Category Archives: USA

‘Convert or die’ game divides US Christians

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Left BehindLiberal and progressive Christian groups say a new computer game in which players must either convert or kill non-Christians is the wrong gift to give this holiday season and that Wal-Mart, a major video game retailer, should yank it off its shelves.

The Campaign to Defend the Constitution and the Christian Alliance for Progress, two online political groups, plan to demand today that Wal-Mart dump Left Behind: Eternal Forces, a PC game inspired by a series of Christian novels that are hugely popular, especially with teens.

The series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins is based on their interpretation of the Bible’s Book of Revelation and takes place after the Rapture, when Jesus has taken his people to heaven and left nonbelievers behind to face the Antichrist.

Left Behind Games’ president, Jeffrey Frichner, says the game actually is pacifist because players lose “spirit points” every time they gun down nonbelievers rather than convert them. They can earn spirit points again by having their character pray.

In Left Behind, set in perfectly apocalyptic New York City, the Antichrist is personified by fictional Romanian Nicolae Carpathia, secretary-general of the United Nations and a People magazine “Sexiest Man Alive.” Players can choose to join the Antichrist’s team, but of course they can never win on Carpathia’s side. The enemy team includes fictional rock stars and folks with Muslim-sounding names, while the righteous include gospel singers, missionaries, healers and medics.

When asked about the Arab and Muslim-sounding names, Frichner said the game does not endorse prejudice. But “Muslims are not believers in Jesus Christ” – and thus can’t be on Christ’s side in the game. “That is so obvious,” he said.

San Francisco Chronicle, 12 December 2006

Why did they torture Jose Padilla?

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Jose PadillaThere’s a rancid odor escaping from the cracks in the Jose Padilla case. Padilla is the American citizen arrested in Chicago and declared by President Bush to be an “enemy combatant.” He was then kept for nearly two years in a South Carolina brig without access to a lawyer, family or friends.

The courts finally forced the Bush administration to release Padilla into the justice system, and he is now imprisoned in Miami awaiting trial on charges that have nothing to do with what he was arrested for, an alleged plot to use a dirty bomb in the United States. It is claimed he had al Qaeda connections.

What makes this case so insidious is that, according to a psychiatrist who examined him over a 22-hour period, the treatment Padilla received in the South Carolina brig was such that he now “lacks the capacity to assist in his own defense.” In other words, a U.S. citizen was secretly worked over for 21 months to the point he is unable to think well enough to engage with his lawyer.

Philadelphia Daily News, 12 December 2006

See also George Monbiot in the Guardian, 12 December 2006

The dehumanization of American Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Dehumanization is defined as a process by which members of a group of people assert the ‘inferiority’ of another group through subtle or overt acts or statements. Dehumanization may be directed by an organization or may be the composite of individual sentiments and actions.

“A coalition of anti-Muslim bigots have formed that sit at their computers full time seeking out news – no matter how vague – of bad Muslim behavior to demonstrate to their growing numbers of readers that all Muslims are irreparably evil…

“Their blogs are growing in readership. They are coming out with more and more best selling books smearing and slandering Islam and the Muslims, and are continuously invited back to major media outlets to promote their books and offer their ‘expertise’ on Islam.”

Tariq Nelson at The American Muslim, 11 December 2006

See also “Dennis Prager’s rant exposes raw hate”, by Ahmed Rehab of CAIR.

Media Monitors Network, 7 December 2006

US right-winger provides advice on multiculturalism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Under the heading “Britain confronts militant Islam”, a writer for the US right-wing/neocon NRO offers his take on current debates in the UK over multiculturalism. Regarding the veil he observes:

“If this wretched garment, in at least its more stringent forms, has more to do with misogyny than piety, so the hostility it provokes owes less to outraged feminism than to the mounting unease felt by many Europeans at the presence of the increasingly assertive and increasingly extremist Islam rising within their midst…. there is something about the very appearance of the veil (and I am here referring to the burka and the only marginally less appalling nikab, a get-up that generously allows a clear view of the wearer’s eyes) that is alien, dehumanizing, and, in the context of Europe’s current troubles, thoroughly ominous. Little more than walking shrouds, these women seem like the harbingers both of future theocracy and the slaughter that comes in its wake.”

As for the suggestion that racial hatred legislation should be adequately reinforced in order to defend Muslims: “That’s madness. That’s cowardice. That’s appeasement.”

National Review Online, 11 December 2006

Rule on veils changed after woman kept off bus in Michigan city

Posted on by Bob Pitt

GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan: After a woman passenger wearing traditional Islamic dress was turned away, the public bus system in this Michigan city said Friday it will end its rule keeping those with face coverings from boarding public transit vehicles. System administrators said the refusal in July was an isolated incident.

A driver told the unidentified woman she would have to uncover her face to ride, but she was able to board another bus that same day. She reported the incident to bus system administrators, transit officials told The Grand Rapids Press newspaper.

Busing officials regret that the woman was turned away and have apologized to her, Rapid spokeswoman Jennifer Kalczuk said. She said the original order was a security issue, so that an on-board camera system could help identify riders in the event of a disturbance. She said religious dress or other coverings were not considered.

Debbie Mageed, an area Islamic activist, said she appreciated Rapid’s response. “We can’t expect all public domains to be aware of these situations until they actually come up,” said Mageed, who wears a head covering but not a facial veil. “As long as it doesn’t happen again, I’ll feel like they were sincere in their efforts to revise their policy.”

Associated Press, 8 December 2006

New York Police anti-terrorism analyst sues over anti-Muslim e-mails

Posted on by Bob Pitt

For several years, the New York Police Department has touted an elite undercover unit of mostly Middle Eastern and Asian investigators who use their foreign-language skills online to search out potential terrorist threats against the city. But now the department is under criticism from a member of the unit, an Egyptian-born analyst who filed a suit yesterday that charges he was subjected to hundreds of blistering anti-Muslim and anti-Arab e-mail messages sent out by a city contractor over the course of three years. In an interview yesterday, he said he complained repeatedly to supervisors but that no one took action.

At the center of the lawsuit are e-mail briefing messages sent out several times a day to members of the Intelligence Division by Bruce Tefft, a former C.I.A. official who has identified himself in the past as the Police Department’s counter-terrorism adviser. The e-mail messages were sent to everyone in the division, including Deputy Commissioner David Cohen, also a former C.I.A. official, the suit said.

According to the suit, the briefing messages were preceded by commentary from Mr. Tefft that included virulent anti-Muslim and anti-Arab statements like, “Burning the hate-filled Koran should be viewed as a public service at the least”, and “This is not a war against terrorism … it is against Islam and we are not winning”. In one, he asked, “Has the U.S. threatened to vaporize Mecca?” and responded, “Excellent idea, if true.”

New York Times, 6 December 2006

Muslim and Jewish groups unite to condemn Prager

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Conservative radio host and blogger Dennis Prager has now been criticized by both prominent Muslim and Jewish groups for his Townhall.com column attacking incoming Rep. Keith Ellison’s announcement that he will use a Quran during his ceremonial swearing-in as the first Muslim member of Congress.

Today, the Council on American-Islamic Relations said Prager should lose his presidential appointment to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council because of “his intolerant views toward Islam in American Society.” Friday, the Anti-Defamation League said Prager’s position is “intolerant, misinformed and downright un-American.”

USA Today, 4 December 2006

Prayer rooms would only aid terrorists, says Robert Spencer

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Following the forcible removal of six imams from a US Airways flight, officials at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport have said they will consider setting aside a private area for prayer and meditation. Robert Spencer is not impressed:

“Imagine how convenient it would have been for Muhammad Atta and Abdulaziz Alomari and the rest of them on 9/11 if they had had access to a place like this. They would have had a nice Muslims-only room where they could gather and arrange their boxcutters and other necessary materials in peace, go over details of strategy – and get in their final prayers. Now that would have been thoughtful airport service.”

Jihad Watch, 2 December 2006

Except that, if Spencer had bothered to read the report, instead of just gleefully seizing on an opportunity to asociate Islam with terrorism, he would see that the airport officials are not proposing a “Muslims-only room” but rather a private area for prayer and meditation generally.

Get to know Muslim neighbors, curb the paranoia

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“America has to learn that Islam is not only the world’s second largest religion, it also is the second largest in the U.S. and is growing at the fastest rate. More than three-quarters of American Muslims were born here. Thirty-three percent of U.S. Muslims are people who were born in America and converted to Islam. These Muslims are here to stay; they are not going anywhere. We all have to learn to live together with mutual respect and understanding.”

Sarwat Husain in San Antonio Express-News, 3 December 2006