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 The ruins of a mosque in Joplin, Missouri, after a fire last month that Muslims leaders suspect was an arson.
September 5th, 2012
01:19 PM ET
Rising anti-Islamic sentiment in America troubles MuslimsBy Moni Basu, CNN On the program, called "The Threat in Our Backyard," is a lecture on Islam in public schools and a short film on Sharia finance. It's a program organized by people who feel the American way of life is threatened by Islam - in particular, Sharia, or Islamic law. Sharia would bring ruin to America, says Greg Johnson, vice president of the 9/12 Project Tennessee, a sponsor of the event that advocates for shifting government back to the intent of the Constitution's authors. He says he has nothing against Muslims, but he takes issue with the tenets of Islam. Sharia, he believes, would mean that practicing homosexuals would be put to death, women would not be educated and would be married off to men chosen by their fathers, and non-Muslims would become kafirs - nonbelievers - relegated to second-class citizenship. My Faith: After my mosque was torched "And I don't want that coming to America," Johnson says. He's not alone in his fears. A tide of anti-Islam sentiment has been swelling across America in recent months, strong enough to prompt one imam to wish for the days immediately after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks when President George W. Bush declared that Muslims were not our enemies; that the war on terror was against a select few who acted upon their hate for America. "In the 11 years since, we have retreated," says Abdullah Antepli, the Muslim chaplain at Duke University who likes to call himself the Blue Devil Imam. Muslims make up less than 1% of the U.S. population. Yet, say Muslim advocates, they are a community besieged. Hate crimes against Muslims spiked 50% in 2010, the last year for which FBI statistics are available. That was in a year marked by Muslim-bashing speech over the Islamic center near ground zero in Manhattan and Florida Pastor Terry Jones' threats to burn Qurans. Why some American Muslims wear the hijab Antepli likens the current climate to McCarthyism. Left unchecked, he says, anti-Muslim fervor, like racism and anti-Semitism, has the potential to evolve into something dangerous. This year's holy month of Ramadan, which ended August 19, was marred by a spate of violence at U.S. Islamic centers that included a fire, a homemade bomb and pig parts. The incidents were unprecedented in scale and scope, says the Council on American-Islamic Relations. At least seven mosques and one cemetery were attacked in the United States during Ramadan, according to the council and other groups that track such incidents. Particularly visible on the anti-Muslim radar has been the state of Tennessee, where a mosque opened during Ramadan after two years of controversy. The new Islamic center in Murfreesboro opened a few weeks ago after delays caused by legal wrangling, community protests and vandalism. Also in Tennessee, incumbent congresswoman Diane Black found herself publicly opposing Sharia after her opponent Lou Ann Zelenik made it a campaign issue. Follow the CNN Belief Blog on Twitter State senatorial candidate Woody Degan's website also mentions Sharia: "VOTE CONSERVATIVE! VOTE Anti-Sharia, VOTE Against Internet Taxes, Vote FOR Gun Carry Rights! VOTE for your PERSONAL RIGHTS!" And Gov. Bill Haslam recently came under fire for hiring lawyer Samar Ali, a Muslim woman from Tennessee, to work in the international division of the state's economic development department. Ali's critics called her Sharia-compliant and a website called Bill H(Islam) attacked the governor for pursuing "a policy that promotes the interest of Islamist (sic) and their radical ideology." The website links to another that discusses, among other things, Islamic infiltration of public schools. "I cannot stress enough the seriousness of their push to spread their religion to all non-Muslims throughout our country," says website author Cathy Hinners, another speaker at next Tuesday's 9/11 event in Franklin. Why do Muslims pray five times daily? "Why? Why are Muslims so adamant that we accept their religion? The answer is simple. The answer is in black and white. The answer is in the Muslim brotherhoods "Strategic Goal for North America." It's called a global caliphate. One religion, one government, one law... called Sharia." In November 2010, more than 70% of voters in Oklahoma approved a ballot initiative to amend the state's constitution that banned courts from looking at "legal precepts of other nations or cultures. Specifically, the courts shall not consider international law or Sharia law." The amendment died after a federal court ruled it discriminatory. "That was very explicitly anti-Islamic," says Glenn Hendrix, an Atlanta lawyer who specializes in international law. "It specifically referenced Sharia." This year, 33 anti-Sharia or international law bills were introduced in 20 states, making it a key issue. Six states - Louisiana, South Dakota, Kansas, Arizona, Louisiana and Tennessee - adopted such laws prior to 2012. Two Tennessee lawmakers attempted to pass a bill this year that would have made it a felony to practice Sharia, but it failed. The Council on American-Islamic Relations says the anti-Sharia bills are based on draft legislation promoted by David Yerushalmi, an anti-Islamic lawyer from New York. Yerushalmi founded the Society of Americans for National Existence, an organization devoted to promoting his theory that Islam is inherently seditious and Sharia is a "criminal conspiracy to overthrow the U.S. government," according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups. "Ideally," says the center, "he would outlaw Islam and deport its adherents altogether." Hendrix says anti-Sharia legislation is not necessary since U.S. courts ultimately are beholden to U.S. law. But it sends a strong message to the Muslim community. CNN’s Belief Blog: The faith angles behind the biggest stories The American Bar Association, which opposes federal or state laws that impose blanket prohibitions on foreign laws, says such legislative initiatives stigmatize an entire religious community and "are inconsistent with some of the core principles and ideals of American jurisprudence." Valarie Kaur, a legal advocate and hate crimes specialist, says proponents of anti-Sharia bills are battling an imaginary threat. "There is no push to install Sharia law in the U.S.," she says. "Anti-Sharia bills target the religious principles of Muslim Americans and fuel anti-Muslim rhetoric and bias. As a Sikh American whose community has too often become the target of hate, I believe it's time to stand against all forms of racism and religious bigotry." An attack at a Wisconsin Sikh temple last month killed six people. Many believe the shooter mistook Sikhs for Muslims. A Sikh gas station attendant in Arizona was the first victim of reprisal after the 9/11 attacks. Kaur blames tough economic times and an amplification of hateful speech for incidents like the temple shooting and the momentum behind the anti-Sharia campaign. For Muslims, Sharia - which means "path to the watering hole" in Arabic - is the divine law revealed centuries ago in the Quran that governs all aspects of life. More often than not, it's the most sensational parts of Sharia - like cutting off a thief's hand - that garner the most publicity. U.S. courts bump up against it in cases of divorces, inheritance, child custody, enforcement of money judgments and commercial disputes or tort actions. A trial court in New Jersey, for instance, ruled that a husband, who was Muslim, lacked the criminal intent to commit sexual assault on his wife because Sharia permits a man to have sex with his wife whenever he wants. That's the kind of ruling that fuels anti-Sharia activists. Nashville health-care investor Andrew Miller says there's no room for democracy within Islamic ideology. All you have to do is look to any Islamic state, he says. "If you wanted to pray to a large rock and that was your God, I could care less," he says. "But the minute you want to put a gun to my head and say you will pray to this large rock and your family will or you will pay the price, that's when I see a bully. I see an overbearing ideology that wants to force and coerce people. Miller describes himself as a tolerant person but not when it comes to people dictating how others will live. "That's antithetical to the freedoms that we value, the liberty we value," he says. The message that Islam is evil has been repeated so many times - sometimes directly, sometimes in a more subtle fashion - that it has sunk in as reality in the hearts and minds of many Americans, says Antepli, the Duke chaplain. Part of it is fear of the unknown, he says. "I, too, would have a monstrous image of Islam if I did not know any better." But another part of it is orchestrated, he says, referring to "well-organized and polished" anti-Islam websites that have sprouted in recent years. Marry that with ignorance and the end result is lethal, Antepli says. The Center for American Progress, a liberal research and advocacy organization, published a report last year that attributed the rise of Islamophobia to a "small, tightly-networked group of misinformation experts." The report called "Fear, Inc." lists seven foundations that gave $42.6 million to think tanks to promote anti-Islamic thought. It describes "deeply intertwined individuals and organizations" that "manufacture and exaggerate threats of 'creeping Sharia,' Islamic domination of the West, and purported obligatory calls to violence against all non-Muslims by the Quran." The issue of Sharia, say some Muslims, has become a political hot potato in an election year. GOP candidates Newt Gingrich and Michele Bachmann mentioned Sharia in their campaign speeches. This year's Republican Party platform makes mention of foreign laws: "Subjecting American citizens to foreign laws is inimical to the spirit of the Constitution. It is one reason we oppose U.S. participation in the International Criminal Court. There must be no use of foreign law by U.S. courts in interpreting our Constitution and laws. Nor should foreign sources of law be used in State courts' adjudication of criminal or civil matters." That's the message Miller hopes people will take away from next week's 9/11 meeting; that the tenets of Islam go against the constitution of the United States. It's diametrically opposed to what people like Antepli and Kaur will be saying as America remembers the horror of terrorism. Hateful sentiment, they say, is not the answer. soundoff (2,383 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 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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CNN belief blog helping spread ignorance of science and logically deduced fact, one senseless article at a time.
The writers still seem to believe the universe is 4 billion years old, when a single Google search could have given them the correctly estimated age of 14.6 billion years. Apparently graduating grade school is not a prerequisite for CNN belief blog writers.
Scott, while I deeply appreciate you saying something of your own instead of just posting another video, the Earth is indeed about 4 billion years old, not 14 billion.
Were you perhaps joking about that as well?
Should be interesting in another 10 years as those of us who deployed and have seen first hand muslim states and what they are truly like gradually mature and run for office, get appointed to judicial seats and political positions where policy is set. It is going to take a while but it will happen. What we have seen here in the US over the past 20 years as the federal government gets more and more intrusive seems to coincide with the dying off of WWII vets who saw how socialist governments were run first hand.
Dream on.
WWII vets also saw, first hand, the way fascist states were run.
Uh, what socialist states were those, Rich? The Soviet Union was the only one in existence in WWII, and they were our ally. And we would have had very few troops over there to see anything.
True, the generation currently running things on both sides are the flower power, college deferment, draft dodgers, hippies of my generation, that is the main reason there are so many liberals in both parties who want to make everyone happy no matter the cost. Me, I enlisted in 1970 and stayed there for 30 years. This upcoming generation, probably has 10 times the number of combat vets than Vietnam. Like I said, should be an interesting 10-20 years.
Number of in-country Vietnam combat veterans: 2,600,000
Number of in-country Iraq/Afghanistan combat veterans = 1,600,000
Yeah, 10 times as many.
It helps to ave a bettersouorce for your information that just pulling them out of your ass.
i am curious how many times someone has forced non-believers into islam in this country?
Not in this country, not in the US of A! No here we are a christian country, whether you like it or not...YOU HEAR ME? Christian...forfathers were christian...everybody christian...better remember. (sarc. all of it sarc.)
It happens all the time.. Why, just yesterday I was walking home, alone in a dark ally, and this guy came up behind be and pressed his Quran to my back and forced me to convert... *Tear*
0. Now the amount of time a hill billy has yelled or thrown something at a girl with a scarf on their head. I can count at least 30.
Mario... Bullspit!!! Hillbillies and rednecks are THE MOST TOLERANT people in the world!!!
People like you.......... haha
Just goes to show...ANY RELIGION can become a threat to democracy. Religion should ALWAYS remain a matter of personal choice, not something imposed on others!!
AMEN brother!! 😉
No one is imposing any religion. But the freedom to practice religion (or not to) is a fundamental American principle.
The freedom to practice your religion will not be a right once Islam gains traction.
All this hate for Islam is not displaced, after all just look at this line from a holy book-
"If a man or woman living among you...has worshiped other gods, bowing down to them or to the sun or the moon or the stars in the sky...take the man or woman who has done this evil deed to your city gate and stone that person to death."
Ohh wait..... That's from the Christian Bible....................................... (Deuteronomy 17:2-7)
@Duh...
Shhhhhh... Not supposed to point those little tid bits out.
Peace...
proof it was written by men, no God would do anything like that!
Uh duh! That's the old testament. Christianty begins with Christ, who hadn't been born when the old testament (the first five chapters being the Jewish Torrah) was written. You need to take your arguments starting from Mathew, Mark, Luke and John, you know the stuff about Jesus and what he taught. Not something wirtten for the Jews in the old testament.
Yeah and? When last time you heard Christians stoning anyone? Yet hear about it happening in a Muslim country least once a month. Retarded answer.
Im not even christian, but you grossly distorted that quote from Deuteronomy 17:2-7. Try to have some dignity please.
This is the thing with Muslims to deflect attention, you will relate Islams present to Christianity's Past. In present day Christianity there is no body preaching that from the pulpit. but in every madrasa they preach hate against the kuffar.
This was excellent. To further enlighten, review the comparisons of the Islam Al-Medhi and the Biblical Anti-Christ and form your own very somber opinion. My belief is in Jesus as he told us that he was "The Way The Truth and the Life, No One comes to the Father but through me..."
There is a Comparison Chart of the Al-Medhi and the Biblical Anti-Christ and perhaps then one can see this is all apart of God's plan. As John the Babtist told us, "Repent for the Kingdom of God is at Hand."
I am not a hate-monger, as we Christians are told to Love the Lord your God with all your Heart, Soul, Strength and Mind, and the Second Commandment with this is to Love your Neighbor as Thyself.
Many of us are looking forward to the day of our Saviors Coming, May you all Find him as well, he told us – "You will find me when you diligently seek me....."
Lesa
How many centuries you gonna wait before you realize you are a fool?
I hope all Muslims in America find the rise in anti-Islam so troubling they all leave.
And I hope they get annoyed and slaughter a high school filled with Jeebus Freaks. Then you must retailiate of course.
As long as the cults kill each other, we non believers shall prosper
I hope you leave.
""If you wanted to pray to a large rock and that was your God, I could care less," he says. "But the minute you want to put a gun to my head and say you will pray to this large rock and your family will or you will pay the price, that's when I see a bully. I see an overbearing ideology that wants to force and coerce people."
Hahahah, you moron. And did anyone come up to YOU and put a gun to YOUR head? Or is that the hypothetical scenario you use to get votes? If only everyone worked on real issues that mattered instead of made up issues, we would be a much better country.
All over the world, Islamic radicals are forcing their religion on the unwilling, from Nigeria to Indonesia, to the Balkans and too many places to name. This is citied as a practice in the Koran, in the use of sharia law.
It is regrettable that those who seek to defend Islam know so little about what is in the Koran and supporting materials. Pick it up and read it in English on your own, and form your own view. When a religion opposes freedom of religion with violence, then it ceases to be a religion and has become hate speech.
Philly
Have you even read your own Bible?
ALL RELIGOINS BREED HATE. Every single one,
So then I ask you, what's going on in the US? Every other country is not relevant to what happens here. There is political context around the world that doesn't apply to us.
The mosques and islamic centers here are built by productive members of this country, much more productive and EDUCATED than those that stand up against them.
This article does nothing but fuel hatred I don't see ANYTHING that is newsworthy, shame on the author and shame on CNN for posting it. We don't want ANY religion interference in government, Judeo-Christian laws are just as barbaric as Muslic Sharia.
It's all the same and all about fueling hatered,
"Rising anti-Jewish sentiment in America troubles Jews"
"Rising anti-Catholic sentiment in America troubles Cathoics"
"Rising anti-Christian sentiment in America troubles Christians"
"Rising anti-Islamic sentiment in America troubles Muslims"
etc..
NONE of the groups you mention belong to a religion which seeks to overthrow host nations and countries. One of Islam's main tenants is to overthrow existing government and instill sharia law...
Where is there a Judeo-Christian set of laws though? There is only secular law in the US.
save for ONE
i think that such articles help people outside of the US to understand what is going on inside
One of the biggest problems with the US is to many people are not Americans, they are African Americans, Native Americans, Italian Americans, Irish American, Asian Americans, Mexican American, etc. I am just American, I don't care what country my great great grandfather was born in, I know which of course but my allegiance is to America, born 1968.
I am sick and tired of people coming here and trying to change us, America has changed and will continue to do so but not to your culture specifically, you make our culture yours, if that is not good enough, you are FREE to go some place else.
Then blame your political parties, past and present – not the Muslims.
Some of the anti Islam reaction is a bit knee jerk, but not all of it. Much of the anger towards muslims is fueled by their unwillingness as a whole to openly and vehemently object to things done by the more radical elements in the name of Islam. The girl that was accused of burning the koran, the countless stories of acid being thrown in the faces of women and girls, honor killings, and explosions that tear childrens faces apart; NONE of these get the anger and attention of the islamic community right here at home. Yet, if a arrogant jerk of a pastor down in florida calls on a koran burning day, then they yell, and protest loud enough to "wake the dead".
Timothy McVeigh, abortion clinic bombings, Tillers killer, and countless others were quite forcefully condemned without any prodding by the various Christian community's. Before the ink was even dry on the newspapers as a matter of fact. yet with Islam, it's like you have to harp at them and bend their arm just to get them to say one peep against these atrocities.
Yet they want to bash Christianity by bringing up things that happened literally HUNDREDS of years ago.
Anyone with an ounce of common sense can see that there really is no comparison between the two.
anon
German Christians permitted the execution of about 68 percent of the earth’s entire population of Jews on their watch, including the production of lamp shades from their flesh ans autopsies being performed on hundreds of children while they were still alive.
The camel jockeys are amateurs compared to the Jeebus freaks.
Sure there is. The only difference between the two is that Christianity is dying while Islam is expanding. Islam just got started a little later on the atrocities is all. Judaism is going to outlast the other desert religions because they pretty much keep to themselves.
William. The germans enlisted the muslims to help in this endeavor. Hitler had entire muslim brigades. The Grand mufti of Jerusalem was in charge of these brigades. Muslims murdered in the most evil ways ,jews,Croats and did many many atrocities against the Serbs. Islam is the problem the world over. Everyday throughout the entire world muslims are mass mu7rdering non muslims(and the wrong muslims) This is fact!!!!
Nice try at tauquiya William D I know you are a muslim with a fake name, but here goes. The germans killed every body along with the jews and that was not for jesus, but because they believed in racial superiority, and that same fascism of we are the superior religion and every body must bow down to my god or die is what is the problem with islam. Nice try at deflection but it ends up pointing to your religion the same way.
Religions of any kind stir trouble and social decline wherever they spread.
rest assured that we will work as tirelessly to preserve our freedom from the encroachment of islam into our government as we do for christianity.
Humanity as a whole is designed to self destruct. Personally, I'd like to see it happen, just to see everybody get what we all deserve.
I have a pair of shades on my roof, and a little arrow that points towards DC.
I expect to see lots of colorfull mushrooms real soon!
@Ralph
" Humanity as a whole is designed to self destruct. Personally, I'd like to see it happen, just to see everybody get what we all deserve. "
What the heck ?!?!?! 😯
Peace...
the current phase of humanity is just another point along the long road of evolution.
You must be a lot of fun at parties.
Phlegmate my squeezix!!
FROM THE ARTICLE:
" Greg Johnson, vice president of the 9/12 Project Tennessee, a sponsor of the event that advocates for shifting government back to the intent of the Const itution's authors. "
-----------------------------------------
Gee... I wonder what he means by that ? 😯
Peace...
The AUTHOR keeps using the word "fear" to describe his target. The target is "protective", not "fearful". Islam is the definition of fear, and the AUTHOR is speaking his fears that Islam will be banned or have an even worse image than it does. (IF that's even possible). Killing people because they have "sinned" in your Islam view is FEAR. Not educating women is FEAR.
so opposing the imposition of religious law in the USA or seeking to limit the extent to which it can exist in our government is "anti-islam" now, is it? i feel the same way about the evangelical nutjobs who try to pass "biblical" laws, am i "anti-christian" too? or "anti-jewish", since most of those laws are inspired by the old testament?
Any laws against sharia law are redundant. The issue has already been resolved in the Const.itution.
Don't discount the end times is upon us. This is not the only event hurting the Nation and others as well. Stand back and look at all the events, plagues, disease, earth quakes, wars, children against parents, all prophesied. The rise of a religion which will behead non believers. No matter what we do, you cannot stop time or the events.
@Rob
Great... another "End Times" are upon us.
Peace...
Oh, indeed. Christians, Muslims and any other death cult religion would love that. Humans will kill themselves off before any sky-god returns. And the Earth won't be destroyed for another few billion years when the sun expands.
Paging Harold Camping. Mr. Camping, please pick up the nearest white courtesy phone for a special message.
Rob
What a dinosaur you are!
Our destiny lies in our hands,
if i had a nickel for every time some nut erroniously involed the "end times" over the past 2000 years, i would be an incredibly wealthy individual.
It's a good thing that Christians never engaged in that behavior themselves. (Inquisition). Or that Christians never used religious belief to as fuel to make war on other Christians (30 Years War, N. Ireland).
It's a good thing the only face non-Christians has seen of Christians is that of Love (Westboro Baptist Church).
Yep, it's a good thing Christianity and Islam are so different.
Yes in America we don't want Sharia Law, the same way we don't want any Christian extreme law (banning abortions, or denying marriage rights to people etc.). Any extreme laws made by religious groups need to to be kept out of our government, regardless if those imposing laws that deny freedom come from Christianity, Islam, Hindu, Satanism, Buddhism, Tribal or whatever it is. Keep all religion out of our law system and don't try and enforce others to one belief...
@Akahn
Pretty well said.
Peace...
Akhan
Without Satanisim, we can't have Wall Street 🙁
A khan i say impose the same all over the world including islamic world. let people choose their own religion. and also let them choose no religion. Now can you please set the ball rolling in the Islamic world, I will help do the same here.