The Anti-Defamation League have published a couple of useful briefings over the past week, on ACT! for America and David Yerushalmi. They have also updated their briefing on Stop Islamization of America.
Category Archives: Resisting Islamophobia
Alaska: Republican party turns to Geller as Islam expert
When an Alabama Republican legislator introduced a bill to ban Shariah law and subsequently couldn’t define Shariah law, I thought we had seen the single most ignorant and problematic of the anti-Shariah efforts.
But now the Alaska GOP is giving Alabama a run for its money. In becoming the latest state legislator to seek to ban Islamic law, Alaska Republican Rep. Carl Gatto called a fringe anti-Muslim blogger to testify as an expert witness in the House Judiciary Committee.
That would be Pamela Geller. The New York-based blogger delivered a statement by phone and then took questions from Alaska legislators during the hearing Wednesday.
Geller is the blogger who spread many of the original falsehoods about the so-called “ground zero mosque” (sample headline from her “Atlas Shrugs” website: “Monster Mosque Pushes Ahead in Shadow of World Trade Center Islamic Death and Destruction”). Her blog also regularly features conspiracy theories such as the classic, “Malcolm X is Obama’s father.”
That Geller was called as an expert in anything in a deliberative body is remarkable. The Anchorage Daily News reports on her testimony:
“Geller maintained ‘surveys in the Muslim world’ show most Muslims want a unified caliphate with a ‘strict al-Qaida-like Sharia’. She spoke of Muslim polygamy, jihad in support of Sharia, and said Muslims have demanded special accommodation in U.S. schools, workplaces and government.”
Sikh community issues ultimatum to EDL’s Guramit Singh
Sikhs opposed to the English Defence League (EDL) have issued an ultimatum to Guramit Singh, spokesperson for the EDL who claims to be of Sikh heritage. The ultimatum calls for Guramit Singh from Nottingham to publically denounce and distance himself from the EDL by the end of the Vaisakhi festival.
Vaisakhi is a Sikh religious festival that falls on April 13 and it is one of the most significant occasions for the Sikhs, commemorating the establishment of the Khalsa (martial Sikhism) in 1699 by the 10th Guru of the Sikhs, Guru Gobind Singh ji. This year will mark the 312th anniversary of this auspicious occasion and will be celebrated globally with recitals of religious hymns and prayers for world peace.
Should he (Guramit Singh) fail to do so the community will appeal to the highest political authority of the Sikhs, the Akal Takht in the holy city of Amritsar, Punjab, India to formally request excommunication orders for him to be permanently expelling from the Sikh faith for bringing it into disrepute.
The excommunication order, if passed could mean the EDL member being permanently shunned from all aspects of the Sikh community, although that would be an ultimate sanction.
Durbin hearings on Muslim civil rights open
It was billed as the first-ever congressional hearing on the civil rights of American Muslims. But it played more like an Act II than a premiere.
In many ways, the hearing led by Senate Democrats on Tuesday was the dramatic antithesis of one House Republicans held earlier this month on homegrown Islamic radicalism.
Instead of gavel-banging, decorum prevailed. Sobering statistics stood in for emotional anecdotes, and laughter, not sobs, resounded in the committee room. While an audience packed the gallery, the dais was empty save for the six senators who came and went.
But the most striking change was the second hearing’s focus: Crimes committed against American Muslims, not by them. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said he convened Tuesday’s hearing because of rising Islamophobia, manifested by Quran burnings, hate speech and restrictions on mosque construction.
And though he did not mention him by name, Durbin twice criticized House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King, R-N.Y., who convened the earlier hearing on the “radicalization” of American Muslims.
King told Fox News on Monday that Durbin’s hearing “is somehow trying to create the illusion that there’s a violation of civil rights of Muslims in this country. It’s absolutely untrue, and to me it makes no sense.”
Durbin, the chamber’s No. 2 Democrat, wasted little time in rebutting King. “Some have even questioned the premise of today’s hearing,” he said in his opening remarks, “that we should protect the civil rights of American Muslims.”
Durbin also criticized King’s controversial statement that “there are too many mosques in this country.”
“Such inflammatory speech from prominent public figures creates a fertile climate for discrimination,” Durbin said.
Durbin’s star witness was Thomas Perez, the Justice Department’s assistant attorney general for civil rights. Since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, a “steady stream of violence and discrimination” has targeted Muslims, Arabs, Sikhs and South Asians in the United States, he said.
“In each city and town where I have met with leaders of these communities, I have been struck by the sense of fear that pervades their lives – fear of violence, bigotry and hate,” Perez said. “The headwind of intolerance manifests itself in many ways.”
Perez noted that the Justice Department passed a grim milestone last month when it secured a guilty plea from a man who torched a playground at a Texas mosque: He was the 50th defendant charged in a federal criminal case of post-9/11 backlash.
Muslim complaints about workplace discrimination have increased 150% since 9/11, Perez said, but he and other witnesses seemed most upset by reports that many Muslim children are harassed at school –called “terrorists” and told to “go home.”
“We have a growing docket of cases involving Muslim, Arab, Sikh, and South Asian students,” he said. Muslim students form the largest category of religious discrimination cases handled by the Department of Justice’s education division, Perez added.
“Parents worry, ‘Will my child be next?'” said Farhana Khera, executive director of Muslim Advocates, who also testified on Tuesday. “And they worry about the future: Will America be hospitable to other faiths? Will its better angels prevail?”
See also “ADL: Anti-Muslim sentiment ‘significant'”, JTA, 29 March 2011
French religious leaders warn against divisive Islam debate
The leaders of France’s six main religions warned the government on Wednesday against a planned debate on Islam they say could stigmatise Muslims and fuel prejudice as the country nears national elections next year.
Weighing in on an issue that is tearing apart President Nicolas Sarkozy’s ruling UMP party, the Conference of French Religious Leaders said the discussion about respect for France’s secular system could only spread confusion at a turbulent time.
The UMP plans to hold a public forum on secularism next week that critics decry as veiled Muslim-bashing to win back voters who defected to the far-right National Front at local polls last week and could thwart Sarkozy’s reelection hopes in 2012.
Stressing that faith should foster social harmony, the religous leaders said the debate could “cloud this perspective and incite confusion that can only be prejudicial”. “Is a political party, even if it is in the majority, the right forum to lead this by itself?” they asked in a rare joint statement.
The statement was signed by the leaders of the Roman Catholic, Muslim, Jewish, Protestant, Orthodox Christian and Buddhist faiths. The leaders formed the group last year to coordinate their approach to religious issues in public debate.
The faith leaders said France has held many long and serious debates about its secular system, introduced in 1905 to separate the church and state, and questioned the need for another one. “We are working for a common sense secularism,” they said. “Secularism cannot be separated from our fundamental values, especially the dignity and respect for the human person.”
Individual religious leaders have supported Muslims, who at about five million constitute France’s second-largest religion after Catholicism.
“It’s often difficult to be a Muslim in France,” Grand Rabbi Gilles Bernheim said last week. “This difficulty is worse today in this unhealthy climate, aggravated by talk that divides rather than unites,” the Jewish leader told the daily Le Monde.
French Protestant Federation head Pastor Claude Baty has joined Muslim leaders in announcing he would boycott the round-table discussions the UMP has scheduled for April 5.
Robert Spencer rankled by Muslim rights hearings, blames Muslims for Islamophobia
Religious leaders tell Terry Jones he’s not welcome in Detroit
Everything he’s doing here is a violation of the Gospel,” said Pastor Ed Rowe with Central United Methodist Church.
Metro Detroit religious leaders are standing in solidarity, sending letters and sending a message to the controversial pastor from Florida. They say stay home.
“We do not agree with Terry Jones. We do not agree with his philosophy, and we want to continue to keep this region as unified as we possibly can,” said the Rev. Charles Williams II with King Solomon Baptist Church.
“We need more progress than anything right now. What we don’t need is any incendiary acts that would push us back,” said the Rev. Maurice Rudds with Greater Mount Tabor Baptist Church.
“Too many barriers have already been tore down, and so we say today to all that might hear my voice, we love Muslims, we love Jews, we love all God-fearing people,” said the Rev. Charles Williams, Senior with King Solomon Baptist Church.
What they don’t love is the visit Pastor Terry Jones is planning – a protest outside the Islamic Center of America on April 22. Jones is coming at the invitation of the Order of the Dragon, some newly-formed, obscure group of about five people from up north – hardly a ringing endorsement for Jones’ services.
“Shame on that militia group here in Michigan who was trying to import Mr. Jones, who’s a very controversial figure, to try to stir up trouble in their own state,” said Dawud Walid with CAIR Michigan.
Right-wing media attacked Muslim Advocates for giving Muslims common legal advice
Media Matters has the details.
Turkey urges Germany to stop attacks on immigrants
Turkey urged Germany Tuesday to take measures to stop attacks on Turkish immigrant workers, saying they have been on the rise over the past several months.
“We expect the German authorities to apprehend the perpetrators in the shortest possible time and bring them to justice… We believe (they) will take the necessary measures to prevent the repetition of such attacks,” a foreign ministry statement said.
Turkish homes, mosques and associations in various German cities have become the target of attacks in recent months “which appear to have been driven by racism, xenophobia and Islamophobia,” the statement said. “For instance, 10 arson attacks have taken place over the past 10 days in some districts of Berlin such as Neukolln which are heavily populated by Turkish and other immigrants,” it added.
The statement slammed German politicians and media for “negative and prejudiced” attitudes towards immigrants which “make immigrants a target of xenophobic groups.”
Why quoting religious texts proves nothing
OK, put your books away. We’re having a pop quiz.
Below are four quotes. Each is from one of two sources: the Bible or the Koran, although, just to make things interesting, there’s also a chance all four are from one book. Two were edited for length and one of those was also edited to remove a religion-specific reference. Your job: identify the holy book of origin. Ready? Go:
1) “. . . Wherever you encounter [non-believers], kill them, seize them, besiege them, wait for them at every lookout post . . .”
2) “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.”
3) “If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, ‘Let us go and worship other gods’ . . . do not yield to him or listen to him. Show him no pity. Do not spare him or shield him. You must certainly put him to death.”
4) “Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.”
All right, pens down. How did you do?
If you identified the first quote as being from the Koran (9:5) and the other three as originating in the Bible (Matthew 10:34, Deuteronomy 13:6-9, Numbers 31:17-18), I congratulate you on that degree in theology. If I have guessed correctly, most people will not have found it easy to place the quotes in their proper books. If I have guessed correctly, most people will have found a certain thematic similarity in them.
Leonard Pitts Jnr in the Miami Herald, 26 March 2011