Category Archives: USA

More bias in US against Muslims than other faiths

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Americans are more than twice as likely to express prejudice against Muslims than they are against Christians, Jews or Buddhists, a new survey found. Nearly two-thirds of Americans say they have little or no knowledge of Islam. Still, a majority dislike the faith. The analysis is from the Gallup World Religion Survey and is part of a project on finding ways to increase understanding between Americans and Muslims.

In the poll, just over half of Americans said they felt no prejudice against Muslims. However, 43 percent acknowledged at least “a little” prejudice against Muslims, a significantly higher percentage than for the other four faiths in the survey. About 18 percent of respondents said they had some level of prejudice against Christians, while the figure was 15 percent toward Jews and 14 percent toward Buddhists.

Asked about knowledge of Islam, 63 percent of Americans say they have “very little” or “none at all.” A large majority of respondents believe most Muslims want peace. Yet, 53 percent of Americans say their opinion of the faith is “not too favorable” or “not favorable at all.”

Associated Press, 20 January 2010

Update:  See also “Americans’ bias against Jews, Muslims linked, poll says”, Washington Post, 21 January 2010

Posted in USA

‘The unrivaled leader of those Europeans who wish to retain their historic identity’ – Pipes hails Wilders

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Pipes and Wilders“Who is the most important European alive today? I nominate the Dutch politician Geert Wilders. I do so because he is best placed to deal with the Islamic challenge facing the continent. He has the potential to emerge as a world-historical figure.

“That Islamic challenge consists of two components: on the one hand, an indigenous population’s withering Christian faith, inadequate birthrate, and cultural diffidence, and on the other an influx of devout, prolific, and culturally assertive Muslim immigrants. This fast-moving situation raises profound questions about Europe: Will it retain its historic civilization or become a majority-Muslim continent living under Islamic law (the Shari’a)?

“Wilders, 46, founder and head of the Party for Freedom (PVV), is the unrivaled leader of those Europeans who wish to retain their historic identity.”

Daniel Pipes at NRO, 19 January 2010

Tennessee Islamic centre ‘not welcome’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Not WelcomeOn the eve of a holiday celebrating the nation’s greatest civil rights activist, a local religious organization suffered vandalism with an unwelcome message.

A sign on Bradyville Pike reading “Future Site of Islamic Center of Murfreesboro” was vandalized over the weekend when someone spray-painted “Not Welcome” on it.

Members of the Islamic Center said they were shocked by the message.

“The Islamic Center of Murfreesboro has been established in the Murfreesboro area for over a decade; we have over 200 families that have played an active role in building this community. We have enjoyed a friendly and supportive relationship with all of our friends and neighbors,” said Abdoulrahman Kattih, vice president of the center.

“The coexistence of religions is the core foundation and strength of our nation. While we stand firmly against all acts of vandalism, we believe that this callous action is an effort to gain publicity and sway public opinion towards stereotyping views against Muslims. We, as a community in Murfreesboro, must take a hard-line approach against these acts to defend our nation’s principles and values.”

Tim Sheesley, who lives nearby on Manus Road, was disgusted by the vandalism. “With Martin Luther King Jr. Day just a day away, I just don’t understand it. It’s time we all get along,” Sheesley said Sunday.

Tennessean, 18 January 2010

Posted in USA

Ed Balls accused of ‘double standards’ over mosque schools

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Schools Secretary Ed Balls has been accused of refusing to ban Islamic schools from smacking children for fear of upsetting Muslim “sensitivities”.

Mr Balls was last week urged to close a legal loophole which gives teachers in Britain’s estimated 1,600 schools associated with mosques the right to smack children – even though it is banned in other schools. He refused, prompting claims that he is allowing an alleged “culture of physical abuse” in some of the mosque schools – or madrasahs – go unchecked.

Smacking is banned in all State and private schools. However, it does not apply to madrasahs, where pupils usually study in the evenings or at weekends, because the ban exempts schools where children attend for less than 12.5 hours per week.

Lib Dem schools spokesman David Laws, who is spearheading the campaign to close the smacking loophole, said: “The Government needs to legislate to protect children – not leave an opt-out simply because it fears some ethnic or religious backlash.”

He was supported by Labour MP Ann Cryer, who said it would be “bonkers” if the Government did not act. She said: “I suspect people are frightened of upsetting the sensitivities of certain members of the Muslim faith.” She denied she was biased against Islamic schools and said classes run by “strange Christian sects” should also be covered by the smacking ban.

A spokesman for Mr Balls’ department denied that his refusal to change the law was based on fears of upsetting Muslim opinion. “We have no evidence the law is being abused or that children are being abused in these circumstances,” he said.

Mail on Sunday, 17 January 2010

If there are any double standards here, they are on the part of Ann Cryer, who is not proposing that the law should be extended to cover Sunday schools run by the Church of England, for example – only to classes run by mosques and “strange Christian sects”, which she evidently regards at the religious equivalent of Islam.

As you might expect, the Mail article has been approvingly reproduced over at Jihad Watch.

Ignorance and fear in Sheepshead Bay

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Racial and religious tensions are flaring in Sheepshead Bay over plans to build a mosque on a residential street. Opponents say the mosque will lead to traffic and noise problems – but their complaints are littered with anti-Islamic attacks, like one letter to elected officials that said “mosques and Muslim schools preach hatred.”

“There’s a safety issue here. I don’t want my kids walking past it,” said Kathy Cash, 38, a mother of three children who attend Public School 52 around the corner on E. 29th St. “It’s disgusting,” said Cash, “they [Muslims] have no respect.”

“My children are scared and I am too,” said Victor Benari, 56, trying to rally neighbors against the mosque during a civic group meeting on Monday. “This is a security issue.”

New York Daily News, 8 January 2010

Via Loon Watch

Muslim-American subjected to religious profiling at airport

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Nadia Hassan is a frequent flier. Imagine her surprise when she arrived at the security checkpoint at Washington’s Dulles International Airport Tuesday and encountered what she calls, “racial, religious profiling.”

The 40-year-old Michigan-born Muslim-American, headed to Los Angeles, says she was singled out for what she calls a “humiliating” full-body search. When she asked why this was happening “the gentleman who was working there specifically told me that the reason I’m being put through this type of search is because I’m wearing a head scarf…. He actually came out and told me that that’s the reason why you are being targeted.”

She’s not alone. On Monday, a Muslim-Canadian woman says she was made to feel like a terrorist because she was wearing a headscarf. She says she was berated and banned from boarding a flight to the United States – all because of her faith.

The Council on American Islamic Relations calls these textbook cases of profiling. “It’s violating the law. It’s unconstitutional and un-American to single people out because of their religion. It’s a knee-jerk measure that’s going to cause panic and fear,” says the council’s national executive director, Nihad Awad.

CNN, 8 January 2010

US grocery chain pulls calendar that listed Islamic new year

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Joyce KaufmanBowing to complaints from angry customers, Publix has agreed to remove a free 2010 calendar from its stores that mentions the beginning of the Islamic new year but not the anniversary of Pearl Harbor.

The flap started when South Florida radio talk show host Joyce Kaufman complained on her WFTL 850-AM program earlier in the week that the calendar identifies Dec. 7 as the start of the Islamic new year. She told her listeners to let Publix know if they were offended. “Not Pearl Harbor Day. Instead Happy new year, Islam, or some such?” she said on air Thursday.

“We have great diversity in our customers and wanted to include as many of them as we could, which is why we included the Islamic new year along with Passover, Palm Sunday and a number of the national holidays of our customers,” said Publix spokesman Shannon Patten. “Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day wasn’t included because it’s not a holiday.” Memorial Day and Veterans Day are included. But because of the complaints, said Patten, the free calendar is no longer available in stores.

“Getting the calendar pulled is more about a cottage industry of Muslim bashers who seek every opportunity to demonize Islam than it is about Pearl Harbor Day,” said Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington, D.C. “Certainly, no one has an issue with including Pearl Harbor Day,” said Hooper, “But that’s not what this is about.”

Kaufman objected because she didn’t want World War II veterans “to be disappointed” and because she views Muslims as “an enemy who declared war on us,” Kaufman told the St. Petersburg Times. Furthermore, she said, she thought it was inappropriate to have holidays for people from the Caribbean and Central and South America on the calendar. “Why pander to Islamics and people from Peru, Belize, Cuba and Haiti?” she said on the phone. “It’s irrelevant in America.”

St Petersburg Times, 8 January 2010

Southern California Muslims targeted in hate crimes

Posted on by Bob Pitt

No Islamic lighthousesCosta Mesa police have stepped up patrols near the Islamic Educational Center of Orange County, the target of recent anti-Islamic acts including vandalism, hate mail and the burning of two copies of the Koran.

Vandals also recently defaced part of an outdoor interfaith holiday display in Mission Viejo, according to the Los Angeles office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which denounced both acts as “incidents of anti-Islam hate targeting the local Muslim community.”

The two incidents are thought to be unrelated but appear to be part of a recent uptick in anti-Muslim acts nationally, especially since the attempted terrorist bombing of a jetliner headed to Detroit on Christmas, council spokeswoman Munira Syeda said Saturday.

LA Times, 3 January 2010

Via Loon Watch

Massachusetts college bans veil – Daniel Pipes welcomes ‘preventative step’ against terrorism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

MCPHS logoA Massachusetts pharmacy college instituted a ban on clothing that obscures the face, including face veils and burqas, weeks after a Muslim alumnus who is also the son of a professor was charged with plotting terror strikes.

The policy change at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Services, announced in a campus-wide e-mail last month, went into effect Friday.

Michael Ratty, a college spokesman, said the policy was developed in the fall during the school’s annual review of its public safety procedures and was unrelated to the arrest of 2008 graduate Tarek Mehanna.

Mehanna, of Sudbury, was arrested Oct. 21. He is accused of conspiring with two men to randomly shoot mall shoppers and kill U.S. public officials and soldiers in Iraq. Mehanna’s family has denied the charges and Mehanna has drawn strong, public support from friends and students he taught at a Muslim school in Worcester. Mehanna’s father, Ahmed Mehanna, teaches at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy’s campus in Boston.

The school’s revised ”identification policy” reads that for ”reasons of safety and security, all students must be readily identifiable while they are on campus and/or engaged in required off-campus activities. … Therefore, any head covering that obscures a student’s face may not be worn, either on campus or at clinical sites, except when required for medical reasons.”

The policy would effectively ban face veils, as well as burqas and niqabs, which either cloak the entire body or cover everything but the eyes. Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said he has contacted school officials about providing a religious exemption, and said it’s required because the policy makes a medical exemption.

He said the revision was aimed at two female Muslim students who wear face veils due to their religious beliefs. Hooper said a minority of Muslims believe that covering the face is required, but that stopping them from practicing their faith is “un-American”.

Hooper said strong security can be maintained at a college without sacrificing religious freedom. “If you can get on an airplane wearing a face veil, you can go to class at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy wearing a face veil,” he said.

Daniel Pipes, director of the Middle East Forum and a frequent critic of militant Islam, applauded the college for the policy change, noting numerous terrorist attacks have been committed by people hiding themselves and their weapons under veils.

“I think the college was alerted to the dangers that could come from its student body by the arrest of Tarek Mehanna … and realized that it needs to take preventative steps to protect itself, its student body, its staff,” he said.

Associated Press, 5 January 2010

Update:  See “Massachusetts college alters policy banning face coverings”, CNN, 8 January 2010