4 August 2010 Our demagogues forget who won the Crusades

4 August 2010 Our demagogues forget who won the Crusades




“Do Muslims have equal rights?

By John Esposito



In recent weeks, Republican politics and attempts across America to block the building of mosques have underscored the impact of Islamophobia in American society.”

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/john_esposito/2010/08/do_muslims_have_equal_rights.html?hpid=talkbox1



Today’s local newspaper contained another group of letters, each of which is disturbing in nature and in content. The correspondents, recognizable names appearing frequently, all seem convinced that there is an effort on the part of Moslems world-wide to infiltrate the U.S. and to replace our Constitution with some form of Sharia. None of these correspondents have any real knowledge of Islam other than what they have been force-fed by the right wing demagogues and Christian theocrats. And judging from their commentaries, they have no better understanding of our Constitution than they do the inner workings of molecular microbiology or of coronal mass ejections.

The right wing demagogues have latched on to the practice of building mosques as monuments to political victories as if it is a practice unique to Islam. One can spend years touring the cathedrals built by Roman and Orthodox Catholic heads of state to commemorate their victories in various battles over the centuries. The practice of celebrating military victories is not unique to any particular religion.

The lack of separation of religion and state, often a complaint about Islam, is no less common in Moslem nations than it has been and still can be in nations which declare Christianity as their state religion. Look at any European nation and the remnants of Christianity’s long and brutal hold are still quite evident. Look at Latin America for the evidence of theocratic nations carved out of the New World.

Despite their wailing about the intertwining of religion and politics in those nations which are defined by Moslem faith, the Christian right and the GOP machine are just as willing to allow the U.S. to be defined as a “”Christian” nation. They fail to worry about such a violation of our Constitution’s 1st Amendment when they are urged on by fundamentalist Christians.

The Islamo-phobes complain about the militant history of Islam and would have us believe that all Moslems harbor the deeply hidden desire to conquer the world and forcibly convert all non-Moslems to Islam. They conveniently forget the very same actions which were carried out under the beneficent mercies of Christianity when the crowned heads of Europe ruled at the pleasure of the various popes. Millions of Native Americans were converted by force in both hemispheres. The Caliphate of Islam is not that different than the Holy Roman Empire or the Byzantine Empire. The great mosques of Jerusalem and other cities all too often were Catholic cathedrals built atop Jewish houses of worship. The Crusaders had no compunction about destroying evidence of someone else’s faith in order to celebrate their own ephemeral victories.

Still, millions of Americans have been convinced by the lies and distortions of the GOP and Tea Party demagogues that we are at war with Islam. These are the same demagogues who will scream about a “war on Christianity.” They see no harm in allowing Christianity’s fundamentalist bottom feeders and theocrats to re-write the principle foundation of our nation while pointing out the “evil nature” of Moslems who have managed to slide religion into the legal systems of their own nations.

There is no war between the United States and Islam. We are currently involved militarily with nations that allow Islam a central part in their construction. There is no “war on Christianity.” But if American Christians persist in trying to force their beliefs into our government and lives; as they are currently doing with respect to personal freedoms, then there will need to be some action taken to make certain our 1st Amendment is protected, for all Americans.

I’m not worried about the infiltration of Sharia. I am worried about re-writing our Constitution to agree with anyone’s holy books. It is simply not acceptable.