The good ol' US of A has its first Muslim Congressman, Democrat Keith Ellison. An American, born and bred in Detroit who can trace his American ancestors back to 1742.
Inevitably the paranoid bigots have crept from under their rocks - first there was Virgil Goode (Republican, Virginia) who sent this letter to supporters:
When I raise my hand to take the oath on Swearing In Day, I will have the Bible in my other hand. I do not subscribe to using the Koran in any way. The Muslim Representative from Minnesota was elected by the voters of that district and if American citizens don’t wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran. We need to stop illegal immigration totally and reduce legal immigration and end the diversity visas policy pushed hard by President Clinton and allowing many persons from the Middle East to come to this country. I fear that in the next century we will have many more Muslims in the United States if we do not adopt the strict immigration policies that I believe are necessary to preserve the values and beliefs traditional to the United States of America and to prevent our resources from being swamped.
Save us from the evil and the stupidity of these people! Apart from claiming a link between illegal immigrants and Muslims (taking a lead from BushW's 'link' between Saddam and Al Qaida) and the xenophobic racism, there's the basic stupidity. Ellison is a Muslim, how can he swear on a Christian Bible! Equally, Goode is a Christian (obviously in name only) so he can't swear on the Quran.
Then in a CNN interview there was this:
CNN's Glenn Beck: OK. No offense, and I know Muslims. I like Muslims. I've been to mosques. I really don't believe that Islam is a religion of evil. I -- you know, I think it's being hijacked, quite frankly.
With that being said, you are a Democrat. You are saying, "Let's cut and run." And I have to tell you, I have been nervous about this interview with you, because what I feel like saying is, "Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies."
And I know you're not. I'm not accusing you of being an enemy, but that's the way I feel, and I think a lot of Americans will feel that way.
Beck, you prat, I have a request for you. Prove to me that you are not working with our enemies.
It's one of the most serious problems the world has - racists and bigots. They hypocritically claim to defend but actually don't believe in or follow the standards of their own societies or their countries' constitutions.
No tolerance. Only they are right, only they can be trusted, only they are patriots. Everyone who doesn't agree with their feverish bigotry, anyone of a different faith, or even a different branch of their own faith, is an enemy of the state.
Not only in America of course, it's an international evil.
In a clever riposte from Rep. Ellison, as the Washington Post reports:
Yet the holy book at tomorrow's ceremony has an unassailably all-American provenance. We've learned that the new congressman -- in a savvy bit of political symbolism -- will hold the personal copy once owned by Thomas Jefferson.
THE bigots always claim to speak on behalf of many others, and there's an interesting comment about Goode's constituents here: Not all of his constituents are narrow-minded bigots.
Other links:
But It's Thomas Jefferson's Koran!
Goode's letter.
Beck's interview.
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3 comments:
Well said sir!
Just a little tolerance will go a long way. Even if you don't agree with someone's personal beliefs (and, let's face it, that's quite likely at one point or another), there is no reason not to afford them the respect they deserve as fellow human beings, at the very least. Unfortunately, I feel that the 'art' of agreeing-to-disagree with dignity has become a more if-you're-not-with-me-you're-against-me attitude, with serious repercussions on both the personal and international level.
Well said sir!
Just a little tolerance will go a long way. Even if you don't agree with someone's personal beliefs (and, let's face it, that's quite likely at one point or another), there is no reason not to afford them the respect they deserve as fellow human beings, at the very least. Unfortunately, I feel that the 'art' of agreeing-to-disagree with dignity has become a more if-you're-not-with-me-you're-against-me attitude, with serious repercussions on both the personal and international level.
And to think the original European settlers came to the Americas to escape religious persecution!
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