American religious freedom real and enviable

More I read about Ms. Khan's lamentations, and her ilk the more I am convinced that there is no place for their project. Except for the constitutional guarantees in the US. Please read the article hyper-linked below:

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvoices/2010/08/malaysia_-_is_it_moderate_and_is_it_modern.html

I want to dare any of the sympathizer of the project to defend this type of moderation, that Ms Khan and her husband bring. It is not enough to mouth moderating homilies in the US, where theye are clearly a minority. What does this couple do with their so called influence n the islamic world. If you ask me, my guess is when they go to the OIC countries nobody give two hoots for them. If they espouse anything condemning what is happening in places like Malaysia, there will be fatwas against them. They are poser in the west and couple of spineless "chicken littles" over there. When we people like me stand up against the so called moderates and label them as enablers of extremists all the sympathizers come out of the wood works. Unless these, they take the stand and condemn these atrocities I have no sympathy for their causes. Their causes are only furthering the interests of islam towards world domination. Unless these US muslims willingly adopt the policy that they will boycott all these countries, including their Haj trips I say they are supporting apartheid. They are no different than teh Afrikaaner governments of south africa before FW De Klerk

You would also do well to read the article written by a fellow Pakistani American who has put it most eloquently on this blog.

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvoices/2010/08/us_muslims_should_be_american_first.html

Mr Ijaz should be a shining example and role model for muslims living in the non-OIC countries

The World Dove Outreach Center is not a mega-church. It has at most a few dozen congregants.

LorettaHaskell, answer to your question is simple, because Mr. Franklin Graham, like his father Mr. William Graham is a bigot. These bigots are such authorities on genetics and how it is intertwined with the religious dependencies. It does not matter to them at all if there is any validity in fact. They are ready spout out anything, they pull out of the north end of a south bound mule. These B#%&#(@s do not hesitate to say anything.

For the last few weeks now the Religious Right have been using the planned Islamic Community Center as a way of getting their flock angry and soliciting donations. The Media in typical fashion has eaten it up.

When Evan Kohlmann said that anti-Muslim rhetoric in America is bad news for anti-terrorism efforts, what he is really saying is that the Christian Right’s anti-Arab racism is bad for diplomacy. This isn’t about being critical of Islam, it is about racism.

You can read the rest of my response to this topic:
http://www.examiner.com/atheism-in-philadelphia/on-faith-enough-with-the-ground-zero-mosque-already

I will be responding to every issue posted in the 'On Faith' section. If you would like to be notified when my new response is up, please subscribe.

Once again, a very thoughtful post by Professor Silverman and I agree with his arguments. One thing that I find lacking in many faiths is that the moderates of these faiths don't seem to want to criticize the extremists within their own groups. A little "self-policing" might improve relationships between different religious factions since those of other faiths would not feel as threatened.

Dr. Silverman makes wonderful points that Imam Rauf would do well to consider. I would like to include an admonition to Rev. Franklin Graham who just added fuel to the fire this past week with his comment to CNN's John King in speaking about President Obama that "...the president's problem is that he was born a Muslim, his father was a Muslim, the seed of Islam is passed through the father like the seed of Judaism is passed through the mother. He was born a Muslim, his father gave him an Islamic name."

Why would Rev. Graham who has prayed with the President, and knows that his father, Rev. Billy Graham, holds an iconic position within Christianity in the United States, emphasize our President's Muslim heritage, knowing that Obama has chosen Christianity? Certainly Rev. Graham knew that his comment would promote more division, rather than healing, over the hate rhetoric that arose last week regarding the mosque in NYC.