Filed under: News, Politics, Race and Civil Rights
A group of American Muslim organizations are meeting to discuss what they view as a rising tide of anti-Muslim sentiment shown most recently in the public rejection of a proposed Islamic cultural center and mosque near Ground Zero in New York City.
But what the group hopes to accomplish with the gathering in New York is anyone's guess. A spokesman said the groups hope to reach a unified stand. If anyone knows what that means, I wish they would tell me.
First of all, being against the Park 51 project at Ground Zero doesn't necessarily mean one is anti-Muslim. The project is disrespectful to the families of 9/11 survivors and family members and since sensible alternative locations have been offered by state officials, the project should be moved to a place where a majority of Americans won't protest.
If the groups present are looking for a way to reduce anti-Muslim sentiments on the part of some non-Muslims, they might start with raising their voices against radical Islam fundamentalists - the type of people who engineered the 9/11 attacks and countless other acts of terrorism across the globe.
We all know that the majority of Muslims denounce terrorism, but it seems that some have been slow to castigate radicalized elements within their faith.
And the sad truth is that in failing to take on their own radical elements, they allow radical anti-Islamic elements to take root.
Just look at the recent piece by syndicated columnist Cal Thomas, who has suggested the United States discontinue Muslim immigration, especially from Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen, where radical Islamic teachings flourish.
"We must purge the evil from among us, or else," Thomas ended his column, which also suggested the government limit the construction of mosques and Islamic schools where radical Islam can be spread.
What I found most interesting about Thomas' over-the-top writing was the lack of public outcry against it.
The man advocated in newspapers across the country to ban Muslims from entering the country.
I like to think that before 9/11, such a column would have won universal rebuke and possibly lost Thomas his job, but in a post 9/11 world, open hostility toward Muslims is no longer a firing offense.
I believe the U.S. Muslim groups have it right that an anti-Islamic sentiment is gripping the country, but effectively combating it will take more than a closed-door meeting in New York. It will take the courage to tell radicals of the same faith they are wrong to kill and maim in the name of religion.
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