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Star-Telegram – March 25, 2006
Graham's son not holding back on Islam
By Jim Jones
When I heard the Rev. Franklin Graham speak in New Orleans two weeks ago, he focused on proclaiming the saving power of Jesus Christ with only a hint of criticism of Islam.
"Muhammad didn't die for your sins," he told thousands at the New Orleans Arena. "Buddha didn't die for your sins; Krishna didn't die for your sins. It's Jesus."
But while in New Orleans, Graham again blasted the Muslim faith under the glare of television lights as he told ABC's Nightline that he hasn't changed his mind about Islam, which he called "a very evil and wicked religion" in 2001.
"I know about Islam," Graham said March 15 on Nightline. "If people think Islam is such a wonderful religion, just go to Saudi Arabia and make it your home. Just live there. If you think Islam is such a wonderful religion, I mean, go and live under the Taliban somewhere. I mean, you're free to do that."
Graham, 53, is making a name for himself in the shadow of his famous father, the Rev. Billy Graham, but he's doing it in a different way. He's brasher, blunter and much less politically correct. Unlike his father, who never uttered a discouraging word against Islam or any other faith, Franklin Graham has joined Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson, the Rev. Jerry Falwell and others as being among the most outspoken against Islam.
After Sept. 11, 2001, he told NBC News: "We're not attacking Islam, but Islam has attacked us. The God of Islam is not the same God. He's not the Son of God of the Christian or Judeo-Christian faith. It's a different God, and I believe it is a very wicked and evil religion."
Graham also has said he disagrees with President Bush's statements that Islam is a peaceful religion.
In several interviews, Graham has said the Quran, the holy book of Islam, teaches violence. Also, he says Muslim leaders have failed to speak out enough in criticism of Islamic terrorism.
Ibraham Hooper, spokesman for America's largest Islam advocacy group, the Council on American Islamic Relations, said Graham is helping divide the faith community.
"If he's going to step into the role played by his father, I think he's going to have a very difficult time," Hooper said this week. "Billy Graham had a long record in public life, and I have not heard one word from him in a critical way about Islam or any other faith. Instead, he positively asserted his own beliefs."
Hooper said Franklin Graham is paying no attention to the many efforts by his organization and other Islamic groups that have denounced suicide bombings and other Islamic terrorist acts….
Critics say Graham and others making harsh statements against Islam are creating more danger for Christian missionaries in Muslim nations and alienating peace-loving moderate Muslims who could help in the war on terror.
The Rev. Welton Gaddy, former pastor of Broadway Baptist Church who now heads Interfaith Alliance, a Washington, D.C.-based coalition of groups seeking to counter the influence of religious conservatives, has been critical of Graham's stance that terrorism is a part of mainstream Islam.
"Rev. Graham does not see that his method of interpreting the Quran and his suggestion that it preaches violence, invites a similar analysis of the Bible," Gaddy said in a statement after Graham's earlier criticisms. "Such a method could lead to the same kind of distortion of Christianity. . . ."…..
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/living/religion/14176450.htm
The Weekly Standard comment– March 27, 2006
NY: Senator Schumer compares Arabs to 'skinheads'
Senatorial metaphors
Don't look now, but we think Charles Schumer just compared Arab businessmen to skinheads.
According to a piece in the New York Observer last week, Schumer's beating the drums to kill the Dubai ports deal "came under fire from many quarters, with some critics suggesting that opposition to the deal was driven by xenophobia or anti-Arab racism. Mr. Schumer heatedly disputes that view. 'Let's say skinheads had bought a company to take over our port,' he said. 'I think the outcry would have been the same.'"
So why exactly do businessmen who happen to be Arabs deserve to be compared with skinheads, Mr. Schumer?
http://weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/011/986xfpik.asp?pg=2
Denver Channel – March 28, 2006
Lawmaker who sent questionable e-mails doesn't get it
DENVER -- A GOP lawmaker who distributed e-mails questioning the character of some blacks and Muslims should not expect to silence his critics by saying he did not agree with the messages, two Democratic legislators said Tuesday.
Rep. Jim Welker, R-Loveland, apologized two weeks ago for forwarding an e-mail to other lawmakers and constituents suggesting some black victims of Hurricane Katrina were lazy.
After the apology, another e-mail forwarded by Welker surfaced; it questioned whether devout Muslims could be patriotic Americans. Welker has said he did not remember sending it.
Welker told The Associated Press his mistake was not disclosing he did not write the e-mails.
"It's part of free speech in America. When I read things in the newspaper, there are things I agree with and things I disagree with. It's an opportunity to pass on information. It's up to the reader to agree or disagree," he said.
Reps. Angie Paccione and Mike Merrifield said Welker had missed the point.
"He just doesn't get it," said Paccione, a Fort Collins Democrat. "It wasn't a mistake for him not to disclose, it's a mistake for a legislator to send it in the first place. It's not illegal, it's inappropriate. . ."
The e-mail about Muslims said in part, "Can a devout Muslim be an American patriot and loyal citizen? ... Politically, no. Because he must submit to the mullah, who teaches annihilation of Israel and destruction of America, the great Satan."…..
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/8321747/detail.html
Philadelphia Inquirer – March 27, 2006
Minuteman says Islam is 'scourge of the earth'
Its border-control campaign was born a year after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks with the Tombstone (Ariz.) Militia, which evolved into the national Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. The mission of the controversial organization - and of loosely allied groups such as Ryan's - is to keep out illegal immigrants it believes could be terrorists, drug traffickers or disease carriers and who depress U.S. wages, founder Chris Simcox says. . .
Last April, at the group's month long Minuteman Project, 1,200 volunteers converged along 23 miles of the Arizona border and reported 200 attempted crossings to the U.S. Border Patrol, Simcox said. Their role is reconnaissance, he said. The Minutemen do not become physically involved. . .
Monitors from the Southern Poverty Law Center have reported the presence of self-declared white supremacists at Minuteman border events. Simcox acknowledges that he sent a half-dozen groups home last year. . .
"It really burns me," said Frank Shiery, 47, whose wife had to wait nine months to emigrate from China on a fiancee visa.
But that's not the main reason the martial-arts instructor, from Willow Grove, will patrol the Canadian border from a Mohawk reservation in New York next month. He fears Islamic terrorists.
"I view Islam as the scourge of the earth," Shiery said. "It is pure unadulterated evil."
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/states/pennsylvania/14194093.htm
Monterey Herald - March 27, 2006
Muslim-bashing has become socially
acceptable in the United States
By Moustafa Bayoumi
A new Washington Post/ABC News poll found that 46 percent of Americans hold negative perceptions of Islam, 7 percentage points higher than after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The poll also discovered that a third of the respondents have recently heard prejudiced comments against Muslims. Even more depressing is that one in four openly acknowledges harboring prejudice toward Muslims.
Is this surprising? Unfortunately, it's not. The vilification of Islam and Muslims has been relentless among segments of the media and political classes for the last five years.
The dangerously popular right-wing columnist Ann Coulter, for example, routinely drums up racist diatribes against Muslims. She questioned the "personal hygiene and grooming" of Muslims in a recent column. What other group can be so openly and maliciously maligned in American mainstream discourse today?
During the whole Dubai ports deal debacle, even Democratic leaders engaged in unfounded scare mongering to score political points.
And it continues. Colorado Rep. Jim Welker, a Republican, was recently discovered to have sent an e-mail to his constituents titled: ''Beware of Islam in America." The text of his e-mail read, in part, "Can a devout Muslim be an American patriot and loyal citizen? Politically, no. Because he must submit to the mullah, who teaches annihilation of Israel and destruction of America, the great Satan."
This is rubbish, of course, but such bigoted ideas continue to thrive, leaving many American Muslims politically fatigued.
"In the aftermath of 9/11, Arab and Muslim Americans have been compelled, time and again, to apologize for acts they did not commit, to condemn acts they never condoned and to openly profess loyalties that, for most U.S. citizens, is merely assumed." That is the conclusion of Sally Howell and Andrew Shyrock, two professors from the University of Michigan who have studied the Arab and Muslim communities of Detroit.
We need to tap into American traditions of tolerance to help us differentiate between a religion and its extremists. We can engage the philosophical school of American pragmatism to dismiss bigotry and opt for real analysis.
But in times of political turmoil, Americans have historically turned inward. Borders close, populism rises and demagoguery takes off.
"The goal of Islam, ladies and gentlemen, whether you like it or not, is world domination," said televangelist Pat Robertson recently.
This is not just wrong. It's dangerous. And this kind of demagoguery must be resisted before it gains even more traction. Otherwise, the noble American tradition of tolerance will be the next casualty in the war on terror.
(Moustafa Bayoumi is a professor in the English Department at Brooklyn College, City University of New York, and co-editor of "The Edward Said Reader.")
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/14196147.htm
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