Posted on 10/01/2001 9:57:14 PM PDT by FReethesheeples
The Muslim Voice
9/8/01
Muslims, I am told, believe they have a natural affinity with religiously active Catholics, from a concern for traditional values and the defense of the family to the positive role that religion can play in public life.
G o down the list of pertinent issues on marriage, family values, and the defense of life — 78 percent of Muslims are pro-life — and you begin to wonder with all they have in common with other religious conservatives, including Catholics and evangelicals, why the Muslim viewpoint gets so little attention.
At a recent briefing at the Islamic Institute in Washington D.C., I was told that Muslim activists observed closely how lay Catholics were organized in helping elect President Bush — they, too, want to organize as a political and cultural force. With six million Muslims in the United States and a very high degree of education, wealth, and political participation (i.e., voting), Muslim leaders think the time has come for their perspective to be heard.
Catholics leaders, notably Cardinal Keeler of Baltimore and Cardinal George of Chicago, already have a strong track record of meeting with Muslims and exploring areas of possible collaboration. Evangelical leaders have lagged behind in this respect.
Khaled Saffuri, President of the Islamic Institute, expressed his frustration at constantly being seen through the stereotypes of the Muslim terrorist or the enemy of Christianity. He explained that Muslims are in a very similar situation to that of Catholics in the mid-nineteenth century, who were seen as Catholics first and Americans second. “We are trying to understand what it means to be Muslim Americans.”
Thus far, Muslims evidently think being an American means voting Republican. In the 2000 election Muslims voted Bush/Cheney between 58 percent to 70 percent depending on whose poll you believe. According to the Tampa Bay Islamic Center, Bush got 88 percent of the Florida tally, or 55,000 Muslim votes. In Michigan, out of 168,000 Muslim voters, 84 percent went for Bush.
Grover Norquist, the well-known conservative organizer and activist, describes the Muslim community as “natural conservatives.” The stereotypes of terrorists and anti-Christian are ridiculous, he says, since only one out of six Muslims are of Arab descent, and, of the three million Arab-Americans, two thirds are Christian.
It is also a mistake, according to Norquist, to consider them a drain on the U.S. economy: “Muslims immigrants don’t walk across the border penniless — they fly into airports, largely to attend American universities.”
No doubt their wealth may make it possible for some sort of Muslim Coalition to emerge along the lines of the Christian Coalition.
Muslim fundraising prowess was recently demonstrated by the short length of time it took for two million dollars to be raised for an upcoming PBS film on the life of Mohammed.
The Muslim leaders gathered at the Islamic Institute are ready to move forward but don’t yet know what form their grassroots initiative will take or how closely it will be tied to a political party. But you can bet that both Democrats and Republicans will be paying attention. A Muslim magazine called Islamic Horizons already exists with 100,000 readers, which provides a ready-made base for action.
A famous political organizer told me that once you have 100,000 members of a grassroots organization you are the “force the political parties have to contend with.” I would guess the Muslims I met with this week are on the verge of just such a breakthrough.
(Editor's Note: Catholic Exchange has a current user base of over 100,000 monthly viewers.)
(Deal Hudson is editor and publisher of CRISIS, America's fastest growing Catholic magazine. He is also an advisor to President Bush. (On the Catholic Vote.) You can reach Deal at hudson@crisismagazine.com.)
This is why, with 6 million American Muslims, we should cool our tendency toward knee-jerk prejudice.
There are about 5,000 psychotic killer Radical Muslims world-wide and about 1 billion, plus, who aren't!
It was the AFL-CIO's massive grassroots GetOutTheVote campaing that lost MI for Bush & defeated Sen. Spencer Abraham, to boot!
It was the AFL-CIO's massive grassroots GetOutTheVote campaing that lost MI for Bush & defeated Sen. Spencer Abraham, to boot!
Yes, we should punish only the guilty.
There are about 5,000 psychotic killer Radical Muslims world-wide and about 1 billion, plus, who aren't!
That is perhaps true if you are talking about the currently frothing-at-the-mouth , ready-for-"martyr"-murder, terrorist. But there are far more than 5,000 potential terrorists and/or supporters of terrorism throughout the Muslim world. What about those 10,000 in Karachi burning our President in effigy? There is a huge problem in the Muslim world and Muslims need to be first and foremost in the fight against terror. It is as Bush suggests a choice: you are for civilization or against it.
How dare you slander him.
He's a soldier in the WAR.
you are an armchair critic.
He's a very good fiend of mine, Db.
You have really pissed me off.
you have slandered my patriotism & I'll go right down your throat for that!
I hafve worked several thaousand hours for Bush & was on the front lines at everyu step.
Were you?
(Running a fever, literally.)
Ease up boy. And you don't get respect from us by bumping your own post over, and over, and over.
Going against all American Muslims is a completely counterproductive and disastrous couirse of action.
;)
Deal's a dear friend of mine & would not lie, a-r.
You may be right about the black-vs-arab Muslim vote, being bi-modal, but we might BOTH be surprised!
FReegards,
Lieberman's presence on the Dem. ticket might have been a material element in the overwhelming majority of even black (?)Muslim voters going for Bush.
"need to be first & foremost in the fight against terror" &
that they have an internal problem of considerable complexity,
with violent fundamentalist radicals in both the Shiite & Sunni braches of Islam:
"Are you for civilization or against it?"
A voaltile & senisitive voting bloc.
Even more of a swing bloc than Catholics, which, trditionally, determine who is elected President.
No Prsident in recent years has won teh Presidency without the catholic vote.
Its votlatile:
FDR, Eisenhower(52,56), JFK, Johnson(64), Nixon(68,72), Carter(76), REagan(80,84),Bush(88), Clinton(92,96), each respectively got the Catholic vote majority & won the presidency.
GW Bush may have had up to 1% less of the Catholic vote (or less) tha Al Gore, nationwide,
but he had something like 13% MORE of the Catholic vote than Dole got in 96.
However, FYI, while I don't care about "respect" (the state of enhancing my ego is not a goal here), I DO care, intensely, about "visibility" of this potentially profoundly important issue.
IMHO, this is a very important political issue, which could affect the next two campaign cycles.... and beyond.
However, FYI, while I don't care about "respect" (the state of enhancing my ego is not a goal here), I DO care, intensely, about "visibility" of this potentially profoundly important issue.
IMHO, this is a very important political issue, which could affect the next two campaign cycles.... and beyond.
I'm not disputing the articles conclusions just the way they presented the data !
Please accept my apologies,
but heed my statement re:
Norquist not going for merely a single client,
but being a "unifier".
Have you been to his Wed. morning meetings in D.C.?
Everyone is there!
(On the other hand, with all due respect, the statement about an "important client" did strike me as a bit petty & jealous in tone.
I think Grover Norquist has hundreds of important clients, including the entire conservative-libertarian movement, the entire center-right coalition, the "Leave Us Alone" coalition.)
More Muslims than Episcopalians in America.
And I attend the David Horowitz Wednesday Morning Club lunches in Beverly Hills.
I agree with the article, though, (non-terrorist) Muslims are a natural for the GOP.
But doc asked you for real figures, above.
I'll have to go with the one's in thearticle, in the absence of others.
For further strong relevant data, See the Link, above to the ACU website on the Muslim vote in America, picked up by Truthsayer20, I believe.
It sounded like inside baseball, all right.
David Horowitz is a buddy & a very brave soldier in the war, don't you think?
Cheers!
(Again, sorry, I really was running a fever & it is much too late here.)
Good night! (Bump)
Good night! (Bump)
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