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US Religious Leaders Condemn Growing Islamophobia
WASHINGTON - Leaders of some three dozen mainstream U.S. religious denominations Tuesday condemned what many commentators have called a rising tide of Islamophobia touched off by the recent controversy over the construction of a Muslim community centre in Lower Manhattan, two blocks from the site of the twin World Trade Centre towers destroyed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Demonstrators hold signs denouncing violence against Muslims at a news conference to issue a statement against bigotry and islamophobia at City Hall in New York September 1, 2010. (REUTERS/Lucas Jackson) "As religious leaders in this great country, we have come together in our nation's capitol to denounce categorically the derision, misinformation and outright bigotry being directed against America's Muslim community," the group declared in a statement.
"We are profoundly distressed and deeply saddened by the incidents of violence committed against Muslims in our community, and by the desecration of Islamic houses of worship," the statement continued, adding, "We stand by the principle that to attack any religion in the United States is to do violence to the religious freedom of all Americans."
The group, which included national leaders of the Muslim and Jewish communities, as well as from the Roman Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox churches, singled out the threat by one Florida church to publicly burn copies of the Qu'ran to mark the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
The planned burning, which the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen.David Petraeus, warned Monday could endanger the lives of U.S. troops there and in Iraq, "is a particularly egregious offense that demands the strongest possible condemnation by all who value civility in public life and seek to honor the sacred memory of those who lost their lives on September 11," the inter-religious group said.
Also on Tuesday, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a leading Jewish civil rights organisation, announced the formation of a new Interfaith Coalition on Mosques to combat a wave of anti-Muslim incidents across the country.
The move by the ADL, which itself attracted intense controversy in August for opposing the Islamic centre's proposed construction in New York, was another sign of the growing concern among communal leaders that the rise in anti-Muslim sentiment triggered by the rancorous debate over the "Ground Zero Mosque", as its critics dubbed it, has reached dangerous heights.
Most mainstream critics of the project, including the ADL, did not deny the legal right of Muslims to build mosques where they choose. They argued instead that the location of the centre so close to the "sacred ground" of the World Trade Centre site showed insensitivity.
Defenders of the project noted that the proposed location was in a commercial area that already featured restaurants, bars, and strip clubs - not to mention other mosques just a few blocks away.
The controversy, however, soon touched off a broader wave of incidents targeting Muslims and mosques.
In the most notorious case, a New York City cabdriver was stabbed several times late last month by a passenger who asked whether asked him whether he was Muslim. Days later, the construction site of a mosque in Tennessee was the target of what federal investigators have described as an arson attempt.
Vandals also struck against mosques and Muslim congregations in California and New York State, while plans to build new mosques or expand existing ones have reportedly been put on hold in a number of communities across the country.
"Having spoken to many families across the country over the last few weeks, I have heard many Muslim Americans say they have never felt this anxious or this insecure in America since directly after Sep. 11," Ingrid Mattson, head of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), told reporters at the press conference where the inter-religious group released its statement.
The Saturday's 9/11 anniversary is expected to spur more controversy.
In addition to the planned Qu'ran burning, a major rally in Lower Manhattan against the Proposed Islamic centre is also planned for Sep. 11, led by Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer, two bloggers who have been leading critics of the project.
Both have until recently been widely considered "fringe" figures, although their work has been praised or supported by a number of prominent far-right or neo-conservative personalities and groups, such as the Center for Security Policy (CSP), which itself is funded by major U.S. defence contractors and several wealthy Jewish donors who also have supported radical Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem and the West Bank; former U.N. Amb. John Bolton of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), the David Horowitz Freedom Center, the Middle East Forum; and the Foundation for Defence of Democracies.
The rally, however, will also feature Geert Wilders, the controversial Dutch politician who has been denounced by the ADL and other groups for Islamophobia, and members of the English Defense League, a British far-right group. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is believed to be preparing a run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012 and who delivered an incendiary speech against the proposed Islamic centre at AEI, originally agreed to participate in the rally but subsequently withdrew.
A growing number of foreign policy analysts and officials have warned that the escalation in anti-Muslim acts and rhetoric is rebounding against U.S. national security interests by fueling perceptions in the Islamic world that the United States is anti-Islam.
Speaking of the planned Qu'ran burning, Petraeus, widely considered Washington's most popular military leader of the past generation, warned in an email to reporters that "Images of the burning of a Qu'ran would undoubtedly be used by extremists in Afghanistan - and around the world - to inflame public opinion and incite violence." He told the Wall Street Journal it could "endanger (our) troops and ...the overall effort" - a message that was echoed Tuesday by both the White House and the State Department.
Some of the members of the inter-religious group made similar statements Tuesday. "If (Petraeus) is correct, then we're really in trouble," said Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. "The story of bigotry and intolerance will be taken by others as a statement of America," he noted.
Expressions of hatred for Muslims "do real damage to America around the globe," said Rabbi David Saperstein, the executive director for Reform Judaism. "It is not what our religions are about."
"You may have heard some of the loud voices of those who hate Muslims," Mattson said, addressing herself directly to fellow-Muslims during the press conference. "But they don't represent America. Don't use these incidents to justify any kind of hatred against America or American Christians and Jews," she said.
Richard Cizik, a former head of the National Association of Evangelicals and currently president of the New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good, was particularly harsh toward those "mainly conservative Christians ...who are responding with open bigotry and hatred" toward fellow citizens because of their faith. Not only are they rejecting the Constitution's first amendment protecting freedom of religion, but they "bring dishonour to the name of Jesus Christ", he said.
He also noted that the "principles that protect Muslims today will protect Christians and Jews tomorrow."
Many religious leaders have noted similarities between the current attacks on Islam and earlier attacks on U.S. religious minorities, such as Jews and Catholics, especially during periods of economic distress.
R. Scott Appleby and John T. McGreevy, two prominent historians of Catholicism at the University of Notre Dame, recently warned in the New York Review of Books of "the revival of a strain of nativism" and "a debased effort to whip up partisan fervor" that echoes traditional attacks on U.S. Catholics.
18 Comments so far
Show AllFine, but they're about 10 years too late.
But better late than never. This is a very welcome move, IMHO. I am not a Christian, nor a follower of any religion, but I recognize its power in human life. Religious freedom is absolutely paramount. We have already lost political freedom, we can't afford to lose more.
that is it in a nutshell. too bad the corporate media won't point that out but it is pretty typical of our shit media which is also partly responsible for islamophobia.
matt
galveston tx
"The story of bigotry and intolerance will be taken by others as a statement of America."
The same way the petulant children stamping their feet and holding their breath until they turn blue if the community center/mosque is built are painting all Muslims with the same brush.
"Not only are they rejecting the Constitution's first amendment protecting freedom of religion, but they 'bring dishonour to the name of Jesus Christ', he said."
This is just SOP for these cretins. You are free to agree with them or wither under their toxic ejaculations. It's the same mentality used to justify their intimidation tactics if you express an opinion of tolerance for any of the groups they hate. You are free to express your opinion. You are also free to suffer the consequences for doing so--including threatening phone calls, emails and letters.
exactly. kind of like the nazis and their brown shirt goon squads in the 1930s. sounds like 'merka is coming closer and closer to that kind of society.
matt
The elephant in the room: Part 1
Selams
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/muhammad-sahimi/call-to-burn-the-quran-an_b_708566.html
Muhammad Sahimi
Call to Burn the Quran: Another Facet of an Industry Called Demonizing Islam
The Rev. Terry Jones, the "religious leader" who has proclaimed Islam as devil's religion, has called on the people to burn a Quran on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. This is a man who says that he does not personally know any Muslims; a man who does not know where the Sharia law came from, and has apparently learned the little, if any, that he knows about Islam by watching YouTube videos.
General David H. Petraeus, the commander of the U.S. forces in Afghanistan, warned that any image of Quran burning will pose a threat to the safety of the U.S. troops in Afghanistan. P. J. Crowley, State Department spokesman, called Quran burning "un-American" and "inconsistent with the values of religious tolerance and religious freedom."
Why is it that in a country as great as the United States, a man associated with a small church that supposedly has only 50 members, can create such big waves with his message of hatred? The reason is that demonizing Muslims and Islam have been going on in the U.S., and more generally in the West, for a long time. It would be a grave mistake if we think that Islam bashing began after the terrorist attacks of 2001.
In fact, it began in this country long before those attacks. It goes back all the way to the Islamic Revolution of 1979 in Iran, the hostage crisis of 1979-1981, the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-1988, the first Persian Gulf war of 1991, and the crippling sanctions imposed on Iraq in the 1990s that killed 500,000 Iraqi children as a result of malnutrition. So, the war that the United States has been waging on the Islamic World in the name of combating terrorism began at least 30 years ago.
In his outstanding book, All the Shah's Men, Stephen Kinzer goes even further and states that the roots of the 2001 terrorist attacks go back to 1953 when the CIA overthrew Iran's democratically-elected Prime Minister, Dr. Mohammad Mosaddegh. So, let us consider the events since the 1979 Revolution in Iran.
With U.S. encouragement, Iraq invaded Iran in September 1980. The U.S., though officially neutral, supported Iraq in its war with Iran. But, the real goal of helping Iraq, while also being involved in the infamous Iran-Contra affairs whereby Israel supplied Iran with weapons, was to make both nations bleed to death. In 1983, one U.S. official declared, "We don't give a damn as long as the Iran-Iraq carnage does not affect our allies or alter the balance of power" (see Dilip Hiro, The Longest War, p. 121).
Henry Kissinger put it more bluntly: "Too bad they cannot both lose." The result: close to 1 million people died. But, that was not the end of the tragedy. Saddam's army that had been supported by the West became a monster, hence setting the stage for the first Persian Gulf War in 1990-1991, which renewed Muslim bashing in the U.S.
When home-grown terrorists, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, blew up the federal building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995, killing 168 people, the first reaction of almost all the "pundits" was, "This has Middle Eastern terrorism written all over it." Muslim bashing went on for at least a day, before the world learned that the terrorists were all-American boys.
When former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was asked in 1996 about the deaths of Iraqi children as a result of the crippling sanctions imposed on Iraq, she stared into the cameras of CBS Television and responded, "This is a very hard choice, but the price, we think the price is worth it." Albright and Bill Clinton knew what they were doing to the Iraqis. Denis J. Halliday, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator in Iraq for part of the sanctions era in the 1996, expressed a widely held belief when he said in 1998: "We are in the process of destroying an entire society. It is as simple and terrifying as that." [emphasis mine]
And when after the terrorist attacks of 2001, the public was terrified about the anthrax attacks, the idea was propagated and fueled by the right wingers and Islam haters that Saddam Hussein and Muslims were behind the attacks, whereas it was a home-grown terrorist that was committing the crimes. Practically nothing was done to correct the public's perception.
I will not even get into all the propaganda against Muslims and Islam after the 2001 terrorist attacks; almost all of it was sheer lie. An environment was created in which Muslims in the U.S. were living constant fear, and it became unpatriotic not to support the illegal invasion of Iraq.
And, of course, we all know that Muslim haters, George W. Bush, and the neoconservatives, made maximum use of the terrorist attacks of 2001 to advance their agenda. Did Ann Coulter, who is now bemoaning the war in Afghanistan, not declare, "We should invade their [Muslims'] countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity"?
Elephant in the room part 2:
Selams
After referring to the war with the Al-Qaeda terrorists as a "crusade," did G.W. Bush not receive top-secret daily briefings on the "progress" of the Iraq war that began with quotes from the bible?
Who were the advocates of the illegal invasion of Iraq? Who were the people who wanted to remake the entire Middle East - a totally Muslim region (aside from Israel) - by invading it? How many times has Fox News had anti-Muslims pose as "experts," propagating lies, half truths, and exaggerations about them? Too many to count.
But, demonizing Muslims and Islamic nations is not limited to such characters. Was it not Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who threatened to obliterate Iran? Was it not John McCain who sang, "Bomb, Bomb, Bomb Iran"? And they were threatening a large, dynamic, and highly educated Muslim nation whose population is actually pro-U.S.
President Obama has never been a Muslim. He is a Christian. He has said so times. But, one thing that is driving the Tea Party is the belief that the President is a Muslim. Few people have said, so what if the President is a Muslim? What would be wrong with it?
The height of demonizing Islam and Muslims is not even the call by Rev. Jones to burn copies of Quran. He is a fringe figure. It is the opposition to Park51, originally named the Cordoba House, the planned 13-story Islamic community center and mosque, to be located about two blocks from the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan. The propaganda, originated by Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer and then picked up by all the political opportunists - from Howard Dean to Joe "bomb-Iran-for-Israel's-Sake" Lieberman, representatives Peter King and Rick Lazio- has it that this will be a mosque (which is not) to be built at Ground Zero (which will not be and cannot even be seen from there) and if it is allowed to go forward, it will be a threat to the security of New York and America. Geller, Spencer, and their allies are nothing but fearmongers and demagogues. The two have even founded a center of bigotry called Stop Islamisation of America - an absurd notion in a country in which Muslims do not represent even 5 percent of the total population.
And, here is the latest news. It was revealed last week that eminent scientist Stephen Hawking has stated in his new book, The Grand Design, co-authored by American physicist Leonard Mlodinow, that, "Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing. It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going."
Many took this as meaning that Hawking does not believe in God. But, whose fault is that? Muslims! An Israeli scientist insisted that Hawking's atheism was because, "He sees what is going on in the world - fundamentalism is spreading. People reach a lot of conclusions that are dangerous; think of Iran, al-Qaida. They want to blow up the world." Can demonizing Muslims get any cruder?
You see, demonizing Islam and Muslims has become very fashionable in the U.S. It has been turned into a highly profitable industry. It has also become a stick to hit the heads of your political rivals. It pays huge dividend, both politically and economically, to demonize Muslims and Islam. So, why should we be surprised that hatred propagated by the likes of Geller, Spencer, Coulter, and Rev. Jones gets traction in some circles?
Some of those who oppose the Park51 project claim that it would be insensitive of Muslims to go ahead with the project in a place so close, or - as the propaganda has it - at Ground Zero. I agree completely that one must be sensitive - although asking for "sensitivity" in this case is absurd. In turn, I would like to ask the readers to consider the following question: How many Muslims have been killed by the United States and Europeans since World War II? Here are the ones that I remember:
The Algerian War of Independence with France killed 1.5 million Algerians. I will not even count how many Muslims were killed when Pakistan and India gained their independence from Britain.
How about the Suez Canal crisis of 1956, when France, Britain, and Israel attacked Egypt? 7500 Egyptian casualties.
Counting the number of people who were killed as a direct or indirect result of the CIA Coup in Iran in 1953 is impossible, because it depends on how we count the dead.
How about the Iran-Iraq casualties of their war, which was provoked and prolonged by the West (see above)? At least 1 million dead.
Shooting down Iran Air 655, a civilian airliner, by USS Vincennes in July 1988 killed all 290 people aboard.
The first Persian Gulf: About 103000 civilians alone.
The crippling Sanctions imposed on Iraq between 1990 and 2003: Impossible to say. But, the United Nations UNICEF said that 500,000 Iraqi children died due to the sanction. The total number of dead is likely much higher.
The war in Bosnia: Of the about 110,000 killed (many believe that the true number is much larger), roughly 70 percent were Muslims, with up to 50,000 women raped.
The Iraq war: Between 200,000 and over 1 million, depending on who is counting. The war is not over yet. Add to it up to about 4.5 million refugees and displaced people.
The war in Afghanistan: Up to 50,000 civilians so far, and counting. I do not even count the up to 1 million Afghan people killed during its war with the Soviet Union in the 1980s, with up to 5 million refugees.
The total: Way over 4 million Muslims. Should I continue with my counting, or has the point been made?
So, the question is: Where is the sensitivity of the people in the West to the fact that all those Muslims were killed in wars imposed on them by the West?
excellent post curmudgeon. a thorough history lesson goes a long way in explaining all of the shit the west including the US has done. The US foreign policy has caused a great deal of death and destruction and shows the deep racism of the US.
matt
It is very fashionable to condemn any critique of Islam, but I would note that Muslims are not exactly free of intolerance and violence towards other faiths and their members.
I'm afraid there is no "right" to not have your feelings hurt in a free society.
A cartoon and the entire Muslim community across the world (and no, it wasn't just extremist's) are calling for peoples deaths.
This little nothing that threatens to burn Korans is exactly that. A nothing. Most people hold him in the same contempt that they hold any extremist that tries to stir up trouble.
But in our country, you have the freedom to burn our flag, the bible, books in general or anything you please as long as you don't threaten anyone else's safety. People may not like it and in many cases I'd be sure I were on my own property when indulging my prejudice, but you may do it.
Trying to turn this patheic little creatuires plea for his 15 minutes of fame into hate for the Muslims in our world by everyone else is going to be a hard sell. It also plays into the hands of the little minority you are speaking of.
"ignore the Florida burning of the Quran" Exactly. The overriding passion that drives people to burn the precious symbols of others is the passion for self-promotion. That's true whether the symbol is a Koran or an American Flag. The solution is simple: don't pay any attention. Much like denying oxygen to a fire, it extinguishes it.
There are valid reasons to oppose war, or to be suspicious of radical Islam. But the only reason to burn a flag, or a Koran, is to promote oneself by inciting hurt in others. Hurt that turns to hate.
I don't blame this nobody from nick-in-the-woods, Florida for reading the media winds cleverly and realizing what a bountiful harvest of free publicity he would reap by burning a few Korans. I blame the media for not realizing they were feeding him the oxygen by which to inflate his persona.
curmudgeon99's two posts above covered a lot of the things I was thinking as I read the article. I know some people who have been lobbying religious leaders for years to follow their own holy books, to stand against war, the exploitation of minorities and religions other than their own.
Now, when the clock is about to strike thirteen, they are beginning to awaken?
"First they came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Communist.
"Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Jew.
"Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up, because I was a Protestant.
"Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me."
Rev. Martin Niemoller, 1890-1984
Lutheran minister, eight years in a Nazi concentration camp.
God! If people would just turn off their wall screens and read!
We are following lock step behind Nazi Germany and nobody sees it.
Read Shirer's "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" and "Berlin Diary." Read Sebastian Happner's "Defying Hitler"
I know people, today, whom I considered to be rational, intelligent humans, who would gladly lead a pogrom against Muslims here in the US.
Kristallnacht, the "Night of Broken glass" was when the Jew's businesses, homes and synagogues were trashed; to the approval of a huge mass of the German People. Then came the book burnings. Then came the rulings that Jews could not work, then they lost their places to live, then came the deportations, the camps, the torture, the Zyclon B and the ovens.
Many Germans, who saw what was happening and protested it, wound up in the same camps. Most of the populace bought Goebbels endless propaganda, however.
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
“The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly - it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over”
Joseph Goebbels, MiniProp for Hitler’s Third Reich
1897-1945
Billions of government (our taxes) money has been spent for the various "think tanks" to develop and improve on Goebbel's methods. PsyOps has succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. Apparently, We the People are but putty to be molded into whatever xenophobic, bigoted, form is wished by the government and its string pullers.
"Naturally the common people don't want war: Neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same for any country."
Herman Goering to Gustave Gilbert at Nuremberg, 18 April, 1946
It worked so well then and so much better now. Just substitute Muslims for Jews in the above scenario and you are looking at our immediate future unless We the People stand up for the return of our Constitution and Bill of Rights, intact and functioning, to the halls of government.
The SS set fire to the Reichstag Building and Hitler blamed it on the Communists. Thousands were rounded up and shot. The "Enabling Act" was passed by the Reichstag, suspending civil rights in Germany for the duration of the "emergency."
We had our "Reichstag Fire" on 9-11. Our "Enbling Act," the misnamed "Patriot Act," drawn up years before, was almost immediately implemented by our "Reichstag," the US Legislature.
Since then, we have slid down the fascist slope toward Nazism. The current pogrom against Islam is just another step in the process.
I don't know if we can stop this stampede of Sheeple or not, but we'd better try.
Dont forget, that this "wave" of hatred was started by Sarah Palin, the teabag douchebag, simply to stir up her inbred followers for the coming elections, as they have no viable platform to run on.
What a twat.
Cardinal McKittrick said, "this country was founded on love."
Fuck you Cardinal McKittrick. The Papal Bull Inter Caetera unleashed the butchery of Indigenous Peoples that is beyond comprehension and entirely absent of love. The genocide continues today and there isn't a Native person that isn't adversely affected by it. Damn the Catholic Church and it's hubris.