Posted on 01/13/2019 6:09:01 AM PST by Popman
Dr. Shahid Shafi enters a Tarrant County Republican Party executive committee meeting at Faith Creek Church in Richland Hills on Thursday before a failed attempt to oust him from his vice-chairmanship because he’s Muslim. Leslie Boorhem-Stephenson for The Texas Tribune Shahid Shafi will retain his role as vice-chairman of the Tarrant County Republican Party despite a push from a small faction of precinct chairs to remove him from his post because he’s Muslim.
Shafi, a trauma surgeon and Southlake City Council member, came to the U.S. in 1990 and became a naturalized citizen in 2009. The attacks on his religion, however, came shortly after Tarrant County GOP Chair Darl Easton appointed him to a leadership role within the county party in July.
Those who were in favor of Shafi’s removal said he’s unequipped to be vice-chairman because he doesn’t represent all Tarrant County Republicans due to his religion. They’ve also said Islamic ideologies run counter to the U.S. Constitution — an assertion many Texas GOP officials have called bigoted and Shafi himself has vehemently denied.
Dorrie O’Brien, one of the precinct chairs leading the charge against Shafi, previously said her support for ousting him stems not from his religion, but whether he supports Islam or is connected “to Islamic terror groups,” the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.
The failed attempt to oust Shafi by a small local faction drew national attention as well as condemnation from some of the state’s top Republicans. In a statement Wednesday, Gov. Greg Abbott said “the promise of freedom of religion is guaranteed by the First Amendment in the Constitution; and Article 1, Section 4 of the Texas Constitution states that no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust in this state.”
“Religious freedom is at the core of who we are as a nation and state, and attacks on Dr. Shafi because of his faith are contrary to this guiding principle,” the governor concluded.
Easton, one of Shafi’s defenders, told The Texas Tribune earlier this week that the movement to remove Shafi was “about religious prejudice.” He was not immediately available for additional comment Thursday.
Former Tarrant County precinct chair Sara Legvold said she was concerned that Shafi could be connected to the Muslim brotherhood — yet offered no evidence other than the fact that he’s a Muslim. Legvold did not vote on the motion to recall Shafi, but sat outside Thursday’s closed-door meeting wearing a burqa to “represent the Islamization of our county, our state and our country.”
“You already see it in the workplace where Muslims demand they’re able to wear their hijab and demand they get a prayer room,” she said. “When was the last time a Christian was allowed to have a separate place to say their prayers?”
Legvold also said that Shafi’s opponents had been vilified.
“They’ve said nothing but horrible things about us — that we’re bigots and Islamophobes and white supremacists — when we’re just patriots who care for our country,” she said.
Though the movement to reconsider Shafi’s appointment was afoot well ahead of last year’s midterm elections, Thursday’s vote comes just months after Tarrant County — considered the most conservative urban county in the country — narrowly flipped in favor of Texas Democrats’ star senatorial candidate, Beto O’Rourke. In Tarrant County and the surrounding Dallas-Fort Worth region, several Texas Senate and House seats went to Democrats, including the district previously held by conservative state Sen. Konni Burton of Colleyville.
Tripp Bryant, a State Republican Executive Committee representative from Senate District 22 that includes part of Tarrant, said it was “appalling” members of the Tarrant County party were being divisive over someone’s religion months after Republicans in the area made nail-biters of races that had once been safe wins. He noted that Republicans U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and U.S. Rep. Ron Wright lost in the county.
“In my personal opinion, they need to pull their heads out of their fourth point of contact and they need to focus on winning elections and stop pointing the finger at Muslims,” Bryant said.
Another precinct chair called Thursday’s motion “bullshit.”
“I’m a Jewish precinct chair,” John Seidenstein said, “does this mean I’m next?”
The question isn’t “religion” per se, it’s allegiance. At least, in many people’s minds, including my own.
Islam is not a religion. There is no separation of sacred and secular, and as such, it is wholly incompatible with American notions of freedom.
I’d like to know the REAL STORY with this guy.
(1) Were people fighting him ONLY because he’s a Muslim, but otherwise was a strong conservative, who believed in conservative ideals, and supported Trump, INCLUDING the Travel Ban...as is implied in these articles.
(2) Or was there a darker side to him.
Somehow I cannot help but think that #2 is the case.
There is JUST NO WAY a moslem can hold any allegiance to a democracy.
PERIOD.
Republicans doubling down on stupid.
Again.
We know that and they will learn it the hard way soon enough.
As much as I despise Islam, I don’t think it was wise to go after this guy like this. Get some proof of law breaking before going at him.
An Islamic cannot represent, or trauma treat, non Muslims.
Your trauma care would be inferior, because this Doctor is instructed as such. And then he is instructed to lie about it.
Politically he is taught to mis represent you and lie about it. But the public are pretty stupid and will buy any lie.
Duck bite by duck bite they are taking over.
No it's not, it's quite common actually......
My BIL, who is an Oncologist and from Honduras, was here for 40 years before he decided to become naturalized. Same with my step-sister who married him.....She is from Canada.......And you won't find anyone more conservative than them when it comes to border security and building a big, high wall.
Good point, the fact he is participating in "democracy" as in running for an office seems he believes in our system of government.
He was accused of a MB connection without any evidence at all is simply fearmongering....
Completely depends on the Muslim.
I know LOTS of Christians(?) who smoke, drink, curse God, commit sexual sin and claim to be a christian simply because they live in a christian culture.
Is there a separation of sacred and secular in their lives?
An Iranian Muslim cardiologist saved my life last June. It’s good for me that she climbed out of that box you put her in.
I’m only questions here, as I know nothing about him.
But has he renounced all support for Sharia Law in this country? If so, is he still allowed to be practicing Muslim (I don’t think so, but I’m not sure)?
Also, would he support a law SPECIFICALLY prohibiting Sharia use by judges in Texas? If not, then he’s in the wrong political party.
First of all is he a Islamist or a Muslim ?
He's a doctor who took the Hippocratic oath....
I can't believe you believe such nonsense...
I’m confident that somewhere among the good doctor’s mementos there’s a treasured photo of a muslim gang somewhere in the ME, with a caption of “Death to America. Freedom go to hell,” like the ones we frequently see on TV and on the internet.
Tarrant County, isn’t that the place which went after Tom Delay? /leftist> /corrupt as Hell>
Bingo.
That does seem to be the case very often, and covered up by the media. That’s why I’m asking.
Or does he believe in tunneling his way into the system to someday overthrow it. Never forget the camel jockey Army Major who suddenly dropped his facade and murdered dozens of his fellow U.S. military. To quote the snake poem, “You knew damn well I was a snake, before you took me in.”
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