Video
Twitter
Facebook
RSS Feed
Scare tactics and self-defeatism
Former Arkansas governor and 2012 presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee found himself in hot water this week after he called Islam the "antithesis of the gospel of Christ" and said that churches that share worship space with Muslims are caving to a religion "that says that Jesus Christ and all the people that follow him are a bunch of infidels who should be essentially obliterated."
In an analysis of how Islam may shape campaign politics, Politico's Bryon Tau wrote: "As Republican candidates define their national security stands in the 2012 elections, conservative discomfort with Islam in America will be a feature of the debate."
Should Islam be debated on the campaign trail? Are religious issues in danger of being exploited?
Mike Huckabee's recent broadside against Muslims (and large-hearted Christians) is just the latest effluvia from the wannabe statesman, who believes that alienating an overwhelmingly peaceful, billion-strong religious community strengthens national security. According to a recent report by the national advocacy group South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT), American politicians from both major parties consistently pander to bigots in our society by hurling cheap shots at Muslims, who have been unfairly cast as the bogeymen of our time.
To be sure, there are fanatics in every religion, which is why critics of Islamophobia also vigorously reject any religious interpretation that espouses violence or commits followers to a belief in religious exclusivity. (One wonders, for example, whether Mike Huckabee's estate plan has contingencies built in for the Apocalypse or whether he believes, as some doddering Ayatollahs do, that Salman Rushdie is going to Hell.) Nevertheless, the best way to combat fanaticism is to build bridges among people who prefer to live in peace.
So is Mike Huckabee helping national security? Not according to a recent Duke University study entitled Anti-Terror Lessons of Muslim-Americans, which concluded that Muslim Americans "with a strong, traditional religious training are far less likely to radicalize than those without such training." In other words, if you are a politician who wants to win the propaganda war against career criminals like Anwar al-Awlaki and Osama bin Laden, you should condemn calls for mosque closures around the country and encourage Muslim Americans to worship freely, especially in places that foster interfaith harmony--like the churches that Mike Huckabee assailed for sharing worship space with Muslims.
Last month, the Muslim Public Affairs Council released a report noting that 7 out of the last 11 Al Qaeda plots were foiled with the assistance of Muslims. The same report also notes that out of 121 total terrorist plots against the United States since 9/11, the majority of them (77) were hatched by domestic non-Muslim extremists. These insights should give pause to Mike Huckabee and also Congressman Peter King (Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee), who recently alleged that "[t]here has not been enough cooperation from the Muslim community" with law enforcement officials after 9/11, and who plans to hold controversial hearings that force Muslim Americans, and nobody else, under a microscope.
Churches that share worship space with Muslims should be celebrated for promoting religious pluralism, and all houses of worship, regardless of religion, should follow this noble example. As for Mike Huckabee and his politician friends, they should watch a little-known video (available here) about Muslim-Sikh harmony in the backyard of the Taliban and learn a thing or two about the resilience of peace-loving people.
By
Rajdeep Singh
|
February 22, 2011; 5:06 PM ET
Save & Share:
Previous: Huckabee strikes out with comments on Islam |
Next: Islamophobia and US politics
Posted by: raihanshafiq | February 27, 2011 10:18 PM
Report Offensive Comment
For mean instegater knowledge here:
in 1947 just in 48 hours 2 million muslims were butured by Sikhs after that muslims also retaliated.. No need to tell the sikhs... they know what they did and what happened...
Again thanks and all credit goes to your ancestors DEVIL Brits for their Great Plan... intensionaly dividing Punjab Province from right in the middle... knowingly hot political situation over division..
Where wickdly Brits only divided Muslim Population.
Today;
- 220 Million just in India where officially there counting in not increasing from 130 million from last 18 years...lol
- 190 million in Bangladesh
- 180 million in Pakistan
- 15 million in Indian Occupied Kashmir.
Clever devils Brits know that otherwise it would be Muslim Democracy in India today with altogether 600 million strong muslim population. Today Hindus in India are 700 million badly politically divided almost in half because of their Super and lower untouchable cast racism.
AND THESE ALL MUSLIMS WERE NOT CONVERTED ON THE TIP OF THE SWORD LIKE IN THE PAST OF WHOLE WEST.
Posted by: Mooody | February 27, 2011 2:05 AM
Report Offensive Comment
Mr Singh,
Your judicious use of facts was like water on used a fire (successfully, I might add). As you know, facts are anathema to social degenarates as Huckabee has shown himself to be. Can't the republican do any better than attract social degenarates one after another for the past few years? I bet Lincoln is turning in his grave at how degenerate his party has become. Today's republican party stands for everything Lincoln fought against valiantly.
Posted by: Kingofkings1 | February 24, 2011 6:43 AM
Report Offensive Comment
Rajdeep,
Sikhism would not have risen to prominence unless Muslim fanaticism touched it. Recall the slaughter of Guru Arjan Dev ? He was burnt alive under the Mughal (Muslim) rule.
So, what do you mean by 1-billion strong peaceful people ?
If America is a free country we don't have any rights to debate the propagation of the Islamic Sharia that poses a direct threat to the US Constitution ? Debating the Islamic Sharia is considered bigotry ? Since when ?
Posted by: DebChatterjee | February 24, 2011 12:19 AM
Report Offensive Comment
Granth wrote:
"...And, only truth can bring about real reconciliation and lasting peace..."
Amen.
Posted by: bert8 | February 24, 2011 12:17 AM
Report Offensive Comment
Rajdeep, in Pakistan, Sikhs (as with all other non-Muslims) are constitutionally precluded from becoming President or Prime Minister of that country. Compare that with India, where a Sikh scholar is currently its Prime Minister. Sikhs in many places in Pakistan are under constant and intense threats and pressure to convert to Islam.
At the time of the partition of India, the Muslim League butchers massacred hundreds of thousands of Sikhs (and Hindus) in West Punjab (the part that went to Pakistan), and they sent trains packed with dead bodies of Sikhs and Hindus to the Indian side of the partition line. Please see the following documentation by a Sikh scholar:
Muslim League Attack on Sikhs and Hindus in the Punjab 1947
Compiled for the SGPC by S. GURBACHAN SINGH TALIB
So, yes, while we absolutely must seek out peace and harmony between communities of different faiths as well as non-believers going forward, there is a very real and very long history (1400 years and running) of incredibly violent Islamist aggression which cannot be given a pass to in that process. If we do, then that violent history will keep recurring. And, only truth can bring about real reconciliation and lasting peace.
Posted by: Granth | February 23, 2011 2:16 PM
Report Offensive Comment
Rajdeep, a very well-written and convincing argument against what Mike Huckabee is doing, but he will not listen to you because he needs to energize his base. Mike Huckabee and his gong in Fox News jump on their chair when they hear the expression “moral equivalency;” but he exactly does what a third grade Jamat-e-Islami demagogue in Bangladesh or Pakistan or a BJP thug in India would do. You are one of them, governor.