Muslim opposition grows to religious freedom nominee
Lauren Markoe ("The Washington Post," April 12, 2012)
Washington, USA - More than 50 Muslim and non-Muslim civic and religious
groups asked leading senators on Thursday (April 12) to rescind the
appointment of an outspoken Muslim activist, Zuhdi Jasser, to the U.S.
Commission on
International Religious Freedom.
Jasser, a Navy-trained physician, is decrying the effort — and others to
oust him from the independent watchdog panel — as a “smear tactic.”
A separate online petition that began circulating last week, also asking
for his ouster, has garnered more than 2,000 signatures.
“Their letter is patently dishonest, deceptive, and continues their
unprofessional unbridled smear campaign against anyone who chooses to take on
Islamic reform against Islamist ideologies and groups regardless of whether we
are observant traditional Muslims,” Jasser wrote in an email to Religion
News Service.
The signatories to the letter, sent to three key senators, argue that
Jasser’s rhetoric and activism contribute to a culture that treats Muslims as
suspects, and that he would subvert the work of the bipartisan commission,
which advises federal officials on the status of religious freedom abroad.
“His consistent support for measures that threaten and diminish religious
freedoms within the United States demonstrates his deplorable lack of
understanding of and commitment to religious freedom and undermines the
USCIRF’s
express purpose,” they wrote.
They cite Jasser’s effort to prevent the construction of an Islamic
cultural center near Ground Zero, his support for the New York Police
Department’s
spying on Muslim institutions, and his defense of anti-Shariah laws, which
most Muslim civil rights groups say unfairly paint Muslims as
anti-American.
Jasser said his positions are far more nuanced than represented by those
who signed the letter, and that his view on the Ground Zero mosque is a “
pro-Islamic” one. As for his attitudes toward Shariah, “I have never been
against family Shariah laws that, in fact, most of which I practice myself,” he
wrote to RNS.
The independent commission was founded by Congress in 1998 to monitor and
advise federal officials on the status of religious freedom abroad.
Republicans and Democrats take turns making appointments to the commission.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., appointed Jasser. The letter
is also addressed to Senate President Pro-Tempore Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii,
and Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., who chairs the Senate’s Subcommittee on
the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights.
Signatories to the letter include nine individuals and 55 national and
local groups, from the well-known Council on American-Islamic Relations to the
Islamic Society of Greater Columbus, Ohio.
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