Obama is not a Muslim, but here's a radical thought -

[billyskank]

There shouldn't be anything wrong with that, even if he was.


Naomi Klein in today's Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/mar/01/religion.islam

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Amin!

However, as I vividly know, there is. My boss tells me that every Muslim is a terrorist and that they should all be deported "back to where they came from." He doesn't know my faith, and I have no intention of telling him, or I'd be out of a job (small businesses like his can and, sadly, often do discriminate with impunity). Boss listens to Glenn Beck and to his preacher, both of whom are spreading lies not only about Obama but Islam as well. The few Muslim doctors in town are very jittery and keeping a very low profile. I don't think their employment is at risk, but since there are two active Klan cells and a Christian Dominionist group in the area, the chance of a hate crime starting is very real. Just over the line in Missouri, a mosque was firebombed just last month and Nazi symbols spray painted on it. There is no mosque in the area here, and I think the reason for it is fear of firebombing.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. That's exactly right.

My Congressman, Keith Ellison, is a Muslim, and around here we're just fine with that. He won his election handily.

I'm not a big fan of religion in general - anybody's religion. But it seems to me that by being defensive about the whole issue ("He's NOT a Muslim! Really!"), people are accepting as true the suggestion that Muslims are all bad.

[Sal Minella]

3. Difficult setup, here.

If somebody yells at me "You're ugly" and I yell back "I'm NOT ugly" --
I am fighting my accuser, totally unrelated to the fact/non-fact of whether I am ugly or not. I'm not making a statement about ugliness, I'm fighting an accusation the accuser had no business making in the first place.

This is related to the Have you stopped beating your wife problem, I think. Another technique for forcing people to try to defend themselves against irrational attack.

[Prefer]

4. When did you stop being an idealist hippie?

[Hugabear]

5. I'm much more worried about Dominionist evangelical Christians

They have much more capacity to cause this country great harm than any Muslim who would ever run for office.

[conservdem]

6. A Muslim would not stand a chance running for pres. today.

That's the reality.