Islam, Submission With No Peace Pt. 6

ABC's Good Morning America in effort to "get beyond the rhetoric" and do what I call "sanitize" perceptions toward Islam produced the following snippets called "Faith and Fear: Islam In America" Now the title in itself declares the aim of the program to distinguish the difference between faith and fear as it pertain to Islam, but this "discovery" is something that the American public is to find with the assistance of good ole journalist reporting of course.

Here's the video and I'll discuss a few of the more important and erroneous points presented afterward




Defining Truth And Redefining Islam

First Robin says that the intent of this particular series was to take a "true look at the faith and why there are so many questions about Islam" This segment presents these basic questions premises and makes the following assertions:

1- Robin, at the beginning of this story, expresses the first FALSE sentiment regarding Islam. She states that Islam has come under suspicion SINCE 9/11 and has been the target of anger and violence within America.

There is nothing further from the truth and more fanciful. First, Christians have not responded violently to Islam within America or anyplace else over the globe. The FACT is that the Islamic response to America has been filled and riddled with violence far before  9/11:

• 1979 Muslim students seize the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and hold 52 Americans hostage for 444 days.
• 1979 U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan was set on fire by Muslim fundamentalists.
• 1982, 37 Americans were taken hostage by Hezbollah in Lebanon last American to be freed from this incident was freed in 1991.
• 1983 at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut the U.S. and French military barracks was bombed by multiple suicide bombers killing 350 people including 241 U.S. Marines.
• 1985 Hezbollah hijacked a TWA jet to Beirut killing a U.S. Navy diver.
• 1988 an Islamic group was responsible for the murder of 259 passengers on board a Pam Am jetliner over Scotland.

I haven't even made it to the failed World Trade Center bombings in Feb. 1993 which killed 6 people and injured 1,000 on American soil long BEFORE 9/11.

Where is any American or Christian retaliation or vigilanteism as a result of any of these atrocities that are claimed by Muslim terrorists? Some say a war in Afghanistan and Iraq, but is that it??? Is that the retaliation? Are there no planned bombings of Islamic or Muslim targets etc? Of course not because Christianity and Americans in general, no matter how vocal in opposition to terrorist practices, do not take the underlying view that death to enemies is a good thing. Further Christianity DOES NOT support the murder or killing of enemies. Whereas it is clear that the Quran and Islam in general does.  

Islam has been under suspicion long before 9/11 and has been a religion warned about for many decades. The tenets of Islam are nothing new and certainly to American Intelligence and military that have been overseas for years. The conflict between the Mojahedin and the Ayatollah Khomeini in the early 80's that resulted in the deaths of over 12,250 political dissidents who were mostly Mojahedin. The basis for these killings was the interpretation of the Quran and certain Fatwas that were issued by the Ayatollah himself.

2- When asked what is Islam Mr. Eboo Patel, founder of Interfaith Youth Core says:

"Islam is a religion that believes in monotheism and mercy."... He later stated: "Of a billion and a half people who are Muslims around the world 99 point some high X percentage are moderate Muslims." 

Now, Eboo, some of us may have been born at night, BUT NOT LAST NIGHT! The 3 central religions of modern society, Judaism, Islam and Christianity are all monotheistic religions. Second, each religion believes in the "mercy" of God. In his statement Dr. Patel does not come close to defining  what Islam is, he only defines what the public should hear that Islam represents as far as he would like to make that representation and make Islam the "same" as other religions. We are not without help however, I've done my best to do bring to light what Islam really is in the first article on this subject Islam, Submission With no Peace Pt. 1.

Outlining the faith elements, which are without compromise within Islam, would have been a better place for Eboo to begin. Why? Because the faith elements of Islam cannot be seperated from the practice of true Islam. This leads to Shari'a Law, which governs every aspect of normative, daily life. In contrast, it's not that Christianity does not do the same. However, the elements and daily practice of Christianity do not endorse things that violate the law under almost any interpretation even the most radical. (John 13:34,Gal. 5:22-23, 1John 4:7) Islam to the contrary promises eternal bliss for those who die stiving against the "infidel" no matter how that "striving" is carried out as we will see below.

The Faith

Eboo could have recited the Shahadah – also known as the Confessions of Islam. There are 5 basic confessions of the Islamic faith. These are also known as the Pillars of the faith. In order to be a Muslim one must commit themselves to these. They are as follows:

1 – “I bear witness that there is no God but God and Muhammad is the prophet of God.” {This is the primary and most important confession} This must be repeated with sincerity and conviction of heart in order to make one a Muslim.
2 – Ritualistic Prayer as outlined and instructed in the Quran.
3 – Giving of alms, or giving to the poor.
4 – Fasting during the month of Ramadan.
5 – Pilgrimage to Mecca if at all possible.

A second problem with Eboo's description is that he does not deny that terrorism comes as a result of Islam. He only claims terrorism is a result of radical Islam and Islamic practice and that moderate Islam is not responsible for such practices or discord. That well may be so, but according to the basic teachings of Islam, one cannot hold his position and be true to the faith either by the Quran, Hadith or the Sunnah. Therefore in his zeal to appeal to more individuals, he becomes an enemy of the faith that he espouses.

The Interfaith Youth Core Deception

Mr. Eboo Patel's group is referenced in the story as one doing good work to bring about positive religious dialogue. Please note the following, the Interfaith Youth Core is a movement for religious pluralism. To help understand the roots and implications of pluralism, Elder D.L. Foster of GCMWatch delivered the following information from the book entitled “The church’s need for polemics in a postmodern world”, by D. Massimo Lorenzini:

"Postmodernism has brought society from an age of reason to an age of relativism. The only thing postmodernists cannot tolerate is intolerance. The only absolute truth they believe is that there is no absolute truth. People create their own “truth” and all “truths” are equally valid. The result of all these equally valid “truths” is known as pluralism." ~ "Christian Apologetics and Polemics: desperately needed!" GCMWatch.com 12/21/2007 

True to form the Interfaith Youth Core, under Eboo Patel's direction, is a straight line pluralist group promoting pluralism, maintaining that truth can be redefined by each religion and that the true mission of faith is bettering society. The Interfaith Youth Core renders the following statement regarding their mission:

"There are millions of religious young people in the world interacting with greater frequency. That interaction tends either toward conflict or cooperation. Where so many of these interactions tend towards conflict, the Interfaith Youth Core aims to introduce a new relationship, one that is about mutual respect and religious pluralism. Instead of focusing a dialogue on political or theological differences, we build relationships on the values that we share, such as hospitality and caring for the Earth, and how we can live out those values together to contribute to the betterment of our community.

The Interfaith Youth Core is creating these relationships across the world by inspiring, networking, and resourcing young people, who are the leaders of this movement. We provide young people and the institutions that support them with leadership training, project resources and a connection to a broader movement."

In reviewing his book, "This Is What Muslims Do" Paul Raushenbush states the following from regarding Patel's book:

"Nothing is more chilling than Patel's fictional recounting of how easy it might have been to have been seduced by radical ideology when he was young and alienated as so many young people currently are--and not only young people in Islam, but in Christian separatist movements such as the one that influenced Eric Rudolf as well as Jewish and Hindu extremists. In a chapter titled "Youth Programs" Patel describes the history and evolution of extremists in his own faith and how persuasive these groups can be. In speaking about Osama Bin Laden, Patel makes the particularly salient point that Bin Laden is, if nothing else, a brilliant youth organizer." (emphasis added)

A BRILLIANT youth organizer? Eboo Patel claims that a terrorist responsible for sending countless young men and now even women to their deaths and the murder of countless other innocents is considered by Eboo to be a Brilliant youth organizer??? What kind of garbage is this!!!

A person sits on a major news show, declares that Islam has nothing to do with the terrorism that arises out of  and because of Islamic teachings and that America and Americans are at fault for their intolerance; all the while this same person has previously stated that Bin Laden...is a Brilliant organizer????

UNBELIEVEABLE!

3- This report offers no distinction between historical narratives and the current command and practice of Islam.

Robin: "Is there violence within the Quran?"

Eboo Patel: "In the same way there is violence within every religious scripture, there is violence in the Quran"..."The vast majority of Muslim practitioners and believers bring our own sense of mercy with the Quran's sense of mercy"

Eboo flat-lines in his statement regarding the "violence" within the Quran trying to obfuscate the difference between historical narratives and current commands. There is a vast difference here. Within Christianity the Old Testament serves as an instructional book regarding God's holiness and man's need for a savior. The New testament builds off of the Old providing a greater and more fulfilled instruction for daily practice as well as revealing the savior through Jesus Christ. Since Jesus is the centerpiece, his instructions to righteousness and holiness are to be enjoined. In other words, for Christians Jesus sets the standard by which were are to live and reveals the fulfillment of the Old Testament narrative and is the standard whereby the mercy of God is set or established. In what Eboo sets forth, the people of Islam set the standard of God's mercy by their own temperance. In short there is a BIG difference the bible sense of God and his mercy and the Islamic version of the same. This is partially because the Islamic view of God's mercy centers around both the Quran and the Hadith and the Sunnah and the establishment of Shari'a law as interpreted by Islam's clerics

Example, what are we to do with the Quran that says:

"O Prophet strive hard against unbelievers and be firm against them." ~ Sura 9:73

This command is taken to represent what the Muslim should do and be engaged in today and is not simply restricted to Mohammad or his time. Therefore this is a living command to all Muslims. Then, what are we to do with other Quranic verses such as this:

"Kill those who join other Gods" ~ Sura 9:5

Now, what Eboo and many promoting pluralism want us to believe is that we all simply worship the "same God" by different names, but NOTHING is further from the truth. You see the catch 22 is this: since the Quran holds that the Christian belief that Jesus is God or the "Son Of God" in the sense that he shares the same nature as God and is God, is blasphemy or "Shirk" to a Muslim and is worthy of immediate death.  thus every Christian IS an infidel and worthy of the penalty of death. There is no distinction between a historical narrative and a current command based on Quranic verses and Islamic Hadiths. In other words one would have to stop believing the Quran, stop practicing Hadiths and deconvert from Islam in order to NOT believe what Islam so clearly and plainly holds as one of its most essential truths.

I say this, If Eboo believes that the intolerance found so openly and commanded within the Quran has no value, then he MUST begin a new religious movement. What he currently teaches and espouses IS NOT Islam as specified within the Quran and is at best a secular and watered down version of Islam that would certainly be rejected by mainline Islam, not to mention those who are Islamic fundamentalists and radicals. In short Mr. Eboo's whole dialogue on Good Morning America may be sincere and what he wants to believe or see out of Islam, but it is is inauthentic. It is not real.

4- Blame public opinion regarding Islam on freedom of speech.

Robin, in the commentary stated the following: "A 24 hour news cycle and a course of pundits and opinion makers often shape the nation's dialogue".

She later associates that dialogue with hatred of Muslims and Islam. This point is of vital importance because it is another place at which liberty and personal freedoms are being challenged and even reversed within modern society. The blame for negative Islamic sentiments is being thrust upon free speech. Teaching truth is unacceptable and outlining the differences are certainly not encouraged. This is another byproduct of pluralism.

As it pertains to  speech, only "favorable" speech is regarded as authentic. One of the other guests on the segment stated the following regarding "extremists" that speak hate:

"To be honest, I'm not one of those people who believe that if we can "just get to the children," we can solve all of our problems. I believe the central idea that we all have to grasp is that we have to get over the idea that our mothers all told us, which is "Don't talk about politics and religion in public." The extremists do, and [they] spew messages of hate. Those of us who believe in mutual respect and tolerance have to speak out as well." ~ Bruce Feiler The Case Foundation Q +A with Bruce Feiler

The question is where is the Christian "extremist" speech? A second question would be, does that "extremist" speech incite the same or even similar results as Islamic extremist speech? Where is the evidence for such if so?

5- Islam is under suspicion because Americans have traditionally held "minority" religions to blame for economic trouble that it has experienced historically.

In the interview, pluralist Bruce Feiler blamed American discomfort and economic dis-ease for the current sentiment toward Islam stating the following:

"In times of economic difficulty and transformation, Americans have taken out their anxiety on minority religions. In the 19th Century it was Catholics, in the 20th Centruy, it was Jews. Today you see Muslims on the front line of that anxiety." 

When have Americans taken out their economic frustrations against the Catholics? When did such happen against the Jews? What is Bruce talking about and how does he get away with spreading anti-American garbage and sentiments on one of the nation's leading AM talk shows? This is called blaming the victim for for the problem. This is the equivalent of blaming the wife for being battered or blaming the child for being abused...a totally RIDICULOUS sentiment perpetrated on Americans and America as IF it were true and totally unchallenged from secular media.

Regarding Bruce

We must look at the other character that is underhandedly yielding such a overt accusation against Americans. Bruce Feiler is a Jew that writes extensively on religion and politics. He also maintains the advantages of pluralism. Therefore there was no voice in this segment other that did not endorse or encourage pluralism. On the power of religion Bruce says the following:

"Religion also breeds overconfidence, and one challenge for today's believers is to rediscover in the fire of faith the source of warmth that can overpower the flames of destruction. The only force strong enough to take on religious extremism is religious moderation" ~ The Case Foundation Journey's Of Faith With Bruce Feiler 

His views on reconciling the differences between major faiths of the word today:

"I think many of the conflicts result from the idea that there's an exclusive claim to truth. When the great religions were being formed, particularly during the middle of the first millennium B.C.E., which saw the birth of Judaism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, the great Greek philosophers, etc., there was a sharing of ideas, rituals, and customs. There was a dialogue, of sorts, among them. I think the Bible reflects that. If they can be in dialogue among themselves, why can't the religions that grew out of that time, including Christianity and Islam, be in dialogue, too? One problem is that Christianity first introduced the idea that there is one universal faith. Islam later picked that up. Today, that idea is deader than it's been in a long time, I believe."

Mr. Fieler sets the date of Buddhism and Judaism and Zoroastrianism to middle of first millennium BCE. This is both shocking and not true. Credibility should fall to the ground. However, these ANE religions share customary similarities for sure. Such values as honor and how one respects family can be similar. However, truth claims of none of these religions can neither be harmonized or amalgamated because all are exclusive when it comes to sin and righteousness and even the character, nature and personage of God. None of them borrow the religious truth claims from one another.  It is a flat out untruth that there was a kind of dialogue between ANE religions in their development and formulation.  

6- Because terrorists terrorize both Muslim and non-Muslims and have a potential to terrorize anyone, then there is somehow a distinction between them, their actions and the religion that supports and promotes such actions.

What is not in debate is that terrorism exists. What is questioned is the source of terrorism, but as I asked earlier, where are the American religious extremists that are bombing building and blowing people up, claiming that they are doing such in the name of Christianity and Jesus?

Certainly Christianity has its serious problems. However and violence perpetuated by Christianity is not systemic in nature. It is isolated and and violence is certainly not supported biblically even by the most liberal interpretation of the biblical text.

The Muslim next door is not the problem, however the Muslim next door that practices, adheres to and embraces all aspects of Islam could become the problem if the tenets of Islam are embraced without the restraint of moderation alluded to by Eboo.

Conclusion:

It was sad and pitiful that a panel consisting of individuals who primarily hold the same views was delivered to the American public under the cover of informational reporting and further that panel joined the chorus of terrorists by blaming Americans in general for anti-Islamic sentiment.

Islam as a religious view and faith, is what it professes to be...a militant religion which according to the fulfillment of what it teaches, Shari'a, is not meant to simply co-exist along with other religious views. The "no-compulsion" in religion only works when someone is trying to deconvert a Muslim, not the other way around.

These are the things that Good Morning America could say to give a truly accurate report cutting through the rhetoric. Anything short of that resembles what it currently resembles...Islamic propaganda spoon fed to the American public.

Blessed!