|
Bliefnet - Friday December 14, 2009
Two-thirds of Protestant pastors consider
Islam 'dangerous,' Survey
By Adelle M. Banks
Two out of three Protestant pastors believe Islam is a "dangerous" religion, according to a new survey from a Southern Baptist-affiliated research group.
The survey of more than 1,000 Protestant clergy by LifeWay Research, released on Dec. 14 found that 45 percent strongly agree with the statement "I believe Islam is a dangerous religion" and another 21 percent agree somewhat with it.
Evangelical pastors were more likely to agree with the statement than mainline Protestant pastors -- 77 to 47 percent. Likewise, pastors with a bachelor's degree or less education are more likely to strongly agree than those with a master's degree -- 64 percent to 37 percent.
"It's important to note our survey asked whether pastors viewed Islam as `dangerous,' but that does not necessarily mean 'violent,"' said Lifeway president Ed Stetzer in a statement about the survey results.
"`Dangerous' can be defined in a variety of ways, including from the perspective of spiritual influence. Regardless of the definition, the numbers tell us that Protestant pastors are concerned."
The results of the telephone survey were based on a random sample of 1,002 senior pastors taken in October 2008 and had an overall margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
On Dec. 10, evangelist Franklin Graham told CNN that while he loves the Muslim people in countries he's visited with his Samaritan's Purse ministry, "I don't agree with the teachings of Islam and I find it to be a very violent religion."…..
http://blog.beliefnet.com/news/2009/12/survey-two-thirds-of-protestan.php
CBS - December 21, 2009
Racism, religious bias at trucking firm in Chicago
CHICAGO (CBS) ― The Council on American-Islamic Relations has filed a lawsuit on behalf of an African-American Muslim who worked as a truck driver in the Chicago area, and who says he was harassed both for his race and for his religion.
Reginal Exson worked as a truck driver for the Cook County location of USF Holland, according to a news release form the council.
Exson says a company representative made insulting remarks calling him a "liar," making derogatory remarks against African-Americans and telling Exson that lying "must be part of your gene pool."
In November 2007, Exson suffered severe injuries in an accident that wasn't his fault, and the company would not honor the work restrictions recommended by his doctor, the lawsuit said. Exson was also punished based on unspecified false allegations, the council said.
Furthermore, a worker's compensation coordinator allegedly called Exson a "terrorist," and remarked, "Did you think I was going to let you and Osama bin Laden get off with all this money that we're paying you?" the council said.
Exson also alleged that his benefits provider, USF Holland parent company YRC Worldwide Inc., would not compensate him for his injuries, nor accommodate his work restrictions….
http://cbs2chicago.com/local/trucking.firm.lawsuit.2.1383881.html
CAIR – December 22, 2009
NY Muslims Featured in ‘I am American’ Times Square Ad
WASHINGTON, D.C., December 22, 2009 - The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) announced today that its new public service announcement (PSA), called “I am Muslim, I am American,” began airing this morning on the CBS Super Screen in New York City’s Times Square.
The Washington-based CAIR said its New York chapter (CAIR-NY) produced the 15-second PSA, which will air every hour for 18 hours each day through January 16, 2010, on the 26-foot by 20-foot full-motion screen. More than one million people pass through Times Square each day.
CAIR-NY’s PSA features an American Muslim NYPD sergeant, as well as a Muslim Little League all-star, a human rights activist, a doctoral candidate, and an attorney. It begins with the statement, “Building Community, Serving Country.” Viewers are encouraged to visit CAIR’s web site.
"This public service advertisement features ordinary American Muslims whose everyday lives are dedicated to building community and serving country,” said CAIR-NY Community Affairs Director Faiza N. Ali. “This initiative is part of our ongoing effort to ensure that a fair and accurate portrayal of Islam and Muslims is presented to the American public.”
Ali added that the PSA will air during the New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square, when up to one million people turn out to watch the ball drop at midnight.
“We hope that the millions of people from around the nation and the world who view this public service announcement will return home with enhanced understanding of Islam and the American Muslim community,” said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad. “Our PSA shows that American Muslims are a vital part of our nation’s social and religious fabric.”
Awad noted that a 2007 study by the Pew Research Center described American Muslims as “middle class” and “mainstream.” The first-ever nationwide study said American Muslims are “largely assimilated, happy with their lives, and moderate with respect to many of the issues that have divided Muslims and Westerners around the world.”
The Detroit News - December 22, 2009
Refusal to release Imam Abdullah’s
autopsy raises suspicions
PAUL EGAN
Dearborn -- The Wayne County medical examiner's refusal to release its autopsy report on Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah is fueling concerns in the Muslim community about a possible cover-up of facts surrounding his death, a community leader said Monday.
Abdullah, 53, was killed Oct. 28 in a gunfight with the FBI at a Dearborn warehouse. The FBI said Abdullah, an alleged leader of a radical Muslim separatist group involved in fencing stolen goods, fired a weapon that killed an FBI dog.
The county Medical Examiner's Office denied a Nov. 2 request The Detroit News filed for Abdullah's medical examiner report, saying it was not complete.
Dawud Walid, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations of Michigan, said the county office has not responded to a request from his organization requesting a copy of the report once it is completed. The office also quoted exorbitant fees for copies of autopsy photos, he said.
Dennis Niemiec, a spokesman for the county, confirmed Monday that the report is completed but is being withheld at the request of Dearborn Police Chief Ronald Haddad, who does not want the report released until his department completes its investigation. The county will seek more information from Haddad about how the release of the report would hamper his investigation, Niemiec said.
Walid said medical examiner reports are frequently released during active police investigations.
"The unfortunate and perhaps unintended consequence is that the failure to release the autopsy report and the very exorbitant amount for the pictures is raising in the minds of some people in the community that there's a potential cover-up," Walid said.
How many times he was shot, whether he suffered dog bites, and whether Abdullah was handcuffed after he was shot are among the questions on people's minds, Walid said….
http://www.detnews.com/article/20091222/METRO01/912220352/1409/METRO/Refusal-to-release-autopsy-raises-suspicions
CAIR - December 28, 2009
FBI urged to probe Texas murder as hate crime
White supremacist allegedly shot convenience store owner
WASHINGTON, D.C., December 28, 2009 - The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today called on the FBI to investigate a possible bias motive for the murder of a Texas convenience store owner, allegedly shot to death by a suspected white supremacist.
Surveillance video showed that the store owner, 50-year-old Naushad Virani, was shot during a robbery Friday night in Liberty County, Texas. Local authorities are investigating whether the murder was a hate crime. When arrested, the alleged killer told deputies: “When I saw that all of you were white I decided to give up and not fight.” He also reportedly admitted that he shot the store owner.
The suspect in the case has a lengthy criminal record and is believed to be a member of a white supremacist group. He has many tattoos, including a Nazi SS symbol on the right side of his neck. A CAIR representative in Texas is in touch with the family of the victim.
“While robbery may have been a motivating factor in this case, the FBI should join local law enforcement authorities in examining racial and religious hatred as a possible motive for the murder,” said CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper.
He said a Sikh youth apparently mistaken for a Muslim was recently attacked in Texas. The alleged attackers reportedly told the victim: "I'm going to **** you up in Iraq, I'm going to **** you up in Afghanistan, I'm going to **** you up over here."
CAIR – December 27, 2009
Plane incidents in Ariz., Mich. raise profiling concerns
Passenger removals may be related to Christmas Day attempted bombing
WASHINGTON, D.C., December 27, 2009 - The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today called on airline passengers, crews and security personnel to avoid ethnic and religious “profiling” in the wake of the attempted bombing of a flight arriving in Detroit on Christmas Day.
CAIR made that call following two incidents in which innocent passengers were targeted based either on their national origin or on otherwise ordinary behavior.
In Arizona, two “Middle Eastern” men were removed from a US Airways flight in Phoenix and questioned by the FBI after another passenger overheard the men speaking in a foreign language. The men were questioned and released.
In Michigan, police removed a Nigerian passenger from a flight after he became ill and spent what others considered too much time in the aircraft’s bathroom.
“While everyone supports robust airline security measures, racial and religious profiling are in fact counterproductive and can lead to a climate of insecurity and fear,” said CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper.
ThinkProgress.Org – December 28, 2009
Right Wing Renews Calls For Profiling:
‘There Should Be A Separate Line To Scrutinize Anybody With The Name Abdul’
The right wing’s predictable policy prescription in the aftermath of any terror incident is to impose greater ethnic profiling of Muslims. For instance, following the Ft. Hood shooting, Sarah Palin said, “profile away.” After six imams were removed from a plane in Minnesota in 2006, Ann Coulter justified profiling Muslims by arguing that it’s just like “profiling the Klan.” That same year, after British authorities revealed a terrorist plot to blow up planes headed to the U.S., right-wing radio host Mike Gallagher said, “It’s time to have a Muslims check-point line” at airports.
They’re at it again. In the wake of the failed terrorist attempt aboard a Northwest airlines flight on Christmas Day, the right wing is renewing its pleas for more profiling of Muslims:
Radio host Mike Gallagher: “There should be a separate line to scrutinize anybody with the name Abdul or Ahmed or Mohammed.”
Rep. Peter King (R-NY): “100 percent of the Islamic terrorists are Muslim, and that is our main enemy today. So why we should not be profiling people because of their religion?”
Terrorism pundit Steven Emerson: “Remember, there have been so many complaints about quote, profiling, by the quote, Islamic civil rights groups, that they stopped basically profiling. And that basically led to not putting this guy onto the terrorist watch list.“
Unsurprisingly, Fox News has served as the platform for right-wing voices calling for more profiling. Watch a compilation:
Broad-based ethnic profiling is counterproductive for a host of reasons. It creates a false sense of security and causes law enforcement resources to be wasted in chasing the wrong targets. Terrorists come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. John Walker Lindh was white, while Richard Reid was Jamaican and British.
As the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights has reported:
Terrorism profiling is a crude substitute for behavior-based enforcement. It violates core American values, including the constitutional guarantee of equal protection. It also hinders anti-terrorism efforts because it alienates people and communities that are critical to the success of the anti-terrorism effort.
Non-specific profiling of certain religions or races amounts to a witch-hunt against a class of people, creating the perception among the larger society that those individuals containing certain suspect features (skin color, foreign-sounding names, foreign-language skills, etc) are to be feared.
Yesterday, two Middle Eastern men were pulled off a flight heading to Phoenix because passengers reported they were engaging in suspicious behavior. The men were speaking in a Middle Eastern language. And on a Detroit-bound flight yesterday, a Nigerian businessman was taken off an airplane because passengers became suspicious that he was lingering in the bathroom for too long. The FBI confirmed that the individual’s behavior was due to a legitimate illness.
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/12/28/right-wing-ethnic-profiling/
ISNA News - December 30, 2009
ISNA joins Christian and Jewish leaders
in peace mission to Mideast
Washington DC - December 30, 2009 - Following a week of praying together and meeting Jordanians, Israelis and Palestinians, a delegation of 15 U.S. Jewish, Christian and Muslim religious leaders returned home united in pursuit of peace, with a new, shared sense of urgency.
They called for active, fair and firm U.S. leadership in the New Year to restart negotiations for a two-state solution, involving an end to occupation and security for Israel and Palestine.
They repeated the goal of the National Inter-religious Leadership Initiative (NILI) to build on the Arab Peace Initiative for comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace, including peace agreements between Israel and Syria and Lebanon. Leaders of the National Inter-religious Leadership Initiative for Peace (NILI) that organized the trip said they will seek high level meetings with the Obama Administration to offer their support for U.S. leadership for peace.
The 15 U.S. Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders visited Jordan, Israel and the West Bank from December 16 to 23.
The delegation included Christian leaders of the Roman Catholic Church, Greek Orthodox Church, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), National Baptist Convention, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Episcopal Church, and United Methodist Church; Jewish leaders of Reform Judaism, Jewish Reconstructionist Federation, and Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association; and Muslim leaders of the Islamic Society of North America, Clergy Beyond Borders, and the President Emeritus of the Council of Mosques.
Believing steps on the ground are needed to restore hope, the NILI delegation united in calling on the Obama Administration and Congress to be catalysts, in cooperation with Egypt and other parties, for achieving an effective, sustainable ceasefire, including international measures to prevent resupplying of rockets; for allowing the flow of urgently needed humanitarian and economic assistance to the people of Gaza; for continuing good efforts to improve the capacity of the Palestinian Authority to increase security and economic development; and for further reducing the number of checkpoints and freezing all settlement expansion in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Archbishop Emeritus of Washington, DC, said, “We heard two messages repeatedly from Palestinians and Israelis with whom we met: first, that time is running out for a viable two-state solution; and second, that people on both sides know the difficult compromises that will be necessary for peace and most people are prepared to accept them.” Rabbi Paul Menitoff, Executive Vice President Emeritus of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, added, “Even on the most emotional issues of refugees and Jerusalem, we believe most Palestinians understand that they will have to accept a negotiated solution regarding refugees that does not jeopardize the Jewish majority in Israel; and most Israelis understand that they will have to accept a negotiated solution regarding sharing Jerusalem that includes provision for both Israel and Palestine to have their capitals in Jerusalem.” Dr. Sayyid Muhammad Syeed, National Director of the Office for Interfaith & Community Alliances of the Islamic Society of North America, said, “Of course, it is the parties themselves that must make the negotiated agreements for peace, but most people we met believe that active, fully engaged U.S. leadership is essential to making that happen. We are united in support of such U.S. leadership for peace.”
The delegation of Jewish, Christian and Muslim religious leaders were encouraged by negotiations for freeing Gilad Shalit, the young Israeli soldier captured by Hamas in 2006, in exchange for release of some number of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Rev. Dr. Sharon Watkins, General Minister, President of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) said, “We all pray to the One, merciful God that these negotiations will succeed and that prisoners will be released; and we call on our government to work urgently to restart negotiations and move forward in 2010 toward Arab-Israeli-Palestinian peace.”
National Inter-religious Leadership Initiative for Peace in the Middle East:
List of Participants December 2009
Christian Leaders
His Eminence Theodore Cardinal McCarrick
Archbishop Emeritus of Washington
Bishop Howard J. Hubbard, Chairman
Committee on International Justice and Peace
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Fr. Mark Arey, Director
Office of Ecumenical Affairs
Greek Orthodox Church in America
Dr. J. William Shaw, President
National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.
Reverend Dr. Sharon Watkins
General Minister, President
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Bishop Margaret Payne
ELCA New England Synod
ELCA Middle East Ready Bench
Representing Bishop Mark Hanson, Presiding Bishop
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Bishop Elaine J. W. Stanovsky
Bishop, Denver Area
United Methodist Church
Representing the Council of Bishops, United Methodist Church
Bishop Barry Beisner
Bishop of Northern California
Representing The Most Rev. Dr. Katherine Jefferts Schori
Presiding Bishop, The Episcopal Church
Jewish Leaders
Rabbi Paul Menitoff
Executive Vice President Emeritus
Central Conference of American Rabbis
Dr. Carl Sheingold
Executive Vice President
Jewish Reconstructionist Federation
Rabbi Amy Small
Past President
Reconstructionist Rabbinical Assembly
Muslim Leaders
Dr. Sayyid Muhammad Syeed
National Director of the ISNA Office for Interfaith & Community Alliances
Islamic Society of North America
Dr. Shaheer Yousaf
Islamic Society of North America
Islamic Center of Southern Maryland
Imam Yahya Hendi
Muslim Chaplain
Georgetown University*
Dawud Assad
President Emeritus
Council of Mosques, USA
|
