tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19209018.post48596794972178865..comments2024-03-27T14:07:52.573+00:00Comments on Who Would Have Believed The Singularity Would Be So Stupid?: How Should We Treat the Muslims in Our Midst?Pastoriushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03169561459129778670noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19209018.post-83168278107479955592011-08-31T02:43:19.546+01:002011-08-31T02:43:19.546+01:00Epa, How does it make you feel that this Imam is g...Epa, How does it make you feel that this Imam is going to speak at your Synagogue on 9/11?Pastoriushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03169561459129778670noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19209018.post-77400118142136899792011-08-30T19:32:32.268+01:002011-08-30T19:32:32.268+01:00Yes, Epaminondas, you can almost guarantee you'...Yes, Epaminondas, you can almost guarantee you'll hear empty, vague, meaningless statements that will reassure those who want desperately to be reassured.<br /><br />Someone emailed me this question:<br /><br />How do I address to a conservative "friend" on FB who think Muslims in America should have the same rights as non-Muslim Americans when considering that Muslims in other countries do not really grant or respect the same rights to other non-Muslim minorities?<br /><br />Do Muslims in America respect our US Constitution and First Amendment more or less concerning criticism of Islam, its core doctrines, law practices, and actions of the followers? Do they place US Constitution on greater, equal, or less footing with the Quran?<br /><br />Here was my response:<br /><br /><i>One of the principles of America that we have struggled to apply is to treat each person according to his merits rather than according to his religion or race. So your friend is right. Muslims in America should have the same rights. A Muslim in America is not responsible for what Muslims do in another country. It is the ideology that is responsible, and the individual people who choose to follow that ideology. If there is a person in America that calls himself a Muslim and yet does not follow much of the ideology, giving it only lip service or not even that, should he pay the price for a fanatic in Saudi Arabia? No. That would be like taking away the rights of a Chinese American because China is a dictatorship. We don't operate that way in America. It would be very un-American.<br /><br />When we find a Muslim, or indeed anyone, who is actively working to undermine our government or Constitution, however, their activity should be curtailed. Should we SUSPECT a Muslim more than an Amish farmer? Yes. A Muslim is more likely to commit sedition, based on the ideology they say they believe in.</i>Citizen Warriorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06265844262699107352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19209018.post-13136691079465987732011-08-30T15:39:41.145+01:002011-08-30T15:39:41.145+01:00At a 9/11 memorial service sponsored by our temple...At a 9/11 memorial service sponsored by our temple this month, we have the imam of the mosque at U Maine coming to speak.<br />There will then be a gathering.<br /><br />It will be interesting to see platitudes vs real concrete statements, since so far muslims have been INVISIBLE up here.<br /><br />Many are ISMAILI.Epaminondashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04811906954763827459noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19209018.post-26445052410505792132011-08-29T23:50:01.904+01:002011-08-29T23:50:01.904+01:00Someone sent this in an email:
After 9/11, I didn...Someone sent this in an email:<br /><br /><i>After 9/11, I didn't see any of the "innocent Muslims" marching with U.S. flags on behalf of their fellow Americans, who had just been slaughtered by Muslims. As far as I am concerned, they are the enemy.</i><br /><br />This was my response:<br /><br />Blind, undiscriminating, overgeneralized hatred is just as bad as blind, undiscriminating, overgeneralized trust. <br /><br />Overgeneralization is <a href="http://www.citizenwarrior.com/2010/11/enemy-of-us-all.html" rel="nofollow">the enemy of us all</a>.Citizen Warriorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06265844262699107352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19209018.post-63701010968826944342011-08-29T19:41:25.673+01:002011-08-29T19:41:25.673+01:00Well said, Jason!Well said, Jason!Citizen Warriorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06265844262699107352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19209018.post-55869005953873669282011-08-29T17:26:07.388+01:002011-08-29T17:26:07.388+01:00Good summary of the problem with nominal Muslims w...Good summary of the problem with nominal Muslims who haven't yet repudiated the example of Muhammad. It always seems odd to me that someone wants to call themselves a Muslim if they aren't serious about follow Muhammad's example. But many people do apply a religious label even though they don't follow the religion or even know what the religion demands. I can separate the person from the actual religion. <br /><br />I just have to be honest with a Muslim, however. I abhor their religion. Even if they don't follow the religion, using the label is shameful. If they can accept that ... we can deal with each other.Jason Pappashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18233796281520274898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19209018.post-12876346165480775162011-08-29T07:08:00.756+01:002011-08-29T07:08:00.756+01:00Anonymous, if a Muslim doesn't repudiate the a...Anonymous, if a Muslim doesn't repudiate the actions of orthodox Muslims, it does <i>not</i> mean they approve of it. They could be afraid and they could be ignorant.<br /><br />However, it would be wise of non-Muslims to overtly and openly assert that assumption and, in a sense, force the issue, making it uncomfortable enough that a Muslim must openly express where they actually stand or be shunned, left out, untrusted, unbefriended in this society.<br /><br />And when they whine about being untrusted, we can make it known what it would take for them to be an unshunned part of this society: They must <i>openly</i> political Islam in all its forms.Citizen Warriorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06265844262699107352noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19209018.post-32880700398976943652011-08-29T01:54:37.814+01:002011-08-29T01:54:37.814+01:00Personally, I have all different types of relation...Personally, I have all different types of relationships with people. <br /><br />1) I have close friends with whom I am as honest as possible, and <br /><br />2) I have friends who are less close, with whom I put up boundaries of etiquette, and then <br /><br /><br />3) I have people who are friends only in the sense that they benefit me in various ways which could be said to be "political", whether that means the politics of groups, or politics of employment and the business world, or the politics of the actual political world.<br /><br />The first type of friend mentioned above is a true friend, of course. And, of course, I would never be a true friend of anyone with whom I did not share basic common values. <br /><br />Of my three best friends, 2 are non-Christians- non-believing agnostic-types (one Conservative-leaning and the other very Left-leaning) - and one is a Liberal Christian.<br /><br />And then there is my wife. I can not imagine that anyone with any sense would marry a person who does not share basic values.Pastoriushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03169561459129778670noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19209018.post-55017066126823195682011-08-29T00:25:10.384+01:002011-08-29T00:25:10.384+01:00I'm a firm believer in reciprocity. Unfortunat...I'm a firm believer in reciprocity. Unfortunately there are two major insurmountable hurdles that lie in the path of effective reciprocation. First, there's that post-Islamic Terrorism document, aka The Constitution. While Religions have the flexibility to declare war on a nation-state, or ethnic group, we have no legal mechanism to return the favor.<br /><br />The other being the deeply instilled notion that we as Americans are somehow irreversibly above institutionally singling out Islam for specific treatment. The whole "We're better than them" meme. We're not conditioned as a society to target Muslims in any manner that we can't universally apply to all religious beliefs here. The whole "All religions are good" meme.<br /><br />Part of the problem is most of us are waiting for the US Government to greenlight a public response to the threat posed by allowing Muslims to live among us. That won't happen even after it's too late. And while some Islamic-majority Governments such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia have official policies that discriminate against Christians, the real violent message is being sent by the civilian populations in places like Indonesia, Iraq, and Pakistan.<br /><br />Those places officially recognize non-Muslim citizens' right to freedom of religion, but the people have taken it upon themselves to encourage non-Muslims to emigrate while they still have a head attached to their shoulder.<br /><br />That's unfortunately the only viable solution we as citizens of the United States have available to us. We could boycott Muslim-owned businesses, we could make it a personal policy of ours not to have Muslim friends, but neither of those options would have any positive effect on reducing the number of potential future Jihads that will be sharing classrooms with our grandchildren. <br /><br />And obviously, even on a blog that's on the forefront of the counter-Jihad such as this one, the majority of us are not prepared to, at this time, perform the ugly tasks that we know our government never will. We're supposedly waiting for the catalyst that brings our society to it's senses. I'm less than confident that that day will ever come. The longer it takes to arise, the murkier it becomes on just who will be forced to emigrate.RTnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19209018.post-52664247926340662502011-08-28T23:58:18.663+01:002011-08-28T23:58:18.663+01:00Well said. If you don't mind, I'd like to...Well said. If you don't mind, I'd like to link to this essay at my blog.Undauntedhttp://freemendo.typepad.com/undaunted/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19209018.post-87576000205931147712011-08-28T22:52:59.048+01:002011-08-28T22:52:59.048+01:00Don't lose your job over this one.Don't lose your job over this one.Citizen Warriorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06265844262699107352noreply@blogger.com