August 14, 2010
Ahh, the hypocrisy of the left knows no bounds. The culturally aware and broad-minded among us are beside themselves now that our Muslim president has weighed in on the New York City “community center” issue and given the project his endorsement. This is a victory for religious freedom and tolerance they cry, tickled pink that followers of the most peaceful religion on earth can now spit in the eye of the thousands of Americans who lost their lives on 9/11. The people supporting the mosque and religious freedom are the same people that foam at the mouth at the thought of allowing the phrase “under God” to be used during the pledge of allegiance, but I digress.
Just to be clear, I do believe Muslims have the right to build the edifice because unlike the dissemblers supporting the mosque in the name of the 1st amendment—you know, the very same people who would have us do away with the 2nd amendment yesterday—I do believe in the letter of the law. But it’s hard to reconcile the decision to build with the notion that Muslims are simply trying to foster unity and understanding among all religions.
Muslims are notorious for their intolerance of others:
“When you meet the unbelievers, strike off their heads; then when you have made wide slaughter among them, carefully tie up the remaining captives,” (Surah XLVII.4) it says in the Koran.
Indeed, in Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia, Christians are not allowed to openly practice their faith and are not allowed to even enter the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. The penalty for Muslims that convert to other religions is death. Toss in the virulent hatred Muslims have for women and gays, and the rosy picture is complete.
Certainly in the United States we have to hold ourselves to a higher standard in allowing opposing viewpoints, however distasteful they may be, but it’s curious that the people who decry intolerance are forever supporting the avatars of intolerance, and in our efforts to appease all, we are letting our own standards erode and slip away. The biggest floods begin with a trickle, and at what point do we stop allowing other countries’ cultures, ideas, and religions to overwhelm and supplant our own? A judge in New Jersey recently ruled that a Muslim man accused of repeatedly raping his wife was committing no crime because under the Shariah law of Islam, this behavior was permitted. The ruling was later overturned, but the thought that an American judge could make such a ruling in the first place is shocking.
There was a recent episode in Dearborn, Michigan—where a huge concentration of Muslims reside—in which four Christians were arrested for distributing Christian literature outside a Muslim festival. The men arrested were on public property at the time, but they were trucked off to jail anyway. Such is the way of the insidious and slippery slope, but in the name of political correctness, we continue to back down. Ask Europe how backing down to the Muslims is working out for them…ask Salman Rushdie if he thinks Muslims are tolerant—or for that matter, ask a Danish cartoonist.
During the 2008 presidential campaign, the American public’s detestation of George Bush gave a free pass to Obama, who has moved in the shadows his whole life, consorting with the “Hate America” crowd and refusing to disclose college transcripts, medical records, and birth certificates. It’s a popular notion that America will be destroyed from within…it’s happening as we speak…and our president is the most glaring manifestation.