Too Many Muslims in the United States
Think Progress » Congressman: ‘I Fear…We Will Have Many More Muslims In The United States’
The article above is an attack on an American public servant. He voices his opinions of the current state of immigration in the United States and got attacked for his beliefs. I do not know anything about this man personally, but I can tell you this. It appears that anyone who feels strongly about something and is man enough to say it gets labeled a bigot these days. It is sickening. Why should a representative hang a Koran on his wall if he has no faith in it or in the god it represents. That is his choice. Where is the ACLU here? Something tells me they would fight harder to make him retract his statement than to side with him and confirm his God-given rights as an American citizen to worship in any way he sees fit.
Politics aggravate me. I am amazed at the hypocrisy that comes from all sides of the political spectrum. Just think for a moment about the “sleeping” terror cells in the United States. Think for a moment about how long the designers of the 9/11 attacks waited for the perfect moment to attack. What if there was a plan for Muslims to slowly take over this country. I do not know. I do not subscribe to conspiracy theories. I love my Muslim countrymen just as much as all my other American brothers and sisters. I just think that in times like these we have to be very careful. You never know who your enemy is or from which angle he will attack. America’s policy of openness is it’s greatest feature and maybe even it’s greatest weakness.
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Not seeking a flamewar here, but instead meaningful dialogue.
>It appears that anyone who feels strongly
>about something and is man enough to say
>it gets labeled a bigot these days.
I don’t think that’s the point at all. I think it’s that his sentiments illustrate his bias against 1.2 billion people (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam) based on their religion. By whitewashing every Muslim, he engages in the classical definition of bigotry.
His statements are pregnant with the sentiment “If you’re not a white Christian, you have no business being in American politics, and we should all be scared of anyone who isn’t a white Christian politician).
Or at least, that’s the perception, and that’s what’s causing him to be labeled a bigot.
“I think it’s that his sentiments illustrate his bias against 1.2 billion people (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam) based on their religion.”
I think this is where you are wrong and we have some confusion to clear up. I do not see his statement as bigotry against a group of select citizens. I see his statement as concern that a people of a religion other than the one this country was founded on are grasping such large holds on it’s political system. As a Christian, I understand the principals this nation was founded on and has moved away from. Seeing such a large influx of people with other religions into our county and into the political system is scary because this will in fact change the country in ways that I do not agree with. Such as making it illegal for senators to hang religious (Christian) material on their walls due to it making someone of another faith uncomfortable. I don’t care if they are uncomfortable. This country was founded on Christian beliefs and morals and if they don’t like that then why did they come. If they came just to gain “freedom”, then they also have to take everything else that America offers them like its heritage.
America was not “founded on” a religion, and while several of its founders were certainly influenced by Christian beliefs, many others were not (and were not, in fact, Christian to begin with). Just go look up quotes by James Madison. (”What influence, in fact, have ecclesiastical establishments had on society? In some instances they have been seen to erect a spiritual tyranny on the ruins of the civil authority; on many instances they have been seen upholding the thrones of political tyranny; in no instance have they been the guardians of the liberties of the people. Rulers who wish to subvert the public liberty may have found an established clergy convenient auxiliaries. A just government, instituted to secure and perpetuate it, needs them not.”)
Or John Adams. Or Ben Franklin. Or Thomas Jefferson. They wrote about their fear of government by religion freely and often.
I too am a Christian, but your statements here are not accurate, and I’m of the opinion, as Madison said, that “I have no doubt that every new example will succeed, as every past one has done, in shewing that religion and Government will both exist in greater purity the less they are mixed together.”
As for what Goode said, let’s rephrase it, except substituting another group.
“If American citizens don’t wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration there will likely be many more Jews elected to office … I fear that in the next century we will have many more Jews in the United States if we do not adopt the strict immigration policies that I believe are necessary to preserve the values and beliefs traditional to the United States of America.”
Now I’m not claiming he doesn’t have a 1st Amendment right to say what he wants, but are those the words of a person you’d elect?
“Or John Adams. Or Ben Franklin. Or Thomas Jefferson. They wrote about their fear of government by religion freely and often.”
No. Actually, if you read more carefully, you’ll see that they wrote of their fear of government getting involved in religion. That is where a lot of people get confused. Not wanting government intervention in religious activity is different that saying that the two should never be intertwined. Religion, if it is true worship and not just religious habitual activity, is from the heart. Government is not such a heart thing. When the government starts regulating how you can worship then there is a serious problem for you if your worship is from the heart. I don’t care about politics half as much as what I believe. I say that to say this, government has no authority to intervene in my religion. However, my religion will dictate what I think the government should be.
My religion, and I hate to refer to it as such, teaches me that the government should have capital punishment and laws. My religion tells me that I have to obey my civil authorities. My religion tells me that I should raise my kids with respect. That is all good stuff that should be incorporated into public life.
As far as immigration goes, I have said before that I think the practice of immigration is one of America’s greatest offerings. I also think it is one of America’s greatest weaknesses. Any time you open yourself up to the world, you allow the world to come in and do what it will. I am not saying that millions of Muslims or any other ethnic or religious group flooding into America is going to kill the America I love. But I do think that there is a chance, however insignificant that it could happen. And I think we need to realize that.