Nice, though I misunderstood your title. Apparently this is an open letter someone posted on congress.org, to Mark Warner as well as President Obama and others:
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/bio/userletter/?id=3181&letter_id=5897669141 Not a bad idea, though I fear unlikely to make much of a ripple. -- Ernie P. On Oct 18, 2010, at 1:25 PM, [email protected] wrote: > > from the site : > Congress.org > Subject: > ISLAMISTS: ISLAM FLY WILL FLY OVER WH. ISLAM IS NOT A RELIGION OF PEACE. > > To: > President Barack Obama > Rep. Bobby Scott > Sen. Jim Webb > Sen. Mark Warner > > October 8, 2010 > > Amanpour Inadvertently Exposes the Real Issue with Islam > William Sullivan > > Christianne Amanpour hosted a panel discussion meant to explore the > misunderstood delineation between moderate and extremist Islam. > > A dichotomy is certainly brought to light in discussion, but considering > Amanpour is a staunch Islamic apologist, it is probably not the one she meant > to expose. She likely sought to support the notion that Islam is peaceful, > and to advance the belief that only a small contingent of radicals corrupts > the faith. To those ends, she enlisted guests of Christian and Muslim > backgrounds for her panel, and I'm fairly certain she expected the Christian > guests to attack Islam as an intolerant faith bent on universalizing Sharia, > while her Muslim guests and audience members would defend themselves as > peaceful practitioners of the tolerant faith of Islam. > > Americans are familiar with the strategy. It's the standard stuff that tends > to make Christians look intolerant and Muslims look misunderstood. > > But one portion of the discussion hurls a monkey-wrench into those plans. > When Amanpour addresses the ideas of Muslim cleric Anjem Choudary, she has > the audacity to question his ideas about Islamic domination. Choudary > proclaims that he disagrees with the entire focus of the segment, and argues > that the notions of moderate Islam or extremist Islam are nonsense. There is > only Islam, whose followers "submit to the creator." Then, in an > effort to convey that Islam can live in peace with the Western world, he > concludes, "We do believe as Muslims that the east and the west will one day > be governed by the Sharia. Indeed we believe that one day the flag of Islam > will fly over the White House." > > It is obvious that his statements reinforce what some Christian panel guests > believe to be the truth, and that those statements certainly don't support > the notion of peaceful and tolerant Islam. > > So a Muslim woman in the panel decided to take Choudary to task for his > reckless and inflammatory statements, and she went on to instruct him that > Islam is a faith of pluralism, and that it provides an allowance of other > faiths to exist in a state of equal importance. > > Had she been speaking to the panel's Christian reverend in that moment, she > likely could have won the argument just as she has probably won countless > others; by merely saying, "I know better than you Christians do about Islam. > I'm a Muslim." But my guess is that she forgot that she was speaking with > someone who had given far more study to the Quran and Hadith than most > Christian theologians. > > To her assumption of Islamic tolerance of other faiths and legal systems, > Choudary simply suggests that she knows nothing of what Islam desires or > requires; she doesn't even have the good sense to cover herself. Doesn't she > know that the Quran forbids her appearance in that way? So in his eyes, she > is not truly a Muslim, as true Muslims are not granted the liberty to sift > through Islamic doctrine and select their preferred methods of religious > practice. He even makes the comparison that she is a Muslim in the same way > that a person who occasionally eats beef burgers is a vegetarian. > > And she cannot argue. The holy book of her faith does explicitly forbid women > to present themselves as she does. > > This exchange reveals that cleric Anjem Choudary practices fundamental > adherence to Islam in an effort to live in reflection of and submission to > the prophet. Those Muslims who believe in religious autonomy and peace only > do so because Western concepts like personal freedoms have somewhat permeated > the contemporary practice of a religion that mandates universal submission. > And to the Muslims who read the Quran literally, such augmentation of Quranic > instruction is a sin. > > So in regards to the child in the Middle East watching this panel discussion > on Al-Jazeera, who is he more likely to believe is correct in their way of > thinking? The harlot who does not cover her chest and speaks of the equality > of wretched infidels, or the cleric that espouses the will of the prophet? > > And that is the true dichotomy exposed in this panel discussion. It is not as > the title of segment implies, "Moderates vs. Extremists." It would > more aptly be called "Fundamentalist Islam vs. the Western world." > > While it is important to note that moderate Muslims do exist, it is > imperative that we keep that fact within the proper global context. Amanpour > and liberal pundits the world over can host hundreds of panels comprised of > thousands of Muslims that have embraced Western culture, and that will not > change the fact that such voices are irrelevant in the Islamic world. The > millions and millions of Muslims that share Choudary's literal belief in > fundamental Islam are ultimately compelled to achieve the goal of universal > Sharia, or die trying. > > Disputanta , VA > > -- > Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community > <[email protected]> > Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism > Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
