08 March 2011 By Juan Cole House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter
King is intent on doing a foolish thing that even
former President George W. Bush himself no slouch in
fighting terrorism consistently refused to do. On Thursday (March 10), King will open the first
hearings on the problem of "radicalization" among
American Muslims. Ever since 9/11, King has been
troubled by what he believes is a failure of American
Muslim leaders to combat extremism. "The leadership of
the (Muslim) In 2004, he complained that Islamic fundamentalists
control 85 percent of U.S. mosques: "This enemy is
living among us," he said then. Now, he wants to
expose the supposed enemy in public. Most experts agree some forms of violent extremism
in this country have found inspiration and legitimacy
in Islam. Most citizens agree the government, whose
primary job is to protect its citizens, has a need to
know which communities might be hatching terrorist
plots against its citizens and their institutions. Law
enforcement, too, must be vigilant aware of the
extent of violent radicalism, informed about its
causes and active in combating its worst effects. Congressional hearings can be an important
instrument in ensuring the security of the homeland
and its citizens. There can be no objection in
principle to public discussion of the relationship
between religious communities and extremism, including
violent extremists within Islam. But King's hearings are likely to have the opposite
effect and undermine that security. They will also
demean millions of upstanding American Muslim citizens
in the process. Here are the realities: In short, the hearings will be a political
spectacle, not an instrument of truth finding. They
will perpetuate prejudices and perpetrated injustices
against Muslim communities and will only serve to
undermine our national security. Devout Muslims seem to be a particular concern to
King. But in the case of devout Muslims maybe
especially in their case we can build on common
values. "A Common Word," a widely publicized 1997 document
of impeccable and broadly accepted Muslim authority,
argues that what binds Muslims to Christians and
religious Jews is a shared commitment to love God and
neighbor. What's more, as many great Christian
teachers through the centuries have recognized
(including the Second Vatican Council's "Nostra Aetate"),
Muslims and Christians worship the same God. True,
they understand God somewhat differently, but the
similarities in their convictions about God are much
greater than are the differences. As a consequence, Muslims share with Christians
(and Jews, on this score) a set of fundamental values,
including some version of the Golden Rule a
principle that compels you to treat others as you
would want to be treated. Reaffirming such common
values, and holding each other accountable to them,
would do much more to improve Americans' safety Though the hearings may give Chairman King some
partisan advantage, they will ultimately diminish his
stature as a political leader (as the Permanent
Subcommittee on Investigations did in the case of Sen.
Joe McCarthy). Much worse, the hearings will neither
expose wrongdoing nor help rectify a social condition
(as the Watergate hearings did), but instead
perpetrate a wrongdoing and undermine national
security. We as a community of citizens, of all faiths and
traditions, believers and non-believers, can do much
better than this unjust, dangerous and self-defeating
political charade. Anti-Muslim Hate Rally Organizer Eliezrie to Teach
"Kabbalah of Love" at Jewish Federation Vegas
Mega-Event Miroslav Volf is the author of the new book,
Allah: A Christian Response.' He is the Henry B.
Wright Professor of Theology at Yale Divinity School,
and the Founding Director of the Yale Center for Faith
and Culture. Comments 💬 التعليقات |