Eugene Robinson: The American Inquisition of 2011

[babylonsister]

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_american_inquisition_of_2011_20110307/

The American Inquisition of 2011
Posted on Mar 7, 2011
By Eugene Robinson


Rep. Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, is about to convene hearings whose premise offends our nation’s founding ideals and whose targets are law-abiding members of a religious minority. King has decided to investigate Islam.

A Republican from Long Island in his 10th term, King seems untroubled that the freedoms of religion and association are guaranteed by the Constitution. His public exercise in Islamophobia, scheduled to begin Thursday, can do no good—and much harm.

snip//

Bad enough is the ridiculous controversy over the proposed Muslim community center in Lower Manhattan that became known as the “Ground Zero Mosque.” This episode taught Muslim Americans that even a mainstream cleric, specifically bent on building an institution for interfaith outreach and understanding, is not welcome to enjoy the nation’s guarantee of religious freedom.

Worse is all the ugly noise—it doesn’t qualify as debate—about the imagined encroachment of Islamic Shariah law. As a threat to the American way of life, the chance that our justice system would be taken over by “creeping” Shariah is less likely than the emergence of Godzilla from New York Harbor. Yet state legislatures are taking up actual legislation to guard against this imaginary Islamic threat.

The narrative that al-Qaeda uses to recruit suicide bombers is that the United States and the West are not fighting terrorism but trying to destroy Islam. Peter King, with his little hearings, is about to make it harder to refute the jihadists’ big lie.

[obamafourmore]

1. Stupid asshole.

[JoePhilly]

2. King will call for internment camps next.

[VoteProgressive]

3. Horrible!