RT @pourmecoffee: GOP candidate lets full Islam hate flow to middle school kids. The ugly bottom of this iceberg. http://bit.ly/cVBVq5
RT @pourmecoffee: GOP candidate lets full Islam hate flow to middle school kids. The ugly bottom of this iceberg. http://bit.ly/cVBVq5
The candidates are technically correct in their criticism; Islam does not recognize the wisdom of rendering unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s. In Islam, Allah and the state are as intertwined as when monarchs of old cited a Divine Right to rule their Christian subjects.
That being said, the embarrassment here is the assertion by the GOP candidate that America is a Christian nation. There are, sadly, too many in the GOP that pander to this line of thinking. We are certainly a nation founded on Judeo-Christian principles and ideals, and our civic life has room for the involvement of Christian religion and symbolism (from “In God We Trust” to chaplains in the military and non-denominational prayer in schools*), but even if one were to grant the assertion that America is a Christian nation, it is dead wrong to draw from that conclusion that we can discriminate against Muslims, Buddhists, or other religions. There are legitimate reasons to oppose the Ground Zero mosque, but that is certainly not one of them.
*Obviously the Supreme Court has ruled otherwise, but someday this nation’s jurisprudence will formally recognize just how far off-track the Warren Court took America from its Founders’ intent.
AMLTrojan – isn’t it ironic that “Islam hate” is what brought down the Twin Towers ?
I also went and read the cited article … and two candidates spoke the truth …
A triumphant Islam *would* indeed gradually destroy the American way of life … in the lifetime of many of us, we can see this happening on a daily basis when we look at the country which *used* to contain the Paris of the Middle East – Lebanon – and we see a country which used to be Christian and prosperous and vibrant prior to 1970 becoming less and less prosperous and vibrant year by year, since so many of the non-Muslims in Lebanon were either killed or chased out of Lebanon in the 1970s and 1980s and thereafter … they don’t call themselves fascist, yet, as mallards go, they sure act a lot like ducks …
We have seen the same religion proudly destroy historic Buddhist statues …
I have some Muslim colleagues at work – and I do not believe any of ’em are secretly working to undermine this country, nor to stone homosexuals, nor to whip females who show some ankle …
AML, first, as long as there are exams there will be prayer in schools. Second there is no such thing as non-denominational prayer so school sponsoring any prayer is a violation of the 1st Amendment, as has been held by the Supreme Court, as you note. It would require an act of Judicial Activism to reverse a decision that is directly based on the explicit words of the 1st Amendment. And lastly Islam, as I’ve said before, is not particularly better or worse than any other religion. It is possessed of different elements, sects, apologists, extremists, and skeptics. Just like any other religion.