09 April 2011 By Juan Cole Senior Research Director Chris Rodda chronicles the
proceedings of a Conservative conference, the
Rediscover God in America conference, in which its
belief is that America should be governed by "Biblical
law": While most eyes were on the Conservative
Principles Political Action Committee conference in
Iowa
on Saturday, many of us who follow the
religious right were more interested in
another conference, also held in Iowa, on Thursday
and Friday. This other conference was the Rediscover
God in America conference, where all the same
potential 2012 Republican presidential hopefuls that
appeared at the Saturday's Conservative Principles
PAC conference told us what they really
think — that America should be governed by biblical
law. One of the principle proponents of this view is
David Barton, a much-loved "historian" featured by
Glenn Beck and other right-wingers. In fact,
potential Republican Presidential hopeful
Mike
Huckabee said at this conference that Americans
should be forced, at gunpoint, to learn from David
Barton. This statement, according to Rodda, was edited
out of the webcast: But the most outrageous statement by far came
from Mike Huckabee, who expressed his admiration for
Barton by saying that he "almost wished" that "all
Americans would be forced — forced at gunpoint no
less — to listen to every David Barton message." Now, I wasn't watching the Rediscover God in
America conference live on Thursday when Huckabee
said this. I had planned on watching and recording
the whole conference when it was webcast again on
Saturday, so that's when I saw Huckabee's speech. I
was quite surprised a few days later to come across
a video clip from this conference on the People for
the American Way (PFAW) Right Wing Watch blog with
the headline "Huckabee: Americans Should Be Forced,
At Gunpoint, To Learn From David Barton." I
had watched Huckabee's speech. How on earth could I
have missed a statement like that? Well, I didn't.
It had been edited out of the webcast that I had
watched. What if this was a Muslim? Would the Right,
especially "Police Blotter Bob," be silent? While
lawmakers are in search of the "threat" from Sharia,
there are Americans who are actively seeking to
supplant our secular, Constitutional system with
Biblical law, and Mike Huckabee thinks we Americans
should be forced to learn about this under threat of
death. Wow. But, they are not Muslim, so no worries… Nonie giving a passionate anti-Muslim lecture For years now, the U.S. government has left counter-terrorism training dangerously unregulated such that millions of dollars were spent on private contractors who present Islam as an inherently violent religion and all Muslims as suspects. This is no shock to Loonwatchers who've been watching fake scholars like Robert Spencer brag about their bogus presentations before government security agencies. Unfortunately, the problem still persists and officials continue to receive training in Islamophobic doctrine rather than real counter-terrorism skills, all courtesy of the U.S. tax-payers. In the latest round of hate-for-hire, the New York State Senate will hold a hearing entitled, "Reviewing our Preparedness: An Examination of New York's Public Protection Ten Years After 9/11" starring none other than loon-at-large, caught-in-a-pool-of-lies Nonie Darwish (Peter King will also make a cameo). Like most in the anti-Muslim business, Nonie has a greatly exaggerated personal sob-story backed up by book deals and speaking engagements in all the typical "hating on Muslim" venues. She sells herself as a "human rights activist," as do so many other virulent Muslim-bashers, though she doesn't seem to care too much about the human rights of Muslims. This time, however, she will be using the pseudonym "Nahid Hyde," perhaps as a not-so-clever way of avoiding government inquiry into her association with other bigots and white supremacists. Yet, even a cursory view of her ridiculous book titles should cause any serious security official to question her credibility as a fair and impartial witness. The reviewer of her latest book, "Cruel and Usual Punishment: The Terrifying Global Implications of Islamic Law," (which sells for a whopping $28.99) stated:
It must be difficult to pack so many stereotypes into 272 pages, but Ms. Darwish has done it, making such bold generalizations and demonstrably false claims as:
Perhaps she should "educate" the Grand Mufti of Egypt, who recently remarked:
But disclosing some enlightening and nuanced facts about contemporary Islam or the multivalent, non-monolithic view and relationship Muslims have with Islamic Law would ruin her book sales and speaking tours, wouldn't it? Like other Islamophobes, she is careful to make a distinction between Islam and Muslims, so as not to appear like the plain bigot she is:
Such distinctions are disingenuous, pro-forma statements that only fool the naïve into thinking she isn't a professional hate-monger. (Right, just like how Pam Geller loves those Moozlims so much she wants to drop nuclear bombs on them, out of love, of course.) Contrary to her assertion, Ms. Darwish regularly engages in dehumanizing rhetoric about all Muslims, not just extremists. She even told the New York Times:
That was one of her tamer statements dressed up before a liberal audience. Such sweeping outright lies have been instrumental in the spread of anti-Muslim, anti-Sharia, and anti-Mosque hysteria in our country, materializing in over 800 documented cases of anti-Muslim violence and discrimination. When confronted about her lies, she will likely attempt to dismiss her critics as agents of the Mad Mullah Conspiracy, rather than owning up to the falsity of her claims. So I don't believe her for a second when she says she is not spreading hatred. She is spreading hatred, blatantly, and making a buck while doing it, this time at the expense of hardworking New Yorkers' taxes. In less than a week she is going to tell the New York Senate that basically every Muslim is a suspect, thereby misdirecting valuable law enforcement resources away from violent extremists and onto the majority of peaceful, law-abiding American Muslim citizens. We will all be less safe as a result. The citizens of New York deserve better than this. The American people deserve better. They have the right to know why the government is funding clearly biased, hateful individuals who have absolutely no credibility. For this reason, a coalition of civil rights and interfaith organizations will hold a news conference on the steps of City Hall in Manhattan to challenge this expected anti-Islam bias in the State Senate, Thursday, April 7th, at 1pm. The American people deserve testimony from impartial security experts, not this Islamophobic nonsense about stealth Jihad and Islamic boogeymen hiding under every bed. It's time for the government to be held accountable and to stop playing these dangerous political games with our security. Comments 💬 التعليقات |