I'm sure you've heard about it by now, as it's been pretty much the top media story of the day. A recent study by the Pew Research Center shows that the perception that President Obama is an adherent of Islam hasn't changed much over the past year. The poll indicates that a whopping 12% of Americans are under the impression that the U.S. currently has a Muslim president. Here are the numbers if you want to check it out: http://pewresearch.org/databank/dailynumber/?NumberID=509
Aside from the dearth of evidence to the contrary, it baffles me to think that so many people believe that there would even be a POSSIBILITY of a Muslim president right now. Just 50 years ago, it was a HUGE deal that we elected a Catholic president. Obama is our VERY FIRST black president. We still have never elected a female president. And unfortunately, Muslims are even further down on the social totem pole than Catholics, blacks, and women.
This does raise an interesting question though. When, if ever, would we elect a Muslim president? It doesn't seem like it would happen any time remotely soon, and if it were to ever happen, there would need to be some MAJOR changes in popular perception.
During my lunch breaks, I often watch videos on TED.com (Which, by the way, if you've never check it out, PLEASE do.) They add a new video every weekday, and today's video just so happened to be a talk by an Iranian-American who is a founding member of the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour . These are guys who are all of Middle-Eastern descent, and they are making a noble effort to use their comedic skills to both entertain and change perceptions of Middle Easterners. If you want to view this highly entertaining and inspiring video, here it is.
The thing is, fundamentalist, extremist Muslims make up a minute percentage of the total Muslim population. To the extent that we allow the few to dominate our perception of the many, we make the same mistake that has plagued humanity for millenia and has lead to so many atrocities in our world. And of course I wouldn't want a fundamentalist Muslim in the White House, but neither would I want a fundamentalist Christian. So I'm not saying that religious beliefs are irrelevant to what makes a good presidential candidate, but they are not as important as a sense of human decency, justice, and a desire for the common good, which are things that can be held by Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, and atheists alike.
6 comments:
ALL MUSLIMS WANT TO KILL YOU BECAUSE YOU ARE INFIDEL! Just kidding, but man...the ones that do...that's scary.
I'd really love to hear more of their side of the story though. I hear all these things about how the Qur'an tells them they have to lie and kill in the name of Islam, but I've never read it myself. It does make me think of things like an eye for an eye though...
It is a brain like yours, Ken, that make living here tolerable. :)
*makes*
Ryan, that's awesome. I think that's all it takes, is people actually wanting to listen. : )
So, most Muslims, even the ones who are devout, have ways of rationalizing passages that seem to encourage violence. Kinda like Christians do with stuff like, "If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off."
And the even the Muslims who believe in jihad are not necessarily interested in slaying every infidel they run into. It's more politically motivated; they're willing to kill to advance their way of life and to deter the influence of Western civilization. If they were to kill you, it would be more of a "collateral damage" thing than anything. Yeah, I know, not very encouraging, but there's a slight distinction there nonetheless.
And thanks Bronlyn. You are too kind! : )
Good post Ken! It still blows me away that people are so quick to jump on the Muslim hate train. They so readily forget (especially Christians, it seems) that human beings, regardless of religion, have been killing each other in the name of their god/gods for thousands of years. Hello? The Crusades? The Spanish Inquisition? History is full of examples of how the most most "religious" groups are sometimes the most dangerous. And they haven't always been Muslim terrorists.
And Ken's right on about the extremist minority. Do we let the Westboro Baptist Church speak for all of us as Christians? Heck no! Don't blame the majority for the insane acts of the minority.
Another thing to consider is the reversal in attacks upon our President. During his campaign, he was decried for having attended Rev. Wright's church for some years; his particular Christian affiliation was used against him. And yet he is believed Muslim now.
I think that there is more being addressed in this than simply the execrable religious discrimination that yet goes on in the United States.
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