Apr 27 2009
Rep Adam Hasner (R-Fl) Keeping It Classy
So today an Imam led a Muslim Prayer in the House of Representatives today. For people who argue that the first amendment doesn’t require the radical separation of church and state put forward by those who want “under God” removed from the pledge or the recognition of Christmas as a major holiday, this is a good thing. Hear we have an Islamic Imam leading the prayer, what could better send the message that the prayer isn’t about pushing your religion on anyone?
Well, apparently Rep. Adam Hasner, the head of the Florida House Republican delegation, in a demonstration of the respect for all faiths we hold so dear in this country, walked out of the room during the prayer, and then returned immediately afterwards.
And, as if that weren’t enough to demonstrate the religious toleration which has defined this country since before its inception, apparently this weekend he co-hosted an event where a Dutch Politician Geert Wilders addressed the crowd, saying “Islam is not a religion. Islam is a totalitarian political ideologue. Islam [sic] heart lies at the Quran, and the Quran is a book that calls for hatred, that calls for violence, for murder, for terrorism, for war, and submission…We should also stop pretending that Islam is a religion…the right to religious freedom should not apply to Islam.”
This isn’t just a Hasner issue. There are, unfortunately, a lot of people on the right who feel content to paint with the broadest brush possible in regards to Islam. It’s ridiculous, it’s stupid, and it needs to stop.
Yes, we get it, most terrorist threats we face come from Muslims. By the same token, most terrorist threats we face come from people outside of the United States, maybe we should just kill all of the foreigners! The reality is that Islam is a faith just like any other. Yes, it has its distinguishing features, but there is nothing about Islam that makes it inherently more violent than any other religion. Religious violence is not a reflection on the religion, simply a reflection on those who use the religion to justify their own violent urges. I mean, for God’s sake, there has been religious violence from Buddhists ! Hell, there are parts of the bible which could be interpreted as promoting genocide , and yet I would be so bold as to suggest that the vast majority of Christians are anti-genocide.
The reality is that Islamic Extremism has very little to do with Islam itself. It has much more to do with how backwards certain places in the world are. In parts of Africa they still have witch doctors, in Indonesia they behead people suspected of being sorcerers, and so forth. Think the Spanish Inquisition, that’s the phase a lot of the world, which happens to be more Islamic, is going through.
And suggesting that terrorism is a product of Islam as opposed to being a product of the individual terrorists is to a certain extent excusing terrorism. Last I checked, we were supposed to be the party of individual responsibility.
Small mindedness is bad in all of its forms.
