Powell attacks Christian right

Guardian ^ | Friday November 15, 2002 | Oliver Burkeman

[nickcarraway]

Colin Powell, the US secretary of state, condemned America's Christian right yesterday for propagating hatred against Muslims, in what appeared to be a coordinated White House campaign to confront anti-Islamic rhetoric from a constituency that includes some of the Bush administration's staunchest supporters. Days after the televangelist Pat Robertson said on his Christian Broadcasting Network that "what the Muslims want to do to the Jews is worse" than the Holocaust, Mr Powell told a gathering in Washington: "This kind of hatred must be rejected."

The escalation in anti-Muslim comments from conservative Christians includes a recent claim by Jerry Falwell, the country's leading rightwing Baptist, that the prophet Mohammed was "a terrorist".

Veteran evangelist Jimmy Swaggart followed that this week by calling Mohammed a "sex deviant" and a pervert and demanding that Muslim students in the US be expelled. "We ought to tell every other Muslim living in this nation that if you say one word, you're gone," he said.

As the likelihood grows of a war in Iraq there are strategic benefits for the White House in convincing Muslims that it would not be a war against their religion.

The administration's increased willingness to confront the Christian right reflects the Republicans' sweeping victories in last week's mid-term elections, reducing Mr Bush's reliance on the extreme fringes of his supporter base.

[jwfiv]

I'm standing with you on this issue.

Blanket condemnation of a whole set for what one of many subsets do is not rational...especially when it's humans we're talking about.

All al-queda are Muslims, but not all Muslims are al-queda.

I think the President is right to condemn the exteme condemnation of Islam, as a whole. Falwell and Robertson are right, also, but only half right.

'Tis a fine line to walk, twixt the ways of Jesus and Barrabas.

However, as a subset, I'd say all al-queda must die.

[clintonh8r]

The "good muslims" may not cut your throat, but they won't lift a finger to stop the "bad muslims" from doing it, either.

[Minutemen]

" Is my belief in the anti-terror majority of musilms wrong?"

You may have answered your own question. ;>)

[mdmathis6]

("Where in the Koran does it say to commit acts of terrorism on people that did absolutely nothing to you.")



The koran is filled with references regarding the killing of the "infidel" if he doesn't submit to Islam...my goodness, aren't you even aware of the history of the first several hundred years after Islam began in 632. By 732 Islam was on the doorstep of Europe before Charles Martel defeated an Islamic force at Tours. Islam at its heart is a very violent religion which also advocates brutal repression of women...don't the terms Taliban and burka mean any-thing to you? You are aware of that poor Nigerian woman who is to be stoned because she was raped and and made pregnant, but can't prove that she wasn't promiscuous...because the man involved denies it and there weren't 4 witnesses(according to Islamic sharia law) who observed?

You call your-self phi-kap mom...well put on your thinking cap won't you?!

[AmericanInTokyo]

Mr Powell told a gathering in Washington: "This kind of hatred must be rejected."

AmericanInTokyo told Secretary of State Mr. Powell in Washington:

"This kind of hatred must be rejected."

[PhiKapMom]

Actually I have talked not only to their parents but know their children well. One of the guys in my son's fraternity is from Iran and no one is more gung ho on the US than him.

One of our family's best friends is from Iran and he spent years working for the Air Force and is totally pro-American.

I just hate to see people I know personally tarred and feathered by the actions of a not only rogue less than human beings, but also countries whose leaders support them. So many of the Islamic Country's leaders pay lip service to Islam and actually practice hate themselves against their own people.

But that said, I don't hate all Islamics no more than I hate all of any one religion. I thoroughly detest what some people do in using religion for their own purpose which is excusing taking their own personal responsibility. Instead they stand behind the shield of religion.

All you have to do is look at Northern Ireland and the terrorist movement from there. Are you going to condemn all Catholics for the Irish Republican Army terrorist's attacks in years past? How many Irish Catholic leaders in Boston condemned those attacks? A Mayor's brother was raising funds and shipping guns to the IRA.

[sonofron]

"Chill for a minute, kid. You stated that the muslims in your area are supportive of the US, but you didn't state how you know that. Have you talked with them individually, in depth, and heard each of them state that they'd fight as Americans, for America?"

thank you, an unbiased(non-christian conservative) person asking a good question. why do people run to the defence of so-called victims? because that's what they've been trained to do. her knee-jerk reaction is to throw her body infront of an imaginary bigot train. i doubt she really knows these nice people in her community. not that there

[sonofron]

sorry, i misread your last sentence(that you actually are a conservative christian) but you are still unbiased because you can't stand the falwell, roberts and swaggert

[PhiKapMom]

My problem is not that people don't trust Muslims -- I only trust the ones I know myself! My problem is these three religious leaders saying what they are saying. It doesn't help at all!

These three religious leaders go too far in their hatred IMO!

[Uncle Miltie]

Those were the most useful condemnations I've seen.

There are also many condemnations from clerics under regimes that believe 9/11 was a Mossad plot, and that American actions are often equivalent.

Nonetheless, I'm glad to see something.

[PhiKapMom]

However, as a subset, I'd say all al-queda must die.

Absolutely!!!!!

[Marysecretary]

Yeah, I had the same thought. I don't mean to demean a brother in Christ, but sometimes I just get amazed at their statements.

[PhiKapMom]

My screen name comes from son's fraternity Phi Kappa Sigma!

[Marysecretary]

Jerry and Pat are only guilty of speaking the truth. Now, Jimmy--that's like the pot calling the kettle black.

[PhiKapMom]

I cannot even believe I am defending some Islamists because I believe we should wipe out Sadaam and help the Iraqi people and totally anniliate anyone in a terrorists organization and I mean all terrorists.

But I cannot stand to see all of them tarred and feathered when I happen to know some really good people that immediately condemned the terrorists the same that I did. I don't see them as Islamics but people with a different religion than mine but just as pro-American and also vote Republican.

[Hank Kerchief]

You obviously know little about the Muslim Religion or its history.

"America and the Free World now faces a plague of well-armed radical Islamists, dedicated to the destruction of all non-Muslim societies. Wherever the Muslims gain ‘critical mass’, the Islamists go from quiet, seemingly peace-loving people to violent adversaries of their host countries. They create Islamic organizations that use the democratic process of law to undercut the society and nation that has taken them in. It is their belief that they are mandated by Koranic Law to convert all nations into one global Islamic Ummah (nation)."

I hope you see, before they reach critical mass here, what they actually believe, and what they pretend to believe. Ask your Muslim friends what kind of music they like, what their favorite Sulpture or dance is. Ask them if they believe the world would be better under Shia law. Then find out what Shia law is.

Read the article here: Rotten to Its Core

Hank

[Uncle Miltie]

I understand, believe, expect and hope that there are muslims of good will. I too am trying to separate the wheat and the chaff. But every time I try, I just keep coming up with chaff...

[RightOnline]

Powell's all wet. It's a free freakin' country, and we can call 'em as we see 'em.

I'm with Falwell, Robertson, and Swaggart on this one.

[Endeavor]

Whoa! I can't even begin to leap from here to the IRA!

OK, so you have now provided how you know that the Muslims you know are pro-USA. That I can understand and appreciate. And I see your point about throwing the baby out with the bathwater, so to speak. Good point. Thanks for reminding us that we needn't fear all muslims.

That said, I'm still keeping my eyes open. I still want immigration of muslims (from every country) into America totally stopped for a minimum of 3 years, and I still want those who practice the faith to be surveilled here in the US as much as possible. I'm not convinced (and this was certainly not your responsibility to prove) that the majority of those who practice the muslim faith and who live in America are as fond of America as the people you know.

For instance, consider the muslim school in Manhattan which was featured on 60 minutes where the kids said they would fight for the muslim faith but not for the US. I'm with Ann Coulter on this issue - it wasn't Swedes who flew those planes into the WTC towers, the Pentagon, and that field in Pennsylvania.

[PhiKapMom]

I don't profess to know that much about Islam. I have read some books from the Church I attend on Islam and it is not something I understand.

I do have a question though. Why do so many different denominations and religions profess that they have the only true religion and must convert the world? And I am not just talking about Islam.

My three kids have friends of different denominations and religions but the Muslims have never tried to convert anyone but that cannot be said about some others. Kids and their parents from two denominations, in particular, want to convert everyone they meet.