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Glenn Beck Condemns Obama’s Christianity, Calls for "Religious Revival"

Posted on August 30, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday, conservative talk show host Glenn Beck led what turned out to be a largely religious rally, calling on the assembled crowds to bring America back to God. The event took place on the forty-seventh anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s legendary “I Have A Dream” speech, leading to sharp criticisms of Beck for dishonoring Dr. King's memory, and the memory of that day. And indeed, as many have already pointed out, the racial dynamics of Beck's mostly-white rally and the much smaller but heavily African-American protest rally, led by Al Sharpton, seemed to provide a potent illustration of how far the country has yet to come. Religion has slipped its way into recent media discourses, mostly because of the Park51 Center controversy and the revelation that disturbing number of Americans believe Barack Obama to be a Muslim. But many of these discourses have centered on the othering of American Muslims, which is why I was surprised to see a new twist in Beck's discussion of Obama's religion. Beck's new line is that while Obama may not be a Muslim, he is certainly a bad Christian. Specifically, Beck charged that Obama adhered to “liberation theology,” a Catholic movement aligned with Marxism that originated in Latin America in the 1950's and '60s. This morning, debriefing the rally on Fox News, Beck half-heartedly retracted an accusation of racism hurled at Obama last summer, saying that he had a “big fat mouth sometimes” (he may tie Dr. Laura for best non-apology of the year), but added that he made the comment because he “didn't understand Obama's theology.” Obama, Beck said, subscribed to liberation theology, which he described as centered on “oppressor and victim.” This is not, Beck claimed, a theology which many Christians follow, because it is, in his words, the “direct opposite of what the gospel is talking about. It's Marxism disguised as religion.” Beck took this complex theological discussion a little further, saying that while Obama believed that “your salvation is directly tied to collective salvation,” while Beck (and all good Christians) believed that “Jesus came for personal salvation.” Beck said “people aren't recognizing [Obama's] version of Christianity.” Liberation theology is not a new subject for Beck, who devoted an entire episode last July to attacking the idea that Jesus was a victim. “Social justice,” Beck said, “isn't in the Bible…Jesus was a conqueror. Jesus conquered death.” Beck's deep misunderstanding of both liberation theology and much of Christianity itself are obvious in these remarks, and illustrate the extent to which Beck is willing to harness religious rhetoric for political aims. I don't know whether Obama subscribes to liberation theology, but if he does, it's in theory rather than in practice, because the movement itself has very little political influence today. His beliefs correspond to a basic tenet of Christianity: the obligation of the Christian to care for others. This is repeated throughout the New Testament, from Matthew 25:40 (“Just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me [Christ]”) to Paul's epistle to the Romans, where he writes, “We, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.” This doesn't seem to jive with Beck's assertion that because Christians believe that they are saved through God's grace, this translates into an exclusively personal vision of salvation. In an interview on Religious Dispatches, Union Theological Seminary president Serene Jones addressed Glenn Beck's bizarre formation of grace, saying, “Just as grace reminds us as individuals that there is nothing we can do to earn the love of God—that it is simply poured out upon us—so too it reminds us that at a political level, the minute we start constructing political structures that we think are unambiguously right, we are making our own politics into God. Nobody does that more than Glenn Beck.” Obama's interpretation of Christianity is not radical – and it is in fact Glenn Beck who is deeply out of sync with fundamental Christian ideals. When asked, on Fox News, how he would respond to critics of his wealth, Beck responded “the money doesn't matter.” It's hard to believe that Beck hasn't read the gospel of Matthew, where Christ says to a young man, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give the money to the poor” (Matt. 19:21), but from his comments, it seems that he's never bothered to read or wrestle with the scriptures that he seems so eager for Americans to embrace. Perhaps it would be best for Beck simply to listen to Martin Luther King, Jr., who wrote, “Any religion that professes to be concerned about the souls of men and is not concerned about the slums that damn them, the economic conditions that strangle them and the social conditions that cripple them is a spiritually moribund religion awaiting burial.” Is Beck's God the one that we want America to turn toward? And is Beck's Christianity one that Christ would recognize? added by: pinkpanther

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Brian Williams Treats Obama as Oracle of Wisdom, Wonders: ‘How Are You Thinking About Your Job These Days?’

Posted on August 29, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Interviewing President Barack Obama in New Orleans on Sunday afternoon, Brian Williams treated Obama with a level of deference he didn’t afford to President George W. Bush as he treated Obama as a great oracle of wisdom to pluck. “Katrina was about so many things. It was about class and race and government and the environment,” Williams told Obama in the except aired on the NBC Nightly News, yearning for guidance: “Whatever happened to that national conversation we were supposed to have about it?” Williams raised how “it’s getting baked in a little bit in the media that BP was President Obama’s Katrina. And it’s also getting baked in that the administration was slow off the mark,” but only to cue up Obama: “Is that unfair?” As the economy continues in dire straights and Obama’s economic policy of “stimulus” spending has obviously failed, all Williams could ask was: “Do you have anything new on the economy?” Williams fretted that though “you’re an American-born Christian…significant numbers of Americans in polls, upwards of a fifth of respondents are claiming you are neither.” The “question” from Williams: “This has to be troubling to you. This is, of course, all-new territory for an American President.” In the full 22-minute session posted on MSNBC.com , instead of asking Obama whether his low approval ratings and the widespread rejection of his direction, as illustrated by the big turnout for Glenn Beck’s rally, suggests he needs to change course, Williams prompted Obama to denounce Beck’s use of MLK and “re-injection of God” into politics: What does it say to you that Glenn Beck was able to draw a crowd of, perhaps north of 300,000 people, on the anniversary of Doctor King’s speech, on the site of Doctor King’s speech? The message appeared to be, at times, anti-government, anti-spread of government, anti-Obama administration and in favor of, I guess, re-injecting God into both politics and the American discourse. Williams ended on a particularly sycophantic note: And finally, I’m hoping to find you in a reflective mood on a cloudy day . We’re the first to speak to you coming off your summer vacation. How does it re-charge you, what do you think about, what do you see, what do you read about, how are you thinking about your job these days? Compare all of that to how Williams approached Bush on Tuesday, August 29, 2006 , Katrina’s one-year anniversary: > You have apologized for the damage, but what about the damage to your presidency? And, Mr. President, here’s what I mean. Most of the analysts call it your low point. A lot of Americans are always going to believe that that weekend, that week, you were watching something on television other than what they were seeing, and Professor Dyson from the University of Pennsylvania said on our broadcast last night it was because of your patrician upbringing, that it’s a class issue. > When you take a tour of the world, a lot of Americans e-mail me with their fears that, you know, some days they wake up and it just feels to them like the end of the world is near, and you go from North Korea to Iran to Iraq to Afghanistan, and you look at how things have changed, how Americans are viewed overseas, if that is important to you, do you have any moments of doubt that we fought the wrong war, that there’s something wrong with the perception of America overseas? >   The folks who say you should have asked for some sort of sacrifice from all of us after 9/11, do they have a case, looking back on it? >   Is there a palpable tension when you get together with the former President who happens to be your father? A lot of the guys who worked for him are not happy with the direction. The questions from Williams to Obama aired on the Sunday, August 29 NBC Nightly News: > Just a block from here, you may not have known it, you drove by houses with holes still in the roof where there’d been live rescues, there’s still FEMA markings in spray paint. And yet, New Orleans is like this, this is a symbol of recovery. Katrina was about so many things. It was about class and race and government and the environment. Whatever happened to that national conversation we were supposed to have about it? > This was of course New Orleans’ Katrina and Mississippi’s Katrina and you’re familiar now that it’s getting baked in a little bit in the media that BP was President Obama’s Katrina. And it’s also getting baked in that the administration was slow off the mark. Is that unfair? > Let’s talk about another topic that’s part of the firmament here and everywhere. And that’s the economy. The New York Times said this weekend, “President Obama has another new plan on the economy, now would be a good time to find out about it.” Do you have anything new on the economy? While you’ve been away, we’ve had a horrible GDP number last week. > Mr. President, you’re an American-born Christian. And yet, increasing and now significant numbers of Americans in polls, upwards of a fifth of respondents are claiming you are neither. A fifth of the people, just about, believe you’re a Muslim. [OBAMA: Keep in mind, those two things, American-born and Muslim are not the same. But I understand your point.] Either or the latter. And the most recent number is the latter. This has to be troubling to you. This is, of course, all-new territory for an American President. > Even a number as sizeable as this. What does it say to you, does it say anything about your communications or the effectiveness of your opponents to-

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Joe Klein & Matthews Link Anti-Muslim ‘Attitude’ to ‘Deranged Muslim’ Violence, Small-Town Whites Miss ‘Ethnic Purity’ of Past

Posted on August 29, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

On Sunday’s syndicated Chris Matthews show, during a discussion of a poll reporting that a majority of self-described Republicans expressed a negative view of Islam, as Time magazine’s Joe Klein recounted incidents of recent violence in America by Muslim extremists, host Matthews asked if “this [anti-Muslim] attitude against them” was to blame for “stirring them up,” leading Klein to agree that anti-Muslim attitudes played a role: JOE KLEIN, TIME MAGAZINE: You’ve had over the last year, two or three major incidents of deranged Muslims, the Army doctor down at Fort Hood, the Times Square bomber, who were Americans, American citizens. CHRIS MATTHEWS: And what’s stirring them up? This attitude against them? KLEIN: Yeah. But I also think that there’s a small minority of Muslims in the world who believe this extremist philosophy. After Matthews questioned whether opposition to the Ground Zero mosque and “apocalyptic talk by people like Glenn Beck” exist because the President is black, Klein painted small-town white Americans as resentful that modern America no longer has the “ethnic purity” of the past, with Matthews responding, “Well said.”: KLEIN: A good part of the anxiety that’s going on in small-town white America isn’t just the plain old black and white stuff of the past. It’s the fact that South Asians are moving in and running the local motel or … there are a lot of Latinos about who are moving into these areas, that their grandchildren are coming out as gay or intermarrying. The purity of, the “ethnic purity,” to coin a phrase, that they grew up with no longer exists, and I think that that in addition to the economic – real, real, economic problems… MATTHEWS: Well said. I think that is the change, the whole change in the world they live in is something. Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Sunday, August 29, syndicated Chris Matthews Show: CHRIS MATTHEWS: Let’s talk about the mosque in New York. We’ve got a poll out here, an amazing poll that came out this week: 54 percent of Republicans say they have an unfavorable view of Islam – the religion, not Arab politics, not terrorists, no subset, the billion Islamic people in the world, they don’t like. Serious business here. KATTY KAY, BBC: I think that this has gone beyond the mosque. MATTHEWS: These are Republicans. KAY: That this is now, the conversation that has followed the mosque has almost become a bigger problem in and of itself, and the tone of that conversation. One of the advantages that America has always had is that you have one of the most assimilated, moderate Muslim populations in the Western world, and that has played to your advantage. The risk here is that incidents like a taxi driver, a Muslim taxi driver getting stabbed in New York- MATTHEWS: By a probably deranged person. Let’s be fair. KAY: It is deranged people in Holland who shoot Muslims, you know, in the streets. That is (INAUDIBLE) JOE KLEIN, TIME MAGAZINE: Yeah, but there are, but, you know, you’ve had over the last year, two or three major incidents of deranged Muslims, the Army doctor down at Fort Hood, the Times Square bomber, who were Americans, American citizens. MATTHEWS: And what’s stirring them up? KLEIN: Well, I think that- MATTHEWS: This attitude against them? KLEIN: Yeah. But I also think that there’s a small minority of Muslims in the world who believe this extremist philosophy. KAY: But the risk for America is if you start putting all of those extremists in with all of Muslims. And that’s what’s being blurred here. … MATTHEWS: Is it based on the fact that we have an African-American President? If we had a President- KLEIN: No. MATTHEWS: -like Hillary Clinton right now, would we have the same level of apocalyptic talk by people like Glenn Beck, the same attitude towards this mosque which is a couple blocks away from the World Trade Center on a row of buildings? KLEIN: First of all, we have a mixed race President who has a middle name “Hussein.” And a good part of the anxiety that’s going on in small-town white America isn’t just the plain old black and white stuff of the past. It’s the fact that South Asians are moving in and running the local motel or, you know, I don’t want to deal in those sorts of cliches, but there are a lot of Latinos about who are moving into these areas that their grandchildren are coming out as gay or intermarrying. The purity of, the “ethnic purity,” to coin a phrase, that they grew up with no longer exists, and I think that that in addition to the economic – real, real, economic problems – (INAUDIBLE) MATTHEWS: Well said. I think that is the change, the whole change in the world they live in is something.

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Washington Post: Ground Zero Mosque Protesters ‘Use "Sharia" as a Slur’

Posted on August 27, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

“Protesters use ‘sharia’ as a slur and rallying cry against Islam,” reads the dismissive print edition headline for Michelle Boorstein’s page A5 August 27 story. The Washington Post’s online edition used different wording: “For critics of Islam, ‘sharia’ a loaded word.” Boorstein cited “controversial” conservative scholar Daniel Pipes warning that pro-sharia Muslims “want to implement sharia in every detail on everyone in a stringest way.” For an opposing view, the Post religion writer also cited Imam Yahya Hendi, a Muslim chaplain for Georgetown University and “spokesman of the Islamic Jurisprudence Council of North America,” who argued that more moderate Muslims see sharia as more like a set of guidelines to guide personal and family life than a rigid code of law which must supplant secular governance. Fair enough, yet Boorstein put her thumb on the scale by lamenting that “the word has become akin to a slur in some camps… an alarming development to many religious and political leaders.” That sentence immediately preceded Boorstein excerpting a statement by liberal National Council of Churches president Peg Chemberlin, who complained that the NCC was “deeply saddened by those who denigrate a religion which in so many ways is a religion of compassion.” While neither Boorstein nor Chemberlin named names, the implication to the reader is that opponents of the Ground Zero mosque are anti-Islam, not merely anti-radical Islam or simply opposed to the mosque being located so close to Ground Zero, and that the specter of sharia law is a convenient bogeyman for those with a cynical agenda.

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WaPo Frets ‘Hostility’ Could Radicalize Young Muslims

Posted on August 27, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

With the eager help of the Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and others, the liberal media have warned of and bemoaned an anti-Muslim backlash since 9-11. Unfortunately for them, the evidence never bore that out . Now they think the wait is finally over, and they’re hitting the anti-Islam hate meme with gusto. Case in point: the front page of the Washington Post’s Metro section on Aug. 27. “Hostility across U.S. jars young Muslims,” read the headline. Author Tara Bahrampour focused on Muslim students at local D.C.-area colleges and their reaction to the “swelling hostility that many of these students had scarcely known was there …” Evidence of “swelling hostility? For weeks, their faith had been under attack by some opponents of a proposed Islamic center near Ground Zero. Every time they turned on the TV, there were new reports of anti-Muslim sentiment: mosque construction being opposed hundreds of miles from Ground Zero; a Florida pastor vowing to burn copies of the Koran to mark the anniversary of Sept. 11; a poll showing that 43 percent of Americans hold unfavorable views of Muslims. And just this week, a Muslim cabbie was stabbed in New York. Certainly, there are unfortunate incidents that all Americans should condemn, and voices that should be ignored. But they hardly constitute a Mulsim-targeted kristallnacht. To the frustration of the media , the Muslim cabbie who was stabbed opposed the mosque, and his attacker – no right winger – worked for an organization that supports it . Yet Bahrampour and the sources she quoted escalated perceived slights and differences of opinion into “a civil rights issue.” She used the isolated incident of a Muslim teenager becoming upset about the ravings of a lone individual on the subway to suggest that mosque opposition will create “homegrown terrorism.” “That anger, youth leaders and terrorism experts warn, could push some young Muslims into the arms of such extremists as U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Aulaqi,” she wrote. In his recruiting efforts, Aulaqi often portrays Islam as being under attack by the West.” (Interestingly, Bahrampour failed to note that al-Aulaqi was once celebrated by her newspaper as a moderate “Muslim leader who could help build bridges between Islam and the West,” and even had him host a web Q & A on its site.) She quoted Georgetown University’s Yahya Hendi, a Muslim chaplain. “The most vociferous mosque opponents ‘do not know what they are doing … They are radicalizing people.'” Once again, the onus is on Americans, not on those who could be turned to terror by public disagreements, perceived insults and isolated acts of violence.

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Bloomberg: ‘100 Percent’ of 9/11 Families Support Ground Zero Mosque

Posted on August 27, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c Michael Bloomberg www.thedailyshow.com Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg might consider checking out the polls. He’s under the impression 100 percent of 9/11 families support building the Ground Zero Mosque at the current planned location. “The family members, they do care,” Bloomberg told “The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart Aug. 26. “And the family members that I’ve talked to – and I’m chairman of the board of the World Trade Center Memorial – 100 percent in favor of saying, ‘These people, if they want to build a mosque, can build a mosque. The lives of our loved ones were taken because the right to build a mosque or say what you want to say was so threatening to people.'” Even Stewart, who takes Bloomberg’s side in supporting the mosque and has mocked opponents in several episodes of the hit comedy news program, couldn’t let Bloomberg’s exaggeration go unchecked. “I think the difficulty always is, unfortunately, I’m sure there are veterans who fought over there who feel we shouldn’t,” Stewart said. “I’m sure there are family members, maybe you haven’t heard of them, who feel we shouldn’t.” In fact there are many 9/11 family members speaking out against building a mosque so close to Ground Zero, including Neda Bolourchi, a Muslim woman whose mother died in the Sept. 11 attacks. Bolourchi is one of the numerous Muslim voices opposing the mosque, a demographic the media are mostly ignoring . The group Keep America Safe featured six more family members in a  video opposing  building the mosque near Ground Zero.  Others  have also spoken out. Bloomberg said opposition to the mosque is based on politics, and suggested most opponents don’t actually care about the issue. “There’s nothing new here,” he said, referring to the fact the project has been in the works for over a year. “The difference is we’re in an election season and this whole issue, I think, will go away right after the next election. This is, plain and simple, people trying to stir up things to get publicity and trying to polarize people so that they can get some votes, and I don’t think that most of the people who are yelling and screaming really care one way or another.” A recent  CBS News poll  found that 71 percent of respondents believe it is “not appropriate” to build the mosque a few blocks from Ground Zero, including a majority (57 percent) of Democrats. A  Time poll  found that 68 percent are following the issue “somewhat closely” or “very closely.”

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CNN Joins Media Speculation on NYC Stabbing’s Connection to Mosque Debate

Posted on August 26, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

CNN’s Deborah Feyerick joined the media guessing game as to the motivation behind the stabbing of Muslim taxicab driver in New York City, emphasizing the possibility it may have been ” connected to this big Ground Zero controversy, where we’re hearing so much anti-Muslim sentiment .” Feyerick raised this hypothesis during reports on Thursday’s Rick’s List and The Situation Room. The correspondent’s first report on the attack aired 12 minutes into the 4 pm Eastern hour of Rick’s List. Anchor Rick Sanchez played a clip from victim Ahmed Sharif’s press conference on Thursday before introducing Feyerick. She began by stating that when “Michael Enright, the suspect, was arrested, he had numerous journals and notebooks on him, all of them filled with writings, some of it completely illegible. That is now with authorities, all of that being vetted and looked through to see whether, in fact, there was anything indicating that he had undergone some sort of a mental or emotional change.” Feyerick did mention that Enright “ironically…was a volunteer working for a non-profit organization that promotes peace,” but didn’t mentioned that the organization, Intersections International, actually supports the planned mosque near Ground Zero . She continued with the speculation over the possible motivation of the attack, including the “anti-Muslim” charge: FEYERICK: So, there are two very, very different pieces of the puzzle that investigators are now trying to figure out. Was this simply a crime that occurred because of some emotional stress, like PTSD, or i s it connected to this big Ground Zero controversy, where we’re hearing so much anti-Muslim sentiment? Was that the trigger? The CNN correspondent gave a more thorough report on the stabbing over two and a half hours later during the bottom half of the 6 pm Eastern hour of The Situation Room. Feyerick interviewed a representative from Intersections International, whose affiliation was identified on-screen, but again didn’t explicitly mention the organization by name or its support for the planned mosque. She twice raised the possibility of “anti-Islamic sentiment” during this second report: FEYERICK: The executive director of your group said- quote, ‘The transformative experience an impressionable mind can have in five short weeks- there are intense emotions surrounding that.’ Did anyone see a change in him? JOSEPH WARD, INTERSECTIONS INTERNATIONAL: Michael has been a responsible volunteer for our organization, and he was very consistent in that, in the whole year that we worked with him. FEYERICK (voice-over): Enright volunteered for a non-profit group promoting peace between different races and religions . He helped soldiers deal with the trauma of returning home. But what caused Enright to snap? The death of a soldier he met, maybe- or, perhaps, growing anti-Islamic sentiment fueled by controversy over the proposed Islamic center and mosque? Maybe it was something else entirely. Sharif says Enright asked if he was Muslim, seconds before allegedly shouting, “Salaam aleikum [Arabic for, ‘Peace be upon you’]- consider this a checkpoint,’ then stabbing the defenseless cab driver. AHMED SHARIF: Of course, it was for my religion. FEYERICK: Prosecutors have charged the attack as a hate crime, but are investigating what caused Enright to allegedly snap. FEYERICK (live): Now, investigators are looking into a number of personal journals that Enright was carrying when he was arrested after this assault. They also say that inside his backpack was an empty bottle of Scotch. He was intoxicated when he was arrested. Now, as for Enright’s attorney, we placed some calls to him- we are waiting to hear back. He does face a long sentence if convicted of this hate crime, and that’s what this is being charged as. Suzanne? MALVEAUX: And Deborah, is- does anybody say that he snapped? Is he saying that, or his attorneys, or- where is that coming from? FEYERICK: It seems so out of character- what he did; why he did it; this, sort of, mounting need or desire. So it’s unclear whether he saw something when he was- you know, in the theater of war, or- there’s so much, sort of, anti-Islamic sentiment now because of this mosque- a lot of authorities are saying it’s- people have to be very, very careful, because it’s the kind of hate speech that could lead people to do things. So they’re really monitoring very closely whether there is a rise in hate crimes, and this is considered a hate crime. Just over a month earlier, on July 21, Feyerick actually conducted a hardball interview of mosque developer Sharif el-Gamel, where she asked, “Why not have a prayer space for Buddhists or Jews or Christians…why must it be Muslim?” When el-Gamel initially replied, “There are Jewish community centers all over the country,” the correspondent interrupted, “But the Jews didn’t take down two towers.” The developer continued that “there are YMCA’s all over the country,” but she gave a similar reply: “But the Christians didn’t take down two towers.”

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Chris Cuomo: Christians Shouldn’t Condemn Jihad Because of Crusades

Posted on August 26, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Is it a case of removing the plank from your own eye before removing the speck from your brothers – or political correctness run amok? In a tweet Aug. 26 , ABC “20/20” anchor Chris Cuomo told his 987,000 followers not to condemn Muslim violence because other religions have perpetrated violence in the past. “To all my christian brothers and sisters, especially catholics – before u condemn muslims for violence, remember the crusades….study them,” Cuomo tweeted around 9:30 am. So does past violence justify modern violence? If so, maybe Cuomo should take his own advice and study the Crusades. Even a brief study would reveal a much more complicated situation than Cuomo’s tweet suggests about who struck first. Historians, including professor and author Bernard Lewis, have noted that the Crusades were in fact a response to jihad. “The Crusades could more accurately be described as a limited, belated and, in the last analysis, ineffectual response to the jihad – a failed attempt to recover by a Christian holy war what had been lost to a Muslim holy war,” Lewis wrote in the Wall Street Journal shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. One of Cuomo’s Twitter followers, magoluv69, pointed out that “by the time the Crusades began Muslim armies had conquered almost 2/3 of Christian world. Neither just.” Cuomo responded that he is “not sure how pointing out Muslim wrongs erases Christian wrongs.” So pointing out Muslim wrongs doesn’t erase Christian wrongs – but pointing out Christian wrongs justifies Muslim wrongs? Author Andrew Bostom noted that the comparison of jihad to the Crusades is not be apples-to-apples anyway. “The jihad is intrinsic to the sacred Muslim texts, including the divine Qur’anic revelation itself, whereas the Crusades were circumscribed historical events subjected to (ongoing and meaningful) criticism by Christians themselves.” 

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Open Thread: Another GZ Mosque Supporter Refuses to Call Hamas a Terrorist Group

Posted on August 26, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

The State Department classifies it as such . Apparently Imam Dawoud Kringle is of a different mind. What do you think of Andy McCarthy’s explanation for this Imam’s non-response? Is the definition of terrorism the real issue here? 

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NY Times Frank Rich: Fox News Trying to Portray Obama as a ‘Closet Terrorist’

Posted on August 26, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Never mind the personal feelings of people, which they’re entitled to have, over the notion of a mosque being built in close proximity to Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan. Those sensitivities have nothing to do with what’s really going on. It’s really all about President Barack Obama and his political opponents according to New York Times columnist Frank Rich.  On MSNBC’s Aug. 26 broadcast of “The Rachel Maddow Show,” host Rachel Maddow admitted she was befuddle that anti-Islam sentiment has seemingly peaked in the past few weeks and wondered why it has suddenly been brought to boil, with the mosque in question at the forefront. “For all the bad decisions made post-9/11, we really didn’t see a national, like, open partisan two-minutes hate toward Muslims the way we are seeing now about this mosque debate,” Maddow said. “Why is it happening now?” This could be one of the rare moments Rich actually had something positive to say about former President George W. Bush. According to Rich, you didn’t see a hostile response toward Islam in America because Bush managed to tread lightly around the issue. “I think it’s happening now because of Obama,” Rich said. “I mean, go back to right after 9/11. Bush for whatever reason did the right thing. Very quickly he went to an Islamic center in Washington. He said Islam is a religion of peace, we’re not out to get Islam.” So if this is an occasion where the American left isn’t pointing fingers at Bush – where should they be pointed? Another go-to target loathed by liberals – the Fox News Channel. According to Rich, this was a conspiracy which FNC was in cahoots with the “right-wing” to make Obama out not only to be a Muslim, but also a “closet terrorist.” “Why is it starting up now?” Rich continued. “Well, I think it fits into, if I may say so, the Fox/right-wing strategy of trying to portray Obama as a closest terrorist basically, and a practitioner of Islam . So it has a synergy in a campaign year and this whole thing has been ginned up and it’s depressing. It’s undermining the war. It’s – it’s doing nothing but spreading bad feeling.” The debate over Obama’s religion and what certain segments of society think about the President’s faith has been a fascination of the mainstream media in recent weeks. Several polls have cast a large amount of attention to the subject, which has begged the question – if it’s silly to debate Obama’s faith, why have the media dedicated so much attention to the topic ?

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