Category Archives: USA

‘Obama, the Muslim thing, and why it matters’ – Pamela Geller explains

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“The thing is, you can’t be a leader and not know what Islam means. The average Joe pumping gas on Route 66 – okay, not on top of the issue. But there is no way you can be running for President and not know the hell being wreaked on the free and not-so-free world by Islamic jihad…. Barack Obama went to a madrassa in Jakarta. A madrassa in a Muslim country. Whether he was devout or secular, he knows what was taught. He knows what is in the Koran…. His stepfather and close members of his family are devout Muslims. Not an unimportant influence…. Obama would have had to make a decision to reject Islam. When did he make that decision? How? Why the silence? Why the reluctance to talk about it?”

Pamela Geller at Israel National News, 9 January 2008

US Baptist leader opposes letter of peace to Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Reverend R. Albert Mohler Jr., the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, cited a number of reasons why he would not sign the letter which pushed for peace between Christians and Muslims, saying chief among his concerns were the apology for the sin of Crusaders and the ambiguous definition of God.

Speaking to the Towers Baptist seminary news publication, Rvd. Mohler said “I am not going to apologize for the Crusades because I am very thankful that the Muslim effort to reach a conquest of Europe was unsuccessful. Otherwise, we would be speaking Arabic on this program right now and we would be talking about the Muslim continent of Europe and potentially even of North America.”

Christian Today, 11 January 2008

A Muslim headscarf can make a big difference…

Posted on by Bob Pitt

If you’re a woman who wears a Muslim head covering or hijab, a lot of people might think you look pleasant enough but they wouldn’t necessarily want you living in their neighborhood.

That’s one conclusion to draw from research done by our friends at HCD Research Inc., using their MediaCurves technology. They showed more than 600 people photos of the same woman, one in which her hair was uncovered, the second in which her head was covered with a hijab or Muslim head covering. According to the HCD Research:

The study was conducted by HCD Research, using its mediacurves.com web site during January 2-3, to determine whether Americans possess different views of a woman based on whether or not she wears traditional Muslim headwear.

Participants were divided into two randomly assigned groups. Members of each group were asked to view one of two separate photos of an attractive young woman. Neither photo was identified in any way. Each sample was then asked identical questions about the woman, her age, perceived personality, activities, and how acceptable she might be as a neighbor.

One-third of participants indicated that they would rather have the woman with the traditional headwear live in another place, another city, and maybe out of the U.S, as opposed to living in their neighborhood. However, a clear majority of participants (89%) reported that the woman without the shawl would be welcome in their neighborhood.

It’s ironic that as President Bush prepares to travel to the Middle East to talk to Israelis and Palestinians about living side by side in peace and security, so many Americans would say that they wouldn’t want to live side by side with a woman in a hijab.

Baltimore Sun, 4 January 2008

‘Islam’s silent moderates’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Ayaan Hirsi Ali returns to her favourite theme: “It is often said that Islam has been ‘hijacked’ by a small extremist group of radical fundamentalists. The vast majority of Muslims are said to be moderates. But where are the moderates? … For example, I would welcome some guidance from that famous Muslim theologian of moderation, Tariq Ramadan. But when there is true suffering, real cruelty in the name of Islam, we hear, first, denial from all these organizations that are so concerned about Islam’s image. We hear that violence is not in the Quran, that Islam means peace, that this is a hijacking by extremists and a smear campaign, and so on. But the evidence mounts to the contrary.”

American Enterprise Institute, 4 January 2008

As one critic of Hirsi Ali recently remarked: “She has become well paid and famous because she demonizes her fellow Muslims. As with black Americans or any other group of despised people, the self haters, the Uncle Toms, are given a clear path to fortune and favor.”

Evangelical leaders condemned for ‘pledging common cause with Islam’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

An attempt by leaders of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) to win friends and influence Muslims is alienating another group – evangelical Christians. Reactions have been negative and strong. Islam expert Dr. Patrick Sookhdeo has called it a “betrayal” and a “sellout.” Dr. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Seminary (Southern Baptist), termed it “naiveté that borders on dishonesty.”

In November, NEA President Leith Anderson and NEA Vice President Richard Cizik signed onto a Christian response to an invitation to dialogue from 138 Muslim leaders around the world. Their response – initiated by Yale Divinity School and endorsed by other liberal Christian leaders – apologized for the sins of Christians during the Crusades and for “excesses” of the global war on terror, without mentioning Muslim atrocities. It appeared to leave the fundamentals of Christianity – especially the deity of Christ – open for discussion. It even seemed to acknowledge Allah as the God of the Bible.

Mohler said the agreement “sends the wrong signal” and contains basic theological problems, especially in “marginalizing” Jesus Christ. He also condemned the apology for the Crusades. “I just have to wonder how intellectually honest this is,” he said. “Are these people suggesting that they wish the military conflict with Islam had ended differently – that Islam had conquered Europe?”

Citizen Link, 3 January 2008

Giuliani on Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“If you’ve been listening to the war-mongering coming out of Rudy Giuliani since the start of his deteriorating presidential campaign, you’d think the United States isn’t fighting just jihadists but the entire Muslim ummah.”

Matthew Harwood examines the aspiring Republican candidate’s campaign ad which refers to Muslims as “a people perverted”.

Guardian Unlimited, 3 January 2008

See also Josh Marshall at TCM, 2 January 2008

Homeland Security apologizes for strip-searched Muslim woman in Tampa

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Homeland Security Department apologized to a Muslim woman who was detained at Tampa International Airport in April and strip searched at a county jail.

Safana Jawad, 45, a Spanish citizen who was born in Iraq, was detained on April 11 because of a suspected tie to a suspicious person, authorities said. Jawad was taken to jail, strip searched and held for two days before being deported to England.

Jawad filed a complaint and the agency apologized on Dec. 8. “On behalf of the Department of Homeland Security, I offer you my sincere apology for having to undergo a strip search,” wrote Timothy J. Keefer, acting chief counsel for the department’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.

Associated Press, 29 December 2006

Giuliani is the guy to chase ‘the Muslims’ back ‘to their caves’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

John Deady“The Guardian of London is conducting video documentaries up in New Hampshire. And they did a segment on Rudy in which they got a very off-kilter quote about Muslims from a Rudy campaign official in the state.

“The Guardian identifies him as John Deady, the co-chair of state Veterans for Rudy. Deady – and the key here is that he is a Rudy campaign official – says that Rudy should be our President because he has what it takes to tackle one of our ‘most difficult problems’, which he identifies as the ‘rise of the Muslims’. Deady adds that we need to ‘chase them back to their caves’ or otherwise ‘get rid of them’.”

TPM Election Central, 28 December 2007

Watch the Guardian video report here.

See also the follow-up article at TPM in which Deady defends his comments and goes on to state: “We’re not dealing with a rational mindset here. We’re dealing with madmen.” Asked if this is a reference to all Muslims, he replies: “I am talking about Muslims in general.” Asked to elaborate on his call to “get rid” of Muslims, Deady explained: “When I say get rid of them, I wasn’t necessarily [sic – emphasis added] referring to genocide.”

Update:  Deady has now resigned, according to Fox News. See also Ali Eteraz on the GOP’s Muslim problem.

Anger over plan to broadcast Muslim call to prayer in Oxford

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Oxford_Central_MosqueMuslim plans to broadcast a loudspeaker call to prayer from a city centre mosque have been attacked by local residents who say it would turn the area into a “Muslim ghetto”. Dozens of people packed out a council meeting to express their concerns over the plans for a two-minute long call to prayer to be issued three times a day, saying that it could drown out the traditional sound of church bells.

Dr Mark Huckster, who lives in Stanton Road and works at East Oxford hospice Helen House, told the Oxford Mail: “The proposal to issue a prayer call is very un-neighbourly, especially in a crowded urban space such as Oxford. I have lived in the Middle East and a prayer call has a very different feel to church bells and I personally found the noise extremely unpleasant, rather disturbing and very alien to the western mindset.”

Daily Mail, 24 December 2007

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