Anti-Catholic bigotry, Islamophobia and the stabbing of Ahmed Sharif by Michael Enright
Posted on Friday, August 27, 2010 at 03:33 PM
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Stephen Colbert is pictured there to the right on his Thursday August 26 show, performing a segment called You Mosque Be Kidding in which he conspires with the Catholic pope. With it, he captures anti-Catholicism in one picture. Part of being an Irish American, is to be responsible to the Civil Rights story where such cartoonish prejudice was overcome for ourselves, and for others after us. We have a place in the Civil Rights story here, because we were part of that which overthrew oppression and opened doors.
Muslims are waiting for their Civil Rights moment in America. The stabbing of New York cab driver Ahmed Sharif by Michael Enright has ended the mosque debate, and reaffirmed the struggle of Muslims is no different from that of Catholics. It was a disgraceful moment, as when Joseph Rakes ended any discussion on bussing in South Boston with an American flag he used to attack Theodore Landsmark, a black attorney on the Civil Rights case. That incident led to mini-race wars across Boston in the 1970s. 
Sharing information about the mosque's funding sources would be a courtesy Muslim Americans might consider extending to an American public, myself included, that do not understand Wahhabi Islam and are concerned that the Sufi proposal will become altered by the financial controls of later investors. Considering the location is a landmark site in the 9/11 narrative, such courtesies would be expected from an institution dedicating itself to dialogue, but would not be required.
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IrishAndProud | Sep 10, 2010, 10:39 PM EDT
The Ground Zero Mosque is a spoil of war, not a 'reconciliation' attempt. Also, the guy who stabbed the Muslim cab driver belonged to a group that SUPPORTS the Ground Zero mosque.
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jacersisityourself | Sep 10, 2010, 03:33 PM EDT
Re Brendan’s comment of Aug 28th – Catholics do not want to rule the world. They do want everyone to follow Christ’s teachings and share the unencumbered joy of them. But you know how it is... some people, having heard about them, fall by the wayside and wither away by not doing so.
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jacersisityourself | Sep 10, 2010, 03:22 PM EDT
hectorfromTG4 is not Hector from TG4, otherwise he would have posted as Gaeilge. Never mind, hectorfromTG4 can rest assured that even if he doesn’t believe in invisible entities, the invisible entities believe in him – the both of them. Nach ceart sin, a h-hector? The real Hector’s travels documented, exceptionally well and hugely enjoyably on Irish TV station TG4, that millions of people around the world, many of whom the real Hector met, believe in invisible entities in all manner of ways and that the real Hector was impressed by that fact. BTW hectorfromTG4, you might be interested to know you are what is known as one of the “the new hobby atheists - as brash, noisy and confident as a cheap electric kettle. They want everyone to know that they have not found God, and that no one else should”, as one eminent man said recently.
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Monsoonman | Sep 10, 2010, 10:17 AM EDT
To this "religion of peace" it just comes down to a marketing decision with this ground zero mosque. Are they going to get more recruits by building it, or are they going to get more by not building it....it is a win/win for them either way.
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hectorfromTG4 | Sep 09, 2010, 07:42 PM EDT
I'm so glad i'm an atheist and do not believe in invisible entities.
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Monsoonman | Aug 30, 2010, 10:15 AM EDT
I agree Dennis, governments should not be involved with evaluating religions. But the people have every right to do that and the right to peacefully express their feelings about it. Just like when walmart wanted to put up one of their super centers in a small community near here, the townspeople rose up in protest and made their feelings known at how unpopular it was with them and the negative effect it would have on the small town feel of their little berg. Walmart withdrew their application knowing they didn't need the animosity and bad publicity that would follow if they built, even if it was legal. It wasn't a constitutional issue, it was a common sense issue.
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DennisQ | Aug 29, 2010, 04:07 PM EDT
Governments should not be in the business of evaluating religions, especially to grant or withhold building permits based on the findings of a review committee. If you accept Catholicism and reject Islam, you should not face civil penalties because of that decision. It's un-American.
Islam is growing by leaps and bounds in America. Muslims are buying up real estate and putting up new buildings simply to accommodate the greater numbers of their believers. American Christians would do well to survey new Muslims about their decisions to convert. Instead, Christian religious leaders seem to be encouraging government agencies to take sides. Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York allowed rabble-rousers to cancel the sale of a convent to a Muslim group. How un-American is that?
Islam is growing by leaps and bounds in America. Muslims are buying up real estate and putting up new buildings simply to accommodate the greater numbers of their believers. American Christians would do well to survey new Muslims about their decisions to convert. Instead, Christian religious leaders seem to be encouraging government agencies to take sides. Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York allowed rabble-rousers to cancel the sale of a convent to a Muslim group. How un-American is that?
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Liamkeyes | Aug 29, 2010, 09:46 AM EDT
They tell me that Islam is a very beautiful religion well so is Catholicism if only enough people would try it.
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WoundedKnee | Aug 29, 2010, 08:09 AM EDT
DennisQ: You sound real enthusiastic about Islam. It's funny how people who reject Catholicism as being too rigid then often go to a much further extreme of religious rigidity, be it Protestant Bible-thumping or Islam. When are you making the trip to Mecca, by the way?
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DennisQ | Aug 29, 2010, 03:56 AM EDT
We're not going to start up the Crusades again. Islam is growing among America's poor because it offers them dignity and a sense of belonging. Christianity does not do that for the poor; in fact our Christian country has gotten very indifferent to the poor.
Islam also offers the joy of living and a commitment to self-discipline. As you might expect, a faith like that will find adherents in spite of resistance from the society as a whole. If you look at Islam from the perspective of ordinary people, what it offers is genuine and real.
Ordinary people in Muslim countries are much more devout than Americans realize. We're not going to convert people who know only too well how American-style Christianity impacts their lives. The Iraqis did not welcome us as liberators; and neither are the Afghans. If we expect any success in "freeing" the Iranians from their false beliefs, we are likely to be unpleasantly surprised.
Islam also offers the joy of living and a commitment to self-discipline. As you might expect, a faith like that will find adherents in spite of resistance from the society as a whole. If you look at Islam from the perspective of ordinary people, what it offers is genuine and real.
Ordinary people in Muslim countries are much more devout than Americans realize. We're not going to convert people who know only too well how American-style Christianity impacts their lives. The Iraqis did not welcome us as liberators; and neither are the Afghans. If we expect any success in "freeing" the Iranians from their false beliefs, we are likely to be unpleasantly surprised.
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BrendanPKeane | Aug 28, 2010, 06:23 PM EDT
jacersisityourself: everyone wants to rule the world, Catholics too, don't be paranoid
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jacersisityourself | Aug 28, 2010, 05:39 PM EDT
Sorry, sorry, sorry – but I have to tough it out on this one. Let me declare on foot of my personal experiences in Saudi Arabia, that Islam is a false religion founded in that country by a false prophet and forced on its believers through fear of the sword on uneducated, unenlightened peoples. True Christianity – Loving of God first and Loving of one’s neighbours - was founded by the Son of God and in being so it cannot be defeated, ever. What Michael Enright did was needless and reprehensible – an act committed by one human being against another. We don’t know the circumstances for this act and we should not assume too much too early. What is clear is - that Islam DOES want to rule the world: proof of it was captured by none other than atheist Richard Dawkins in his TV documentary “The God Delusion”, wherein Dawkins pointedly asked of an imam – “Is it Islam’s purpose to rule the world...?” to which the imam replied sharply in an intimidating voice to the atheist: “It is... and it will!” Therein is the self-deluding lie of Islam. Instead of Christians and others being labelled Islamophobes, all, including the body of our planet’s United Nations, ought to be telling followers of Islam that all of Islam a total lie and all its followers should convert to true love with no fear, only found in true Christianity.
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DennisQ | Aug 28, 2010, 04:12 AM EDT
We're headed for trouble in this country. We legitimized thuggery on the supposition that it would never come back and bite us. We paid no attention to the destruction visited upon Iraq and Afghanistan; after all, it was retribution for what those people did to us. That was a nonsense argument when it was first introduced, and it's still a nonsense argument.
Now that madmen like Michael Enright are starting to surface, Americans are hopeful that there will be only one or two of these. It's a vain hope, because the thugs have come to believe that they are righteously defending the America that the founders intended. Eventually one of their drunken rallies will get completely out of control and like the so-called "Woodstock Generation" before them, a whole generation will be named for the events of that day.
We should not be making heroes of murderers like Ilario Pantano. He belongs in prison; instead, he's the guest speaker of the protest rally against the Islamic community center. His is the face that the world sees when Americans claim the attacks on Muslim countries were in self-defense.
Now that madmen like Michael Enright are starting to surface, Americans are hopeful that there will be only one or two of these. It's a vain hope, because the thugs have come to believe that they are righteously defending the America that the founders intended. Eventually one of their drunken rallies will get completely out of control and like the so-called "Woodstock Generation" before them, a whole generation will be named for the events of that day.
We should not be making heroes of murderers like Ilario Pantano. He belongs in prison; instead, he's the guest speaker of the protest rally against the Islamic community center. His is the face that the world sees when Americans claim the attacks on Muslim countries were in self-defense.
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lawyer4 | Aug 27, 2010, 07:30 PM EDT
No (major) problem with opinions expressed, but big worries about Mr. Keane's level of literacy.
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