9/11, we should honor your bigotry by preventing American Muslims from building a community center/mosque 2-1/2 blocks from Ground Zero. For a Jewish group to make such a statement is remarkable, and especially reprehensible. It wasn’t long ago that Jews too were told to be unobtrusive because their presence where they were unwanted would cause pain (more…)
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Tags:9/11, al Qaeda, Anti-Defamation League, anti-Semitism, bigotry, diversity, ethics, fivethirtyeight.com, Ground Zero, Islam, Islamic Center, lunch counters, Nate Silver, polling, religious freedom
Posted in Ethics-general, Government, Politics, Tolerance | 7 Comments »
April 9, 2010
Hatred of the “other” in America is on the down slope. We still have some way to go, but we’ve come a long way since “No Irish need apply” for employment, gays and lesbians barred from teaching,lily-white major league baseball, and deed restrictions against selling houses to Jews. Heck, we even elected an African-American President.
It seems like the only minority it’s ok to hate is the Muslims. Ann Coulter’s many fans laughed when she said that Muslims should not be allowed to fly on airplanes and should take “flying carpets” instead. When a Canadian Muslim student protested that she did not, in fact, own a flying carpet and asked how she should travel, Coulter’s rejoinder was “Take a camel.” Haha.
More serious hate-Muslim screeds are viral on the internet. And worse than the crude screeds are the seemingly analytical pieces laying out the danger we face from a growing Muslim population, (more…)
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Tags:Ann Coulter, burning of Christian churches, Canada, deed restrictions, Denmark Germany, flying carpets, France, gays and lesbians, halal, Hatred, Hitler, internet hate, Islam, Islamic Law, Israel, Jews. African-American President, Martin Niemöller, massacres, Muslim population, Muslims, No Irish need apply, Russia, Sharia, synagogues, Take a camel, The Netherlands, the other, they came first, UK, What is A Devout Muslim
Posted in Ethics-general, International, Tolerance | 5 Comments »
Sometimes intolerance can be so wildly nonsensical that you can only laugh. Thursday in the Australian parliament Luke Simpkins, Liberal MP from Western Australia, sounded a warning* about the sinister implications of unwittingly eating meat from animals that had been slaughtered in accordance with Islamic law.
Ethics Bob 
