Islamophobia 2013: Lawmaking that makes me mourn for our democracy

Oklahoma state Rep. Sally Kern (R-Oklahoma City) is a former teacher and the daughter of a Baptist pastor. Governor Mary Fallin signed Kern's anti-Islam bill into law in  April 2013.

Wishful thinking, I know, but one would hope a history of personal prejudice might disuade other lawmakers from endorsing her bill, but apparently not.

In 2011, Kern was reprimanded by the Oklahoma House for disparaging women and ethnic minorities. As reported by The Oklahoman, "During a debate Wednesday night on the House of Representatives floor, Kern said minorities earn less than white people and women
earn less than men because they don't work as hard and have less initiative."

In 2008, Kern expressed her view that, "Gays are an even bigger threat than terrorism or Islam, which I think is a big threat."

Her bill's easily identifiable genesis in a hate movement also had no impact on the legislative process.

In 2010, Oklahoma voters overwhelmingly approved the “Save Our State Amendment,” a state constitutional amendment that specifically banned judges from considering Islamic religious principles.

In 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit upheld a lower court's decision to block amendment's implementation. The lower court had agreed with arguments that the amendment would unconstitutionally disfavor an entire faith and deny Oklahoma's Muslims access to the judicial system on the same terms as every other citizen.

While the legal issues were being settled, legislators went back to the drawing board to find a way to achieve the goal of vilifying Islam without breaking the law.

The resulting bill was Kern's HB 1060. 

It’s wording is clearly lifted from American Laws for American Courts (ALAC). Kern acknowledged that her 2011 bill was copied almost word-for-word from the ALAC template, which was authored by a man known for writing “most of the fundamental differences between the races are genetic."

Further, reporting revealed that she consulted with the Center for Security Policy (CSP) on her 2011 bill and “some of the momentum for her bill comes from the work of Brigitte Gabriel.” I have documented the Islamophobic nature of both CSP and Brigitte Gabriel.

Like many legislators using ALAC, Kern has argued that her bill does not single out Muslims or Islam. However, as Kern herself pointed out, “Because of the careful planning and thought behind ALAC's wording, from a practical standpoint, it is effective in preventing the enforcement of any foreign law—including Shariah law—that would violate U.S. and state constitutional liberties or state public policy.”

I am all for protecting constitutional liberties, maybe Oklahoma could pass something to protect its citizens from the NSA. Instead, elected officials there choose to pursue a fantastical hobgoblin and reward a prejudiced lawmaker and her prejudiced bill with a seal of approval.   

Islamophobia 2013: "It is, in laymans terms," not the Islamic apocalypse

In March, Tennessee state legislators Sen. Bill Ketron (R-Murfreesboro) and Rep. Judd Matheny (R-Tullahoma) discovered that a Muslim footbath had apparently been stealthily installed during renovations to Tennessee’s state Capitol building.

A concerned Ketron went and spoke to the Senate clerk about it.

 

Legislative administration director Connie Ridley explained away the possible apocalypse of Islamic pre-prayer hygiene rituals by clarifying the purpose of the suspected foot cleansing device: “It is, in layman's terms, a mop sink."

 

Ketron and Matheny have a history of puzzling efforts to protect America. Not allowing the Constitution to get in the way of what struck them as a good idea, the two men had previously introduced legislation that would have effectively banned being a Muslim in Tennessee.

 

(Saylor note: This is the first in a brief series of posts running from now until the end of the year examining some of the incidents, and issues that came up regarding Islamophobia in America in 2013.)

 

 

Dawud Walid: Attack against pilgrims calls for renewed intrafaith cooperation

Attack against pilgrims calls for renewed intrafaith cooperation

By Dawud Walid 

(As published in Arab American News)

Thursday, 10.24.2013, 09:12pm

News that Michigan Muslims were attacked at Hajj recently, due to sectarianism, increases the need for American Muslim leaders and activists to cultivate a spirit of constructive engagement among the followers of Islam, especially in America.

I personally know some of the Shia Muslims who were reportedly beaten, choked, threatened with rape, and called “kafirs” (disbelievers) in Mina.  I have no reason to doubt that this incident happened, as I have witnessed sectarian harassment up close, while visiting Saudi Arabia and other places.  Moreover, in the past decade, we have seen certain regions ravaged by sectarian violence, including numerous bombings at houses of worship during Friday prayer sermons

It is a mistake to act as if sectarianism does not exist among Muslims; as if ignoring the problem will make it go away.  Moreover, it is irresponsible to say that the mere mention of it is somehow promoting it.  It must be approached, head on, with spirituality as the guide, as well as wisdom. In February 2006, after the bombing of Al-Askari Mosque in Samarra, Iraq, the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI) saw an opportunity to bring the Metro Detroit Muslim community together by, not only asking its religious leaders to denounce sectarianism, but by also creating a platform that could bring them together.  This area of cooperation was needed, in order to robustly challenge Islamophobia, which is a common enemy to all Muslims and to the integrity of America as a whole.  I was part of the effort, which organized imams for bi-weekly meetings over a span of months and produced scholastically correct replies to common attacks used by anti-Muslim bigots against the Qur’an, Prophet Muhammad (prayers and peace be upon him and his family) and the Prophet’s wives.  These answers can be found online, under “Imams Defend Prophet (S).”

These meetings birthed the practice of Detroit area imams attending and speaking at events, hosted at Islamic centers of different schools of thought, as well as the Council of Islamic Organizations of Michigan Imams Committee monthly meetings, which are now under the banner of the Michigan Muslim Community Council (MMCC).

In 2007, Michigan imams showed leadership, by signing the Muslim Code of Honor, which affirms that Muslims should respect differences of opinion within Islamic theology and jurisprudence and not to pronounce “takfir” over other Muslims, calling them nonbelievers.  In September of this year, a number of national Islamic organizations, including the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and CAIR, signed onto a similar code that rejects sectarianism among Muslims.

We ought to demand that Islamic scholars overseas and governments abroad vigorously denounce violent sectarianism and grant all people of faith equal protection under the law.

However, our primary concern should be on working towards better cooperation among Muslims of all schools of thought in America.  We face challenges that range from Islamophobia to the crisis of drug and alcohol use among our youth, which Muslims have a vested interest in addressing with our intellectual and financial resources.  We simply cannot allow voices of intolerance to concretize the community discourse to the point that we divide ourselves to the detriment of our collective interests in America.

As pilgrims return home, it is my hope that our community renews its commitment to a key principle of Hajj, which is the unity of the collective interests and welfare of all people under their Creator.  We will never eradicate sectarianism, but we can work, in our own way, to marginalize those who seek to promote intolerance and hatred and who falsely fly the banner of Islam.

UPI Ouside View Column "CAIR: Column promotes crass stereotypes of Muslims"

(Piece I wrote published recently by UPI)

WASHINGTON, Oct. 17 (UPI) -- American ideals embrace the notion of freedom of religion. Our realities can be somewhat different. A recent article distributed by UPI ("Mosques -- Smiling dens of iniquity?" by James Zumwalt) shows that the willingness to promote crass religious stereotypes remains a serious issue.

Anti-Semitism has long been a stain on our national dignity. A U.S. Army manual written for World War I recruits alleged that Jews were more likely to "malinger" than others. Signs could be found around the nation proudly announcing "No dogs. No Jews." Henry Ford, of automotive fame, authored "The International Jew: The World's Foremost Problem."

Anti-Catholic sentiment also has a lengthy history. In his Pulitzer Prize-winning book "Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era", James McPherson reports on suspicion of Catholic immigrants in the 1800s saying: "Most of these new Americans worshipped in Roman Catholic churches. Their growing presence filled some Protestant Americans with alarm. Numerous nativist organizations sprang up as the first line of resistance in what became a long and painful retreat toward acceptance of cultural pluralism."

Thus it comes as no surprise that 37 groups dedicated to spreading anti-Islam prejudice in the United States enjoyed access to at least $119,662,719 in total revenue between 2008 and 2011, according to "Legislating Fear," a new report by the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

CAIR's report says that Islamophobia in the United States has resulted in a certain willingness to undermine the U.S. Constitution.

Article VI of the U.S. Constitution prohibits any "religious test" for public office. However, in 2010 Time reported that "twenty-eight percent of voters do not believe Muslims should be eligible to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court" and that "nearly one-third of the country thinks adherents of Islam should be barred from running for president."

Herman Cain, at one point the front-runner for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination, manifested a version of this sentiment when he said that to serve in his administration he would require loyalty oaths from Muslims.

In 2010 Oklahoma voters approved SQ 755, a state constitutional amendment banning judges in that state from considering Islamic religious principles in their rulings. In practice this would have prohibited a judge from probating an Islamic will. In the voting booth, Oklahomans were told that Islamic religious principles are "based on two principal sources, the Koran and the teaching of Mohammed."

The First Amendment clearly prohibits any such government interference in the free exercise of a religion. For this reason a CAIR staff person in Oklahoma challenged the law in court. In 2013 a federal judge struck the amendment down as unconstitutional.

Oklahoma's bill wasn't unique. In 2011 and 2012, 78 bills or amendments designed to vilify Islamic religious practices were introduced in the legislatures of 29 states and the U.S. Congress. Seventy-three of the bills were introduced solely by Republicans.

Anti-Islam bills are now law in seven states.

There are other indicators that Islamophobia is a societal issue in America.

In September 2011, the Public Religion Research Institute noted, "Forty-seven percent of Americans agree that Islam is at odds with American values, and 48 percent disagree." PRRI later reported that the number of Americans who say Muslims are working to subvert the Constitution rose from 23 percent in February 2012 to 30 percent in September 2012.

While these facts are disconcerting, they are nothing new. Just a Jews, Catholics and others stood up to prejudice, so, too, are Muslims. In fact, Muslims benefit from the lessons these other faith traditions learned in their struggles against prejudice.

America's Muslims also recognize that while the lens of prejudice may be on us today, it will eventually turn elsewhere. We want to make sure our struggle is a benefit to this next group and our nation as a whole.

Our nation has historically evolved for the better. The shame of the three-fifths compromise, by which southern and northern states agreed to count slaves as partial human beings for the purposes of the distribution of taxes and representation in Congress, was removed from the Constitution. Equally, the 15th Amendment and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 are inspiring reminders that our nation evolves. It took until 1920, 144 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, to pass a constitutional amendment granting women the right to vote, but we got there.

For this reason people of conscience must continually remind themselves that the specters of bigotry, discrimination and second-class citizenship are omnipresent.

CAIR on Malala Yousafzai