If this doesn't give comfort to the enemy, I don't know what does!!! If you are as apalled and upset over this as I am, please let me know!
Make sure there is a loudspeaker right across the street from every councilmember's house, and broadcast the Muzzie-call at the same times every day. Have a recall petition signup sheet going. I bet they re-think their decision quickly.
What is the difference between these "chants" and church bells ringing? Although I'm not sure if church bells really do anything more than state the time; although they DO connect the ringing with the religion. Carols being sung amount to the same thing, and that is legal (at least on private property).
More silliness from Houston (I'm amazed we didn't do this shit for Japan or Germany in WWII, aren't you?):
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Incarnate Word decides to drop 'Crusaders'
Web Posted: 04/23/2004 12:00 AM CDT
Tom Orsborn
Express-News Staff Writer
The University of the Incarnate Word will begin the next school year with a new mascot for its athletic teams after administrators decided Crusaders is offensive to Muslims and inappropriate for a Catholic institution with a multicultural mission.
"We need a mascot that is more culturally sensitive if we are going to continue to have international students and international programs," said faculty member Michael Risku, chairman of the school's mascot task force, an 11-member committee charged with finding a new symbol.
"We don't want anyone to be offended by our mascot," Risku added. "That's all."
The Crusader has served as UIW's mascot since 1980. But in the post-9-11 era, the school's planning commission and faculty senate made the decision to dump it after concluding UIW needs a mascot that is more culturally sensitive, Risku said.
Voting among students for a new mascot ends on April 30. The task force presented students with a list of 46 mascots to choose from, ranging from Angels to Wolves.
The four mascots receiving the most votes will be submitted to the school's planning commission for review. UIW president Louis Agnese is expected to receive two finalists by May 6 and then make the final decision.
The Islamic community has welcomed the move. Nearly 3,200 people of the Islamic faith are members of a local mosque, according to the American Religion Data Archive.
"I'm so glad to hear that they are changing their mascot," said Sarwat Husain, executive director of the local chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "I am a graduate (of UIW). I loved that place. But the only thing that bothered me about the school was that name.
"(Crusaders) did not send the right message to the community. Incarnate Word is one of the most tolerant places in our community. Using Crusaders made it sound like the school was not tolerant. It did not match the way that university is. It would be the same as a Muslim school calling itself 'the extremists' or 'the radicals.'"
School officials seeking to portray UIW as an institution that welcomes students of all faiths and cultures agreed. UIW recently opened campuses in Mexico and China and has an international student body of 9 percent, which is one the highest among the nation's universities.
The school, which has an enrollment of 4,434 at its San Antonio campus, hopes to increase its international student body to 15 percent by 2005.
"We need a mascot more in line with the mission of the university, one that does not carry the negative baggage that our present mascot has," said Sister Martha Ann Kirk, a religious studies professor who for years has advocated dropping Crusaders. "Crusaders presents an image of domination and destruction."
The Crusades were a series of religious wars during the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries organized by European powers to recover Christian holy places from Muslims in the Middle East. According to the New American Desk Encyclopedia, "many Christians, Jews, Muslims, zealots and innocents died in the bloody massacres and battles" fought during the Crusades.
"There is a very strong historical memory of the Crusades among Muslims," said David Cook, who teaches Islamic history at Rice University. "The Crusades are seen as a paradigm for the invasion and imperialism (Westerners) have imposed on Muslims in the present time. Among radical Muslims, Westerners are sometimes known as Crusaders.
"For Muslims, there is a very strong fixation on the past," Cook said. "The past is glorious. It is an antecedent for what they consider to be a very dismal present."
UIW's decision to drop Crusaders comes nearly one year after Point Loma Nazarene (Calif.) made the same move, choosing Sea Lions. In 2000, Wheaton College (Ill.) canned Crusaders in favor of Thunder.
Like UIW, those schools decided that using Crusaders was culturally insensitive, given the international interpretation of the term. But nearly 30 other U.S. colleges and universities, including Mary-Hardin Baylor in Belton, College of the Holy Cross (Massachusetts), Valparaiso (Indiana) and the University of Dallas, continue to use the Crusader label.
Mohammed Mustafa, a professor of political science at Cairo University and a Fulbright Teaching scholar at Nazareth (Ohio) College, defended those schools, saying most Muslims have no objection to Crusaders except when it is used in a military context.
"It is not offensive," Mustafa said. "In fact, I would extend an invitation to (UIW's sports teams) to come and play in Cairo, Egypt, and I tell you they would be well received. The president of Cairo University and I would welcome them at the airport and show them the hospitality of the Arab people.
"Now, if they come with guns, that would be a different story."
Noor Jehangir, a freshman who played for UIW's junior varsity men's soccer team last season, said playing for a team known as the Crusaders didn't bother him.
"I understand the history of (the Crusades), that they killed a bunch of Muslims," Jehangir said. "But I'm a Muslim, and it doesn't affect me whatsoever. Maybe if it was that time, I would care. But the past is in the past. Forget about it. Move on. We are taking this too seriously."
Junior Lori Rektorik, a volleyball player and a member of UIW's mascot task force, disagreed.
"Crusaders has a bad connotation to it," Rektorik said. "We want a nickname that would be more fit and inclusive for everyone and not just Americans."
torsborn@express-news.netMaybe the solution is to set up loudspeakers near these mosques and play the National Anthem and God Bless America (Kate's version) over top of the call to prayers.
Some good Sousa marches would sound great.
See which one the city council shuts down first. That will tell you where their priorities are. Then vote a new city council (of course, provided there are enough non-muslim votes).
Neighboring communities can complain and elevate it to the state level, and see where they stand.
At one time I lived beside a church that rang its bells not only several times on Sunday but also for every dinners, choir practice, prayer meeting, bible study - every event called for extensive bell ringing.
That was annoying at times, but to listen to a call to prayer in Arabic five times a day, every day? No way!