Conservative Bigotry Against Muslims... ...Again.

If there's one thing Dr Douglas at American Power wants you to know, it's that some conservatives are proud to be bigoted against Muslim prayer facilities.

On top of that, it's not like conservatives HAVEN'T objected to the actual construction of Muslim facilities at military installations. Imam Saifulislam, who as far as I can tell is the only Muslim cleric being cited by Salon and Think Progress, was at the center of controversy in 2006 when an "Islamic Prayer Center" was being established at the United States Marine Corps training center at Quantico, Virgina. See, "Taxpayers fund Islamic center: Prayer building on Marine base not really mosque, officials say." And note the key information at the passage:

An announcement that the U.S. Marine base at Quantico, Va., has refurbished a building to be used as a prayer room for Muslim soldiers and civilians on base is a "bad signal," one critic has concluded.

The Marines announced earlier this summer that one of the buildings on the base had been repainted so that Muslims would have a place to pray and hold religious services

The new "Islamic Prayer Center" is the first of its kind on a Marine base, and "serves to express the Marine Corps' recognition of diversity among service members and the commitment to provide continued support to all Marines regardless of race, religion, ethnicity or gender," the base announcement said.

However, Jihad Watch director Robert Spencer said he wonders why the Marines do not seem concerned such facilities might to used to generate anti-American sympathies.

"It's going to go up as part of a testament to American multiculturalism and so on without any indication of the possibility that this could be a source of what we're fighting against," he said. "It just sends a bad signal."

At the dedication ceremony, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England praised the estimated 4,000 Muslims in the U.S. military. Joining him were leaders of the Council on American Islamic Relations.

CAIR describes itself as America's largest Muslim civil liberties group and boasts 32 offices, chapters and affiliates nationwide and in Canada. Its mission, it says, is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

However, CAIR is a spin-off of the Islamic Association for Palestine, identified by two former FBI counterterrorism chiefs as a "front group" for the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. Several CAIR leaders have been convicted on terror-related charges.

"It is sadly ironic and lost on most that the plan to dedicate the prayer center and build a new mosque was approved by military leaders occupying a building that was attacked on 9/11 – the Pentagon – where more than 100 of its occupants were killed on that day," was the conclusion of those at Homelandsecurityus.com, a private security organization.

Justin Elliot and Think Progress might want to revise their posts. Robert Spencer (along with Pamela Geller) is among the leading opponents of the New York Mega Mosque. Thus, not only is there not a "mosque" at the Pentagon, but an earlier initiative to establish a fully designated "Islamic Prayer Center" met with the same kind of opposition that we're now seeing with the Cordoba Center. I'd add as well that the same folks who protest the erection of Islamic victory mosques have stressed repeatedly their respect for freedom of religion. Imam Saifulislam's Pentagon prayer services allow Muslim service-members to worship their faith as fully protected members of America's pluralist religious order. The U.S. did not prohibit Islam after 9/11. And our armies in the field are working with Muslim populations in Afghanistan, Iraq and around the world to defeat militant jihadis who kill indiscriminately, regardless of faith.

Mega Mosque opponents are asking Muslim religious leaders to exercise their rights responsibly. No one is attempting to take away those rights.

The essays at Salon, Daily Kos, and Think Progress are simply additional examples of the anti-intellectual smear tactics disguised as "debate" that are found routinely on the left. Just watch. More people will die from this kind of conservative-bashing. Talk about political opportunism. It's pretty sick.

"the same folks who protest the erection of Islamic victory mosques have stressed repeatedly their respect for freedom of religion."

We respect all religions... We just don't want the muzzies to have a place to pray...

I see... Allowing moderate Muslim Americans, including those who've joined the military and sworn to defend this country, to build mosques and prayer centers would be allowing them to exercise their rights irresponsibly, I guess...

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer, as well as the idiots like Donald Douglas who follow and defend them, are bigots, plain and simple. To them, Muslims--including American Muslims--are not as worthy as the rest of us, and don't deserve the same rights and freedoms. The lip service about respect for all faiths is lovely, but it ain't worth spit when you watch the things these creatures say and do when faced with real life situations, like building places where Muslims can gather and pray. Any American who objects to tossing a coat of paint on a building so that the Muslim Americans serving as marines have a space on the base large enough for them to gather and pray, simply because they're Muslim, has something really wrong with them. If objecting to their having a place to pray isn't taking away their rights, it's only because the pleas fell on deaf ears and they got their prayer center. Personally, I'm glad these fools didn't object to Ramadan prayers in the Pentagon, whether held in a dedicated mosque or an unused conference room. One can only presume that they didn't know... I can't speak for all of 'em (mostly because I feel slimy enough after having to wade through just these two), but Geller and Spencer knew, and Geller and spencer objected (of course... I guess Douglas can add this to his list o' Judeo-Christian Neocon American pride): Pentagon Submits to Islam - Atlas Shrugs, and West: Ramadan at the Pentagon - Jihad Watch.

There is something sick alright, but it's the bigotry against Muslims about which some folks on the right are so proud to express to their readership...

(Crossposted at American Nihilist)

Related:
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RealClearPolitics - The Mosque Controversy & Religious Freedom