LANCASTER, Calif. -- A Muslim group filed a federal civil rights complaint Friday after a Southern California mayor remarked that he was "growing a Christian community" in a state of the city address last week.
In a letter to the U.S. Justice Department, the Council on American-Islamic Relations claimed Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris violated the civil rights of non-Christians and shouldn't have used his official capacity at a city event to advance a particular religion.
The civil rights group also said Parris referred to an April ballot measure that would endorse prayer at city meetings without restricting its content, including references to Jesus Christ, as a way to "validate a Christian stance."
Such a mixing of church and state is "unhealthy, unconstitutional and very divisive," said Hussam Ayloush, executive director of CAIR in greater Los Angeles.
"The role of any faith, of religion in general, is needed as much as the role of government... Our concern is when the wall of separation is blurred," said Ayloush, whose letter requested a Justice Department investigation.
Parris, who was elected mayor in 2008, said he made the comment in a speech to Christian ministers at an event he paid for and thought it was appropriate. He said he was sorry if anyone was hurt by the remark, which was not his intent.
"I think it is totally ludicrous," Parris said Friday. "Something very dangerous is happening in America when a profession of your faith can end up in actual government hearings.
"All of us get to express our opinion wherever, whenever we want to, including opinions of faith, and that is what I did and that is what I will continue to do."
The controversy follows an uproar in the bedroom community about 40 miles north of Los Angeles about anti-Muslim remarks posted by a city councilwoman on her Facebook social networking page.
Muslim community leaders criticized Lancaster Councilwoman Sherry Marquez for a posting about the 2008 beheading of Aasiya Hassan in New York that reportedly read "this is what the Muslim religion is all about." Marquez apologized for the effect her comments had on the city at a recent City Council meeting.
7 comments:
Pastorius,
Yet would the mayor have said that non Christians wouldn't have the right to live in his town, or shouldn't enjoy any of the basic rights that all Americans are supposed to be able to enjoy? If only R. Rex Parris knew enough to called out CAIR on their hypocrisy. What he has done is nothing compared to what the likes of them would do, as far as violating basic individual rights based on religion.
If they were had their way of course.
Apparently, CAIR has been agitating in the Lancaster County area for awhile now. It could be that Parris said what he said specifically to annoy CAIR.
"Those who stay in America should be open to society without melting, keeping Mosques open so anyone can come and learn about Islam. If you choose to live here, you have a responsibility to deliver the message of Islam ... Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faiths, but to become dominant. The Koran, the Muslim book of scripture, should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth."
If good for the goose...
Pastorius,
You actually think Parris might have done this just annoy CAIR? If that's the case, I don't understand what good it might do. I fail to see what good it will do unless he is able to use it in such a way as to get people to understand that CAIR is not really a civil rights organization, and it leadership has motives radically different than what they claim. I fail to see how it will do that, unless he's somehow able to trick CAIR's leadership into admitting what they really think.
CAIR has been annoyed with Lancaster for some time. In fact, it was Marquez they were---supposedly---annoyed with first, for her Facebook comments. Then, suddenly, they started being angry at Parris, instead. I suspect he was the one they were after all along, for reasons of their own.
Damien,
I did not say Parris is sophisticated in his strategy.
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