". . . what I find remarkable about this mosque controversy is how blatantly, narrowly political the opposition to this particular construction project has been. It has been an exercise in manipulating public anger and using it for the purpose of waging an ostensibly anti-Islamist political campaign by organizing against harmless Muslims and their organizations."A distinctive American culture isn’t under threat from this mosque, the Cordoba Initiative or Imam Abdul Rauf. Rauf and those like him do represent a threat to lazy conservative anti-jihadism that treats every Muslim to 'the right' of Ayaan Hirsi Ali as a potential fifth columnist and would-be enforcer of creeping shari’a.
"Likewise, Rauf must not say that American policies were accessories to the crime on 9/11, because it is still not really appropriate for any 'good American,' regardless of religion, to say that. Apparently, it doesn’t matter if the statement is true or even debatable. It isn’t enough if Muslims peacefully practice their religion, reject violence and embrace their new countries, but they must also become pro-government loyalists. Perhaps if Rauf really wanted to show how moderate he was, he would provide token support for the next U.S. attack on a Muslim country."
Read the rest at The American Conservative.
Carl Wicklander,
Regular Columnist, THL
Articles | Author's Page | Website
