What were the Democrats thinking??? I'm going to try to get inside their heads:
I believe that they were trying to present to the world that Americans generally the Muslim faith, and that we are not afraid to engage in dialogue or to call Muslim people our friends. In a spirit of Ecumenical friendship, they were going to reach out and get an imam to pray an opening invocation for their winter meeting. What they got was a LOT more than they ever bargained for!
For years and years, the secular world view in the United States has been that all religions are equal, and (hopefully) benign. That they are to be respected and that they bring intrinsic goodness to society, such as truth, courage, honor, freedom, equality, love, peace, and prosperity. Some of these religions even create net worth to their community far beyond what ever tax breaks they might receive. The last three words, love, peace, and prosperity (the pursuit of happiness) are actually embedded in some fashion in our Constitution, and Americans have a right to pursue these values. Our founding fathers were mostly deists, and granted us exceptional freedom to pursue God in our own way, or to believe in absolutely nothing.
How far have the Democrats fallen from the freedoms given to us by our founding fathers. Democrats are normally freedom loving and encourage greater "freedoms" and rights. By embracing the values of Husham Al-Husainy, whom they received with open arms and whom they publicly defend, they have dealt a blow to themselves which will take much time to heal.
It will take a LONG time to forget the rants of denial bellowed by Imam Husham Al-Husainy
Here are some things Al-Husainy should have been asked before being allowed to pray for a national party:
These are from Debbie Schlussel's site
1) How many of your congregants are from the Hezbollah stronghold of Bint Jbeil?
2) Who paid for your mosque and please provide us documentation for the financing? Was any of it from the Government of Iran?
3) Why did you hold up posters of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini at a protest march in memory of Yasser Arafat? Will you condemn Khomeini?
4) Did you support Yasser Arafat, for whom you led a protest march? Will you condemn Arafat?
5) Will you condemn Arafat's murder of American diplomats Cleo Noel and George Curtis Moore in Sudan?
6) Will you condemn the Iranian kidnapping and holding of Americans as hostages for 444 days by Khomeini and his puppets?
7) Where is the Zakat ["Charity"] money given by your mosque congregants going? Can you provide full documentation for where it is going and that it is not going to terrorists?
Read the rest of the questions here.Another Article on this topic
UPDATE
More info on Al Husainy
Here is the Democratic party contact information. I have a few things to ask them and so should you.
It's possible they were that naive. It's also possible they hoped to reach out in a way that might just get militant Islamists to listen.
ReplyDeleteIf the former, major ouch. If the latter, I wonder how a) how successful they will be and b) how they will describe success (always a trip to Wonderland with pols).
It's quite frustrating to be so far removed from the intent. All we can see is what is observable (hopefully fleshed out by those who root out information not initially available) and that keeps me skeptical.