Imams of Inanity (US Christian Fundamentalists=Islamic radicals BARF ALERT!!!)

The Washington Post ^ | December 3, 2002 | Richard Cohen

[BaghdadBarney]

Imams of Inanity

By Richard Cohen

Tuesday, December 3, 2002; Page A25

Back in October the Rev. Jerry Falwell called Muhammad, the founder of Islam, a terrorist. This set off riots in India and may have contributed to the good showing of religious parties in the Pakistani election. About two weeks after he made the remark, Falwell retracted it. I think Falwell is an idiot. I will issue a retraction later.

In the meantime, I will concern myself with the Rev. Pat Robertson, the founder of the Christian Coalition, who has conferred on Islam in general the distinction of being worse than Hitler. "Adolf Hitler was bad, but what the Muslims want to do to the Jews is worse," Robertson said recently. And rather than apologize or retract in the manner of Falwell, Robertson went on ABC's "This Week" and repeated it all to George Stephanopoulos.

[BaghdadBarney]

It's starting to becoming farce. Republicans win big in another election and liberal columnists turn to the tried and true: Smear fundamentalist Christian leaders who from time to time make stupid remarks. Of course I don't remember Cohen holding "certain Islamic regimes" responsible for the hate speech of religious leaders" just like I don't remember ol' Dick taking the NAACP and other Democratic party operatives responsible for the James Byrd/Church burning election ads of 1998 and 2000. Equating the likes of Robertson and Falwell with the sick bastards over in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran and the Palestinian territory is, in the words of Mr. Cohen, "idiotic"! These wack-jobs advocate the sadistic torture and murder of anybody not bowing before Allah. I seem to forget when either Falwell, Robertson or any other Christian leader called for that?

[Corin Stormhands]

Richard Cohen is an idiot.

[TLBSHOW]

Good for Pat truth is Islam is the enemy.

[w1andsodidwe]

But just as I and others have held certain Islamic regimes -- Egypt, Saudi Arabia, etc. -- responsible for the hate speech of religious leaders, so will Bush be held responsible for the rantings of Falwell, Robertson, Graham and others

Gosh, I haven't heard Falwell, Robertson, or Graham requesting and advocating the death of anyone who doesn't believe. Where is the equivalency? Just stating that Islam promotes hate and violence is not the same as Islam's promotion of hate and violence.

The author is an idiot.

[w1andsodidwe]

Hey we think alike.

[billbears]

Republicans win big in another election and liberal columnists turn to the tried and true: Smear fundamentalist Christian leaders who from time to time make stupid remarks

First off, what's stupid about the remarks? Islam is a cult and a violent dangerous one at that. Second, how are Christians supposed to feel when members of this administration (Colin Powell) reiterate, in not as strong words of this article, the same meaning in their public speeches?

[philosofy123]

Take for example, the Moslem Bosnian president, he is the president of entire country that is consisting of 50% Christians. He writes a book declaring a vision of converting Bosnia into a Moslem nation, and the “sharia” as its laws. Now how unfair, is that? Guess what, the USA sided with him/the Moslem terrorists, and against all the Christian population that became alarmed of their President intentions.

[dirtboy]

Op-Eds are NOT breaking news. Also, please limit excerpts from the Wash Post to a couple of paragraphs.

[Lotapoloosa]

Our main enemies in the muslim world are the Islamic leaders who preach constantly to the masses calling for our distruction, the moneyed muslims (and perhaps others) who finance those who would destroy us, and the muslim leaders who activily engage in terrrorist acts.

[LibertyGirl77]

I think Richard Cohen is an idiot. I will not be printing a retraction.

[judicial meanz]

I am noticing a trend here. Left wing Jewish voices attemptng to alientate the Christian support of israel by mouthing nasty little articles like this and placing them anywhere they can to get them attention. It really annoys me.

First: I am ethnically Jewish. My Wife is Jewish. My kids are Jewish. I dont have one problem with American Christians who support Israel. I have a major problem with Jews who cant accept the fact American ( underline American) Christians have been a major force in supporting Israel and releasing them from the agony of the Holocaust.

Second: American Christians fought in the 1948 Israeli war for Independence as Machal. Many died to help form Israel.

Third: Intermarriage is a large issue in America. There are millions of American Christians who have a Jewish parent or ancestor and identify stringly with Israel.

Summation: This guy is a true moron. Real Jews know the story and know who our friends are.

[BaghdadBarney]

Look, lumping all of those who practice Islam in with Osama bin Laden and the like is a bit reckless and stupid. I've got more than a few friends who practice the religion and they're not about to strap a bomb to their body. That being said, "moderates" who profess to follow Allah have a responsibility in the post-9/11 world to speak up to denounce both the political and religious leaders of those countries that traffic in the murderous and warped version of Islam that produced 9/11. Of course, such denunciations would be made a whole lot easier if these moderate mosques had any money to advertise their views. Unfortunately, it's the religous Islamic nuts that have all the money - mostly Saudi money. My fervent wish would be for the Bush administration - if their not going to confront the Saudis -to at least strap on a pair of balls and denounce the likes of CAIR and American Muslim Council. Until these organizations are discredited, more and more Christian, Jewish, agnostic Americans are going to jump on the "paint-with-a-broad-brush" approach to the problem of Islamic fundamentalism.

[BaghdadBarney]

"Op-Eds are NOT breaking news. Also, please limit excerpts from the Wash Post to a couple of paragraphs."

Whatever...

[Plutarch]

The world little notes nor long remembers the columns of Richard Cohen.

[KC_Conspirator]

To sweepingly liken a thousand-year religion of a billion people to the ultimate in modern evil -- Hitler -- is reckless, ahistorical and just plain insulting.

What is insulting is the apparent lack of historical knowledge expressed by Cohen, and he has the gall to say that his ignorance is the truth.

Richard Cohen is a mental midget and is intellectually lazy. Pat Robertsona and Jerry Falwell don't order their followers to murder in the name of Jesus. Alot of imams do.

Richard Cohen deserved every bit the @$$ kicking given to him by Ann Coulter in her book "Slander".

[concerned about politics]

After Sept. 11, 2001, President Bush went out of his way to emphasize that the enemy of the United States was not Islam but extremists who in no way were representative of the religion.

That's because the radical Muslims want a holy war. By saying they're a religion of peace, Bush isn't letting them have it. They want their holy war! Damn it!! They want their Jahad, but Bush is keeping their base quiet. They want their holy war!!! "Waaaa! Damn that Bush!"

He too is finding it awkward to deal with crackpot religious leaders. America's religious fundamentalists are Bush's core political constituency.

And they're smart enough to know if the President of the US condemned ALL muslims, they'd be bloodshed on every doorstop. He's a politician, not a preacher. That belongs to religious leaders. This author is an idiot liberal. They're not deep thinkers!

But just as I and others have held certain Islamic regimes -- Egypt, Saudi Arabia, etc. -- responsible for the hate speech of religious leaders, so will Bush be held responsible for the rantings of Falwell, Robertson, Graham and others.

Then he will certainly be blessed. "Well done, faithful servant."

[gaspar]

The very large Jewish community that inhabited North Africa prior to World War II can now be numbered in the hundreds -- if that. Muslim intolerance, even more than Jewish aliyah, accounted for their disappearance. I would suggest that Cohen make plans to live in a Cairo ward for a month, and after arriving there announce to one and all that he is Jewish. He could even admit he is not a practicing Jew. He would survive for less than a week before returning to New York with his tail between his legs. Islam does not breed tolerant people. Never has, never will.

[billbears]

Look, lumping all of those who practice Islam in with Osama bin Laden and the like is a bit reckless and stupid. I've got more than a few friends who practice the religion and they're not about to strap a bomb to their body

Did I compare them to Bin Laden or link them to him? No, I said Islam was a cult(which it is) and that as a religion it is violent and dangerous(which it is). For you to infer that I made that connection from my words is a leap and your own problem

traffic in the murderous and warped version of Islam that produced 9/11.

Could you point to me which 'warped' version that is. Numerous excerpts from the Koran have been provided here and elsewhere that show what it says to do (present tense mind you) about Christians, Jews, and anyone else that doesn't believe in a 3000 year old moon god.

My fervent wish would be for the Bush administration - if their not going to confront the Saudis -to at least strap on a pair of balls and denounce the likes of CAIR and American Muslim Council.

Well we know that's not going to happen. Powell's too busy giving speeches to groups like that denouncing Christian 'fundamentalists'