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 The Islamic Center of America, a mosque in Dearborn, Michigan.
August 18th, 2012
10:00 PM ET
My Take: How evangelicals could grow to love Muslims
By Eboo Patel, Special to CNN Paul Ryan has set off joyous cheers in the land of conservatives largely because of his fiscal views but also because of his Catholic faith. He is just the most recent member of his church – think House Speaker John Boehner, Republican runner-ups Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, and Supreme Court justices Samuel Alito and Antonin Scalia – to be viewed as a flag-bearer for the conservative cause, a movement whose foot soldiers are largely evangelical Protestants. The dynamic of evangelicals cheering for Catholics is one of the most stunning shifts in American political history. Just 50 years ago, evangelicals were ringing the alarm about the rising prominence of Catholics in American politics, not falling in line behind them.
“Our freedom, our religious freedom, is at stake if we elect a member of the Roman Catholic order as president of the United States,” Norman Vincent Peale told a conference of evangelical leaders in September 1960. Materials handed out at the Peale conference claimed ‘Universal Roman Catholicism’ was both a religion and a political force whose doctrines were ultimately incompatible with the American ideals of freedom, equality and democracy. Follow the CNN Belief Blog on Twitter And the conference's keynote address alleged that Catholics practiced “mental reservation,” which allowed them to lie about their intentions in order to gain power. And when they succeeded, they would make second-class citizens of everyone else. Replace “Roman Catholic” with “Muslim” and “Church hierarchy” with “caliphate” in those pronouncements and today we are witnessing a similar energy directed against a different faith community using largely the same categories. In today’s parlance, Kennedy was part of a stealth jihad meant to replace the U.S. Constitution with sharia law and practicing taqqiyya to mask this dawa offensive. As they believed about Catholicism then, many evangelicals now view the very nature of Islam as incompatible with American values. Evangelicals rate Muslims lower on a "‘favoribility" scale than any other religious group, according to "American Grace," a book by scholars Robert Putnam and David Campbell. CNN’s Belief Blog: The faith angles behind the biggest stories Evangelical churches are favorite venues for Islamophobic speakers and prominent evangelical leaders like Franklin Graham regularly call Islam a threat to America. It is easy to draw a straight line between the evangelical anti-Catholic prejudice of previous generations and the Islamophobia of today, essentially saying that “evangelicals have to hate someone.” But that’s too cynical a take for me. The more interesting - and certainly more hopeful - storyline is the one about change. Evangelical attitudes changed markedly towards Catholics in the past generation, and they are changing towards Muslims now. Without doubt, the evangelical shift on Catholics can be partially explained by the two religion traditions finding common cause on political issues like abortion. But in "American Grace," Putnam and Campbell point to what they believe is a more important reason. Over the course of the past fifty years, more evangelicals got to meet Catholics and the warmth in those personal relationships became generalized towards the larger community. If your Pal Al is Catholic and a good guy, then by extension Catholics as a group and Catholicism as a religion have some good qualities. This is precisely the dynamic taking place between evangelicals and Muslims, a story for me best illustrated by a Dallas-based pastor named Bob Roberts. Bob grew up in the 1960s in East Texas and remembers the Pope regularly being referred to as “the Great Whore of Babylon” in his father’s Southern Baptist church. He absorbed the anti-Catholic prejudice along with everyone else. But when he went on service trips to Southeast Asia as an adult, he discovered that the people doing the most intense, committed development work were inevitably Catholic. At first he admired them from afar. Then he got to know some up close, and they turned out to be not so bad. After September 11, 2001, the anti-Muslim feeling was open and intense in Bob’s community. Truth be told, Bob felt it himself. But he was self-aware enough to recognize the similarity between the irrational prejudice he absorbed about Catholics growing up and what he saw happening toward Muslims now. So he did the same thing with Muslims that he’d done with Catholics: get to know them personally through common projects. Bob has traveled everywhere from Afghanistan to Gaza to do interfaith service projects with Muslims. And now he is bringing fellow evangelicals along and involving the members of his Dallas mega-church in local interfaith projects. He’s speaking to young evangelical leaders about the importance of building relationships with Muslims as a Christian practice. I know because in the midst of the opposition to the so-called Ground Zero mosque a couple years ago, a young pastor came to my office and asked me to guest preach about Islam at his evangelical church. He told me that Bob had sent him. This is how communities change. Evangelicals make up 40% of America – when they change, America changes. Maybe in 50 years, there will be no surprise when the loudest cheerleaders for Muslim presidential candidates and Supreme Court justices are evangelical Christians. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Eboo Patel. soundoff (2,441 Responses)« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 Next »
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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Editor's Note: Eboo Patel is founder and president of Interfaith Youth Core. His new book is called 
No taxes>>>No regulation on big corporations>>>Turn the masses into docile sheep through religion>>>Saudi Arabia aka a republican's utopia!!
Dang liberals, with yur science and fancy book learnin!! Jesus hates you. Praise him.
I am an angry liar and a big zombie democrat.
I think forcing billionaires to pay taxes is wrong. I want to go back to the feudal system, where a handful of people have all the money and everyone else starves to death cleaning their toilets.
isn't that what we have now?
If repubs are so great, why are the ten poorest states in our country all republican? In fact, its the good democrats from New York and California (the two richest states by far, both blue states) that pay for you lazy, xenophobic red states. Without the blue states, America would be third world.
I like to pretend to be. Zombie Democrats while pretending to be Ramon while pretending to know what I'm talking about while ignoring all counter argument. I am truly a zombie democrat.
Why do neo con fvcktards always whine about socialism? The bible has more socialism in it than any work by Karl Marx. Jesus was extremely socialist. You people need to develop better reading skills. Perhaps voting democrat would lead to better public schools and you can learn how to interpret text like someone from a blue state can.
jesus was a definitely more a socialist or even communist than capitalist. he certainly didn't have much good to say about the rich.
Would you like to be specific? Precisely where is socialism promoted? There are place where Christians are exhorted to help their 'brothers' but nowhere is there stated that the gov't should 'force' this: MORON!
Ask the average Russian, Venezuelan, Cuban or Chinese how they love their "freedom" and they will tell you they have none. Can you live on 25% of what you make just so everyone else can have substandard healthcare, college and cheese? You DEMs are the dumbest people on earth who NEVER learn or read history! Socialism is the path to communism and they both require EVERYONE to work. So, if you have no skills like roughly half of the people in this country you may be stuck cleaning porta potties or some other non-skill job. If you decide not to do this meaningless job (no offense to the folks who willingly do this now) you don't eat. Why should producers have to provide for moochers? You DEMs can never answer that is question in any serious manner. This is why Obama will not be re-elected. This is why Obama doesn't want voter ID to prevent voter fraud which is always propogated from the left. If the left ever told the truth about their real agenda, they would never be elected again. They've got to keep their base stupid, unemployed and dependent.
Isn't it fascinating that every time Conservatives are accused of being racists, their instinctive reaction is to refer to history books (the older, the better)?
I would like to challenge the righties in the readership to find and post ONE cite in which KKK or Nazis are linked to the Democratic Party.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Keep the reference within the last 1/2 century.
I REPEAT: Cases older than 50 years are NOT ACCEPTABLE.
AGAIN: Cases older than 5 decades are inadmissible.
One more time: READ THE 3 LINES ABOVE
Come on guys? What part of FIFTY YEARS OR MORE RECENT don't you folks understand??
Note: READ CAREFULLY Disclaimer ABOVE.
We all know about the Dixiecrats (Al Gore Sr., Byrd, etc.: They left the Democratic Party and became Republicans. Soon afterwards, they REPENTED and were welcome back in the Dem "BIG TENT". The racist ones remain in the GOP to this day.
Robert Byrd: "That was the worst decision I took in my life", after he repented and WAS welcome back to the Democratic Party.
"Robert Byrd was briefly a member of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1940s, but later left the group and denounced racial intolerance.[9]"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_C._Byrd
Abraham Lincoln would NEVER be a Republican today.
It is real simple.
A KKK or Nazi or hard core racist would never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever get anywhere nearby the Democratic Party (party of Jews, Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Gays)
Even if they did, the Democratic Party (party of Jews, Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Gays) would never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever accept them.
It is real simple.
For those who prefer THE PAST:
KKK Republicans control legislature in Indiana
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1WMBiYSCOM&w=640&h=360]
the most religious parts of our country are also the most prejudice. also the least educated. religion and ignorance go hand-in-hand.
Dummy, liberals are just linked to different extremist killers and bombers. Ever hear of the Black Panthers? Don't you recall Obama's pastor's hatred of white people and America? Don't you recall Obama's ties to a radical bomber? I guess I will tie you to all of this hatred.
For those who prefer THE PRESENT:
Longtime White Supremacist to Serve on GOP Committee
A Longtime White Supremacist to Serve on Penn. County GOP Committee
Posted in "Racist Skinheads" by Leah Nelson on May 30, 2012
"Smith’s ties to the racist right stretch far beyond the political. In 2001, he co-founded a racist skinhead group now known as Keystone United (which was until 2009 known as the Keystone State Skinheads, or KSS), one of the largest and most active single-state racist skinhead crews in the country. In March 2003, he and two other KSS members were arrested in Scranton for beating up Antoni Williams, a black man, using stones and chunks of pavement. Smith pleaded guilty to terrorist threats and ethnic intimidation and received a 60-day sentence and probation."
"Smith announced his election to the Luzerne County GOP committee six days ago on news forum called White News Now. The news was greeted with enthusiasm by members, one of whom commented, “This may seem like just a small step now, but this is how we are taking our nation back and it’s how we will secure a future for our people. Everyone needs to look to Steve’s example. He’s a true patriot!”
[...]
http://tinyurl.com/6rkfg5l
obama's ties to terrorists? after reading that crazy statement it's hard to take anything you say seriously.
" Ever hear of the Black Panthers? "
The original Black Panthers CONDEMN the "New Black Panthers".
"The Anti-Defamation League, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights consider the New Black Panthers to be a hate group.[4][5][6]"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Black_Panther_Party
Do these folks look DEMOCRATS?????
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsHi6_l1XzA&w=640&h=360]
Booty, then you need to brush up on your politics. Obama associated with Bill Ayers. Bill Ayers was a part of the Wheather Underground, a radical left-wing extremist group responsible for bombings. Go read up on your president.
Evangelicals do love Muslims. Why else would you see Evangelicals risk their lives to go into a Muslim country to tell them about the Good News that Salvation is by God's Grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Salvation is a free gift from God because God loves all of us.
Wow. Put down your bible. Learn about science, reality. Then come back and talk with the grown ups.
you just described being in a cult. christianity is a cult. all religions are cult.
why would a cult member go to another country to recruit? gee, i wonder... TO RECRUIT. that's why christians go to muslim countries. that's why christians go to every country they can - TO RECRUIT.
Why don't democrats give more tax cuts to billionaires and de-regulate big banks? Because they hate America.
I agree. Let's let the billionaires and big corporations do whatever they want. These people are noble and trustworthy. I want to be a serf.
huh...?
Conservatives give to churches that do charitable acts and they give to other charitable organizations, all of their own volition. Democrats on the other hand give little, if anything, to charities, so they push the government to make laws that force Themselves to actually give and force Conservaties to give twice.
evangelicals love no one but their own.
That's not fair. I love you, Bootyfunk.
Not so. How do you explain Christian Missionaries gong into countries where they are hated to teach about the love of Jesus. If they only loved their own they would stay home.
i love you, too, brother. and you're right, that's not fair to say. it wouldn't be 100% - almost nothing is so certain. but it's a pretty damn high number.
want to find the most prejudice place in this country? go to the most religious areas. coincidence?
Catholics stopped burning and torturing people 500 year ago. Muslims are still at it. That's the difference.
Go back to your trailer, fvcktard.
it's true. and that's a big difference.
basically, chrsitians today practice what i call 'christianity light'. basically, christians today are not very good christians. the bible says to kill g.ays, non-virgin brides, disobedient children and anyone working the weekend. luckily, most christians haven't read the bible and don't really follow all the insane and evil commands within.
muslims still follow their religious book of craziness closely - christians don't really follow most of the bible. and that's the difference. luckily for us, christians aren't very good christians these days.
@Zombie Democrats: "Nope, it's just the Democrats who think that Muslims are an oppressed minority in the world."
We do???? Really???
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSixNyQFhpM&w=640&h=360]
"“What it comes down to is there is one religion in the world that kills you when you disagree with them and they say, ‘Look, we are a religion of peace and if you disagree, we’ll [censored expletive] cut your head off,’ and nobody calls them on it. There are very few people that will call them on it.
http://dailycaller.com/2011/04/09/maher-islam-the-religion-of-peace-and-if-you-disagree-well-f-ing-cut-your-head-off/
Don't put those comments in quotes, because you were dishonest and did not quote what I wrote. I see how you Democrats work!
I will learn to love Muslims, when your people stop crucifiying Christians in Egypt, stop preaching death to Israel and stop preaching death to the infidel.... which is everyone who isn't Muslim..... do all that... then we can talk.
That's the problem, though, Barbara. Muslims can't stop being violent and hateful toward non-Muslims because the Quran and Hadiths specifically tell them to be that way if they are good Muslims. That is why Islam, not Muslims, should be humiliated until it ceases to exist.
Totally agree!
Has CNN been bought by a muslim? What is up with all these muslim articles.. Very odd....
I just saw this in their Web site Disclaimer:
"Anybody who disagrees with the CNN editorial lines or forum policies, can go to Faux themselves:
http://www.foxnews.com
Nope, it's just the sight-limited, idealistic over realistic, Democrats who think that Muslims are an oppressed minority in the world.
Why do Democrats claim to defend tolerance while at the same time being so hateful and bigoted toward groups that disagree with them? They must be some of the most hypocritical people on the face of the planet. Tolerance? You first.
Ask YOUR own government:
"The US Department of Homeland Security defines RIGHT-wing extremism as hate groups who target racial, ethnic or religious minorities. The phrase is also used to describe support for ethnic nationalism. (ie: anti-immigrants)"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-wing_politics
Racist Republican Elected
Longtime White Supremacist to Serve on GOP Committee
Longtime White Supremacist to Serve on Penn. County GOP Committee
Posted in "Racist Skinheads" by Leah Nelson on May 30, 2012
"Smith’s ties to the racist right stretch far beyond the political. In 2001, he co-founded a racist skinhead group now known as Keystone United (which was until 2009 known as the Keystone State Skinheads, or KSS), one of the largest and most active single-state racist skinhead crews in the country. In March 2003, he and two other KSS members were arrested in Scranton for beating up Antoni Williams, a black man, using stones and chunks of pavement. Smith pleaded guilty to terrorist threats and ethnic intimidation and received a 60-day sentence and probation."
"Smith announced his election to the Luzerne County GOP committee six days ago on news forum called White News Now. The news was greeted with enthusiasm by members, one of whom commented, “This may seem like just a small step now, but this is how we are taking our nation back and it’s how we will secure a future for our people. Everyone needs to look to Steve’s example. He’s a true patriot!”
[...]
http://tinyurl.com/6rkfg5l
Then & Now
Between 1870 and 1935, all Blacks elected to Congress were Republicans. As of October 2002, only one of the 37 African-American members of Congress is a Republican.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_org_republican.html
"Tea Party movement full of racists and conspiracists according to FOX poll"
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/The-Vote/2010/0212/Tea-Party-movement-full-of-racists-and-conspiracists-according-to-FOX-poll
1) Ask this lady:
"Of course it is racist! My dad cannot say it, but I can".
-Meghan McCain, born and raised in Arizona, when asked about AZ SB-1070.
(3) O'Donnell: "You Republican strategists are saying: 'How do we undo this!? Look what we have done to the Latino voters... How can we possibly get them back?'"
Steve Schmidt, Top Republican Strategist (*), agreeing: "If we [the GOP] had a deliberate strategy to antagonize every Latino voter in this country, it is not possible that we could have done a better job".
"The Republican Party cannot be a national party if it doesn't compete in the Hispanic market – Look at those numbers: we have big, big problems."
(*) Played by Woody Harrelson in the McCain campaign HBO movie.
Speaking if incurable, terminal HATRED:
"In a popular fable, a scorpion asks a frog to carry him across a river. The frog resists at first, afraid that the scorpion will sting him. The scorpion points out that - as a practical matter - if he stings the frog, they both die. The frog gives in. Halfway across, the scorpion does in fact sting the frog and they both drown. Why would the scorpion do that, the frog asks. The scorpion responds that he can't help it, that this is his nature.
The moral: Some creatures can't control their natural impulses, even if it would lead to their own demise."
"It's the same way with Republicans when they discuss immigration, as the four remaining GOP presidential hopefuls did Wednesday night during the CNN debate in Mesa, Arizona."
http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/23/opinion/navarrette-gop-debate
"Every month for the next two decades, 50,000 Hispanics will turn 18."
http://www.hispanicvoters2012.com/
is of little use in a society that circ*umcises their women. Keeping the really ugly ones covered up is okay I guess, but how do you know?
The following event took place a few weeks ago in Miami. This was leaked to the NYT and others (profuse apologies for the uncharacteristic lack of URL, I transcribed this from the TV):
--------------
Lawrence O'Donnell, MSNBC:
"We now know what the secret Mitt Romney says at his $50,000 per person fundraisers that the public Mitt Romney would never say. Romney demonstrated some competence in campaign math. He told his audience that president Obama's huge lead among Hispanic voters 'Spells doom for us. We have to come up with some kind of Republican DREAM Act. We HAVE TO GET Hispanics to vote for our party.'"
--------------
(Can you spell D-E-S-P-E-R-A-D-O-S?)
The following day, Marco Rubio got on his rear bottom and started to work of the Republican DREAM Act which is EXACTLY the same as the one announced by President Obama. Now the Rubio DREAM Act is dead in the Rio Grande, and the Repubs are understandably pizzed.
On gay marriage, Latinos agree with Obama
By Maria Cardona, CNN Contributor
updated 5:41 PM EDT, Thu May 10, 2012
In two new polls, Romney trails Obama - in one by 50 points, the other by 68 points - among Latino voters.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/10/opinion/cardona-obama-latino-gay-marriage/
Early in the primaries, the Republican contenders were trying to beat each other: "My fence will be 20 feet high and 20,000 volts!! (Bachmann), That's nothing! Mine will be 30 ft high and 30,000 volts!!. No! Mine will include sharks and hungry alligators!!"
The Texas governor, Rick Perry, had the temerity of saying to Romney: "In that case, you don't have a heart" AND HIS POLITICAL FUTURE WENT INTO THE GUTTER THAT INSTANT.
The ONLY one who brought some sanity was Newt (an astute politico): "Really? How about a grandmother who has been here for 25 years, who goes to church and his neighbors vouch for her?"
Beginning THAT day even Marco Rubio was FORCED to change rhetoric.
We Latinos have better MEMORY than the elephant!
This article is all wrong. We should be learing to love each other regardless of any other factor. Learn to live together in harmony.
salong, I just saw this in the Website Disclaimer:
"Anybody who disagrees with the CNN editorial lines or forum policies, can go to Faux themselves:
http://www.foxnews.com
"If current Hispanic voting and demographic trends continue (*), as early as 2020 the Republican party will be unable to get enough electoral college votes to win another presidential election EVER"
– The Wall Street Journal, not quite a liberal rag
(*) The trends have accelerated, thanks to Arizona and the Tea Party.
http://swampland.time.com/2012/02/22/why-the-latino-vote-in-arizona-could-be-decisive-in-2012/
Here's the Short Version:
when might the Muslims learn to love we infidels?
I like tacos and burritos. I will have 47 children. We will take over your country and force you to move to Canada. Holmes. SA.