Presidential Accolades for Islam

A report and comment on religious trends and events being covered by the media.This week’s item is from The Associated Press, November 13, 2002, with a headline:“Bush Says Islam is Peaceful Faith,” dateline Washington.President Bush characterized Islam as a peaceful faith Wednesday, seeking to distance himself from controversial remarks by conservative Christian leaders, Pat Robertson and the Reverend Jerry Falwell.“Some of the comments that have been uttered about Islam do not reflect the sentiments of my government or the sentiments of most Americans,” Bush told reporters and he met with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. He added, “Islam, as practiced by the vast majority of people is a peaceful religion, a religion that respects others.Ours is a country based upon tolerance, Mr. Secretary General,” Bush said, “and we respect their faith and we welcome people of all faiths in America and we’re not going to let the war on terror or terrorists cause us to change our values.”Though Bush never mentioned their names his remarks came in response to recent comments by Robertson and Falwell, the administration said.Robertson, on his Christian Broadcasting Network said, “Jews in the United States should wake up, open their eyes and read what is being said about them.”“This is worse than the Nazis,” Robertson said Monday, “Adolph Hitler was bad, but what the Muslims want to do to the Jews is worse.”Falwell, in a recent interview with CBS Sixty Minutes, said he had concluded from reading Muslim and non-Muslim writers that the prophet Muhammad was a violent man, a man of war.“I think that Muhammad was a terrorist,” the conservative Baptist minister said.Muslims were outraged and an Iranian cleric called for his death while a general strike called to protest his comments in Bombay, India, turned into a riot and five people were killed.Falwell later apologized.A senior official said the Administration recognized that such comments had angered Muslims abroad and caused them to question them whether they represent the opinions of the White House and the American people.The issue is particularly delicate for the Bush Administration because such Christian leaders are seen as Bush allies and the remarks came at a time when Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is trying to fan anti-American sentiment by charging Bush hates Islam.A recent tape apparently made by Osama Bin Laden, also called on Muslims to take up arms against the United States.Bush has often said he believes Islam is a peaceful religion and has reached out to Muslims repeatedly since September 11, but given the remarks by Falwell and Robertson, Bush felt he needed to go a step further and repudiate the comments, the official said speaking on condition of anonymity.Bush’s remarks came on the same day the Counsel on American Islamic Relations urged Bush to repudiate anti-Islamic rhetoric, citing comments by Falwell, and others.“It is time for the President to step up to the plate on the issue of Islamaphobia in America,” said the group’s board chairman, Omar Ahmad.Merely repeating a mantra that Islam is a religion of peace does little to stem the rising tide of anti-Muslim hate or to mitigate the negative impact that hate has on Muslim families.

Tom:

Dave, we’ve addressed this in the past, because this is not the first time our President has made statements to this effect, but they seem to be stepping it up as the article points out in the shadow of statements by Franklin Graham and Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell.My question is, respect—everybody wants us to respect everybody else’s religion.Dave, how can we respect their religion?

Dave:

Tom, you manage to bring up these things that get me a bit angry and I do not have any patience for this sort of nonsense.Oh, you shouldn’t say things about Muslims. You shouldn’t talk about them like that, and this is anti-Islamic!Really?

Tom:

Dave, I love the phrase, Islamaphobia.You’re an Islamaphobian.

Dave:

I want to know, what are they saying in their country?I want to know, what do they do in their country?Today, in Saudi Arabia it is the death penalty for anyone to convert from Islam to another religion.Today, in Saudi Arabia you cannot even be a citizen unless you are a Muslim.Today, in Saudi Arabia, you cannot carry a Bible on the street, you cannot have a non-Muslim worship ceremony, [and] you cannot build a non-Muslim place of worship.We allow them to build their mosques by the thousands in the Western world.We give them freedom and then they complain, they’re blubbering and crying and, oh, we’re going after these guys because they say Islam is bad.Well, Islam is bad!Look at what Muhammad did, he killed people, we just talked about that.Muslims have killed people all over the world, they’re doing it today.Have we heard a Muslim cleric?Now, these men who are complaining about what Jerry Falwell said, or Franklin Graham said or whatever, and I’m disappointed that Falwell would apologize—what he said was the truth.Have any of these Muslim clerics stood up and said, “It is wrong what Muslims have done, what they are doing, that they are forcing on people Islam?In Indonesia and Nigeria they are burning down Christian churches and so forth, that’s wrong!What they are doing in the Philippines.” Have we heard any of them say that?No!Has there been any call for reform in Muslim countries where there is no freedom for anyone except a person who practices Islam.Tom, I am tired of this one-way street and I will say it again—I think we ought to shut down every mosque in the Western world, allow them to re-open them only when they give a comparable freedom for non-Muslims in their countries which we give Muslims in this country.I think it is fair, I don’t see how you can argue against it, and I’m tired of hearing these complaints about anti-Muslim statements here when they are killing non-Muslims over there!

Tom
Dave, let’s go back to the point because the whole idea here is, tolerant, you’re being intolerant, these things that we are hearing.I know you’re not but this is the way it’s perceived, but let’s go back to, respect.

Dave:

Are they being intolerant, Tom?

Tom:

Well, of course, but let’s go back to respect.We can’t respect the religion of Islam because it’s anti-Christian.We can go through the Qur’an verse by verse and show you how it denies all the truths of Christianity.

Dave:

Tom, you have a man under the death penalty in Pakistan today.They are writing against it, I see some hope in that, some of the students.He’s under the death penalty because he insulted, they say he insulted Islam, he insulted the Qur’an.Why don’t we just examine the facts?I would love to have international debates all over this world.Let me face Muslims, let them tell me why the Qur’an is true, let them tell me, and let them tell the world, why we should follow the example of Muhammad who killed those—he said every Jew must be killed, everyone who does not accept Islam must be killed; let them prove that Muhammad was a prophet and I will go to the Bible and I will prove from the prophesies of the Bible, from its historic evidence, its archeological evidence, from its moral evidence, what it has done around the world when people accept the teachings of Jesus Christ.I will prove that the Bible is God’s Word, that Jesus Christ is the true and only Savior of sinners.Just the prophesies alone—there are no prophesies from Muhammad.Let us have a level playing field, let us discuss the facts, and stop this emotional rhetoric.

Tom:

Dave, I’m going to quote the Qur’an.It says Surrah 2:256, “There is no compulsion in religion.”Let’s have it that way, let’s have a level playing field according to the teachings, this particular teaching, at least, of the Qur’an.