Culture Vulture; Koranic Misreadings

WASHINGTON, Aug. 9 (UPI) -- A new controversy is percolating in North Carolina over the proposed reading of a book about the Koran -- the Muslim holy book -- by freshmen at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The book in question is called "Approaching the Qur'an: The Early Revelations," and is authored by Michael A. Sells, a professor of comparative religion.

Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks believed to be have been perpetuated by Islamist fundamentalists operating under directives from Osama bin Laden and his al Qaida terror organization, public interest and awareness of Islam, and the Arab world in general, has risen sharply in the United States.

The simple fact that American students should read a book about the Koran (or Qur'an) has ruffled quite a few feathers.

First, a Christian group urged three students to file suit against the university earlier this week. And now, North Carolina's Republican State Representative Sam Ellis told a local radio station he did not want the students in the university system to study "this evil."

Ellis continued: "If they wish to pursue it on their own, or if they wish to pursue it as an elective, that's fine. But I don't think it is something our university system should be encouraging."

According to the Washington Post, the lawsuit against UNC was filed July 22 in U.S. District Court in Greensboro, N.C., by the Virginia-based Family Policy Network, which calls itself a "socially conservative Christian educational organization."

In their complaint, the plaintiffs charge that UNC indoctrinates students with deceptive claims about the peaceful nature of Islam, violating the separation of church and state.

But the move to ban the book -- and the accompanying debate -- has also upset Muslim- and Arab-Americans.

The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations demanded an apology from Ellis. They also called on President George W. Bush to speak out against the rising level of anti-Muslim rhetoric in America.

"The level of anti-Muslim rhetoric from commentators, religious leaders, and now elected officials, is getting out of hand and is poisoning the minds of many ordinary Americans. Only a strong statement from President Bush will put these people on notice that anti-Muslim bigotry will not be accepted in our society," said CAIR Board Chairman Omar Ahmad.

Earlier this week, CAIR made a similar call after Christian evangelist Franklin Graham, said terrorism is part of "mainstream" Islam and claimed the Koran, "preaches violence."

A popular television commentator on the Fox News network went as far as saying teaching the Koran is similar to teaching Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" in 1941. Indeed, had more people familiarized themselves with Hitler's writing, they might well have learned of his true evil intentions. And wasn't it Mao Zedong who said that the first step in defeating your enemy is to know him?

"Know the enemy and know yourself, and you can fight a hundred battles with no danger of defeat," wrote China's Chairman Mao in his little Red Book.

Assuming that Islam is the enemy as some people would like us to believe -- although it has been established that it isn't -- then, would it not in fact make far greater sense to study it, become familiarized with it, and learn what exactly it is that motivates people to attack this country, if indeed it is the Koran that provides these murderous incentives?

No sooner had the dust of the Sept. 11 assaults had settled, that Bush and scores of community leaders across the nation urged Americans not to blame Islam.

Since the September attacks, security agencies -- among them the FBI and the CIA -- have been scurrying to recruit Arabic, Pashtun and Farsi speakers. Would it not therefore make more sense for these students to be aware of Islam's traditions and teachings, as well as the language?

Bin Laden's terrorists, much like the suicide bombers in Israel and the cold-blooded murderers who killed Wall Street Journal correspondent Daniel Pearl in Pakistan, are zealots who have taken the Muslim holy book to suit their own interpretation of the prophet's teachings. You don't need to look very far to find the same type of fire and brimstone revelations in the Christian-Judeo Bible, either. Both holy books can be interpreted to suit the reader.

The Crusaders slaughtered tens of thousands of innocent Muslims simply because they happened to be of a different religion, not to mention those killed under the Spanish Inquisition. Should we stop school children and university students from learning about that, too? What about the French or the American revolutions? They were not bloodless, either. Truth be told, with few exceptions, most revolutions resulted in the spilling of innocent blood, as is the history of most world religions.

In his fascinating book "Warriors of God," James Reston, Jr. describes how on Aug. 22, 1191, during the Third Crusade in the Holy Land, King Richard the Lionheart ordered 2,700 Muslim soldiers tied together and marched out from Acre to the road to Nazareth where they were arrayed on a plain, and then, one by one, slaughtered. "'For this be the Creator blessed!' wrote the chief poet of the Crusade."

When Pope Innocent III sent his Crusader army to deal with the rebellious Cathars in the south of France in 1209, one officer was reported to have asked how they could differentiate between the Albigensian heretics and the Catholics inhabitants of Beziers, who refused to turn on their fellow city dwellers and cooperate with the invading papal troops.

"Kill them all, God will sort his own," purportedly came the reply from Arnaud Amaury, a former priest, who was archbishop and Duke of Narbonne, and spiritual leader of the Crusade.

Religious fanaticism, as history teaches us, is nothing new, nor exclusive to any one religion.

Are we therefore to enlarge the literary censorship list? Or better yet, should we start burning books and instead, encourage people to watch mindless programs on television, as in Ray Bradbury's futuristic novel, "Fahrenheit 451?"

(The Culture Vulture is a column written by UPI's Life & Mind editor, and reflects on current trends, issues and events. Comments may be sent to claude@upi.com.)

"Kill them all, God will sort his own," purportedly came the reply from Arnaud Amaury, a former priest, who was archbishop and Duke of Narbonne, and spiritual leader of the Crusade.

The most interesting thing in this whiny article is the nugget above, which shows the actual origin of the saying "kill 'em all, let God sort 'em out".

I could go along with this guy if the students were being required to read the actual Koran, with all its bloody condemnations of nonbelievers. That would wake up a lot of people. The problem is, the book they are supposed to read is a book about the Koran, an apologia, a dumbing down and explaining away of the horrors of Islam.

US news agency UPI gets new owner

New York, USA
May 16, 2000
dpa

New York (dpa) - The American news agency, United Press International (UPI) which has been financially strapped for years, is once again getting a new owner. As announced by UPI on Monday, the 93 year old business is being sold to the News World Communications.

The seller is the Worldwide News Inc., a daughter company of Middle East Broadcasting which, in turn, belongs to Saudi business people. The conditions of the sale were not named.

Since when is "not required reading" considered a ban?

Good catch. This is the same mindset that sees a cut
in the growth of spending as a cut in spending, and
atheism as religion. Whatcha gonna do?

is the nugget above

Interesting it had nothing to do with the Crusades in the Middle East, but with the Crusade against the Cathars in the south of France, a most un-Muslim group.

Other self righteous religions went through an enlightenmet phase many hundreds of years ago. They no longer stone people, nor break them on the wheel.

Islam was left unattended as nomadic desert people practiced it, because nobody cared.

Now they live with black gold under them, and all of the problems of a nomadic people, rooted in religeon hundreds of years ago, come to fruition.

Sigh.

Next, people on some deserted Island will appear, with Uranium under them. We'll have to deal with them, too.

As in, screw it, wipe them out.

What an asinine statement.
This book is to be REQUIRED reading. Where is separation of Church and State? If this was a book concerning the Bible or the actual Bible that was to be REQUIRED reading, the howls from the liberals would be deafening.
If a student wants to read it, fine. If it was ELECTIVE, no problem.

The book in question attempts to do for the Koran what
what Bill Clinton did for l'affaire Monique. That is, to but
everything in the best possible light. Of course, sometimes
a cigar is so blatantly a cigar, that few are fooled. Here is
one review of Sells' book:

My objection is that you can not gain the purported understanding by ignoring the Qur'an in its entirety or the historical application of the writing. If I write "peace is good" on a slip of paper, but in historical practice in religious ceremonies preach that the way to obtain this peace is by killing others; dehumanize those who do not follow my slip of paper so as to make killing them easier; teach children that the way to achieve my peace is by commiting suicide in a fashion which kills others....can you really draw conclusion about my slip of paper religion in a vacuum? I think it is written well, but it lacks real world perspective and remains too isolated in its perspective to provide useful insight. Peace is good.

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US news agency UPI gets new owner

New York, USA May 16, 2000 dpa

New York, USA
May 16, 2000
dpa