Citizenship, Islam and America

Citizenship, Islam and America
Published: Indian Muslim Observer, Two Circle and Huffpost

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ghouse/citizenship-islam-and-ame_b_1174834.html
Law is one thing and practice is the other. As an American and as a Muslim, I have to be critical of both groupings and work toward creating cohesive societies where no citizen has to live in apprehension, discomfort or fear of the other. Here is a summary of 2011 and what we can aspire for 2012.


Muslim Chapter


First of all, let's look at the bigotry prevalent in Muslim majority nations and then we will come to America. Prophet Muhammad delivered this message in his last sermon: "All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over black nor does a black have any superiority over white except by piety and good action." He inculcated those values in Muslim rituals, like the prayers where there is no distinction between the king and the pauper, scholar or an illiterate and all of them stand in the same line in the Mosque with no reserved or privileged space for any.




However, those values have not penetrated into the psyche of "all" Muslims in Muslim majority nations. The majority remains silent while their minorities are harassed. The violations are not a daily occurrence, but even a few should not be acceptable, it is a reflection on the entire society. Every other month in Pakistan we hear abduction of Hindu women, forced conversions; every other year blasphemy charges are leveled against Christians and every week the basic human rights are denied to fellow Muslims (Shia and Ahmadiyya) by the evangelical version of Muslims in Pakistan.




Saudi Arabia does not allow any public congregations of people of other faiths who work there, thank God that is the only nation compared to 55 other Muslim majority nations. Iran routinely harasses the Baha'is, Zoroastrians and occasionally Jews, and now we have a case of Christian pastor charged with apostasy which goes against the very grain of Islam: "There shall not be any compulsion in matters of faith" (Quran 2:256). Malaysia and Indonesia have a few scars on their nations and the radicals in Egypt are messing with centuries old pluralistic tradition by attacking the Coptic Christians, shamelessly the Catholic Church in Nigeria was attacked around Christmas. While this is happening there a lot of good things happening as well in other Muslim majority nations that should not be discounted.


The good news is that an overwhelming majority of Muslims don't like what's happening when someone sticks Islam to the bad acts of a few criminals. An endless number of Muslims and Muslim organizations are condemning these acts unequivocally; the ones who don't see these condemnations are the ones accusing Muslims for doing nothing and those few boisterous ones are in every group including Jews, Christians, Hindus and others.


American Chapter


And now, let's turn to the bigotry prevalent in democracies including our own Good ole US of A. Just like Prophet Muhammad spoke in his last sermon to create cohesive societies, our founding fathers laid the ground work for a society where no American has to live in apprehension, discomfort or fear of the other: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
However, those values have not penetrated into the psyche of "all" Americans or others in Christian majority nations. The majority remains silent while their minorities are harassed. The violations are not a daily occurrence, but even a few should not be acceptable, it is a reflection on the entire society.


We have come a long ways in believing women and African men are equal as well, we have ways to go before we can fully value our constitution.


Switzerland bans Minarets, a symbol of Muslim place of worship; France forces women not to wear the burqa while the other Brutes Taliban force women to wear burqas. We should speak up against these extremists. The few in Germany, Netherlands and other nations continue to harass their minorities, Muslims or otherwise.


At home here in the United States, we hear anti-Semitic comments fairly regularly; the swastika is on some one's home or the other. Every week we hear bigotry spewing out of a few elected ones in Congress and Senate and even our presidential candidates want us to be like Saudi Arabia to have moral police to beat up on the gays and lesbians. 


Every week the self proclaimed hypocritical guardians of liberty and less government want to regulate what a woman can and cannot do with her body, and a few want to regulate who can marry who. A few shameless Pastors go on the rampage of calling Jews, Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists and others "cults." These men and women are divisive and hurting American's one nationess.


Every day the stories of racism and Islamophobia are in the news. The few damned politicians and the pastors have the uncanny ability to dupe a few gullible ones among us to join them in their hatred of others, purely for political and financial gains. Remember, they are the ones to gain and not you the general public. Muslims cannot build a mosque, they cannot practice their faith and the radicals have forced and threatened the advertisers to pull out advertisements from a reality TV show that depicted average day to day Muslims, they'd rather it show the terrorism than good things about Americans.


The good news is that an overwhelming majority of Americans don't like what's happening when a "few" pastors and the politicians spew hate. An endless number of Americans and civic organizations are condemning these acts unequivocally; the ones who don't see the condemnations are right wingers among Muslims.


Is this the America we want?


Martin Luther King Jr. expressed that in his speech, "I have a dream that our little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."


Chief Seattle, a Native American said this perfectly, "All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the webs, he does it to himself."


1. What are you and I doing to preserve that web?
2. What are our initiatives?
3. What are the divisive issues?
4. How would we allay the prevalent phobias and fears?
5. What is your vision for America?


John F Kennedy, "Ask not what your country can do for you -- ask what you can do for your country." We hope to capture your responses in a moving story about America.


What Can You Do?


Whether you are with your family, friends or alone, you can make your new year meaningful and reflective. For many years, I have set aside two hours on New Year's Eve and focused on different aspects of my life and found a lot of peace and tranquility in knowing who I am and what I want out of life. In those two hours, I allow nothing else to crawl on to my mind.
The aspects of life I would deliberate would be my role and the role of family, friends, budget, income, travel, gratitude, freedom, society and America in and around my life. Make your own list and at the end of the two hours, you will find relief, comfort and a sense of purpose in life.


What kind of America do you want?


Are you willing to do your share of in preserving the freedom and liberties of the individuals at home and abroad? The least you can do is to speak up when the politicians and the rogues amongst us are bent on pitting one American against the other through their statements and comments. Do those statements bring Americans together or divide and weaken our nation?
The least you can do it write a comment on a blog or news paper, or tell friends that there is another point of view to consider? Would you make a genuine effort to see another point of view?


On my part I am committed to building a cohesive America, and have laid out the outline at America Together Foundation. Together we can do our share of work in creating a better America and a better world, so that you and I to can live without apprehension discomfort and fear of the other.


Happy New Year! Let is bring hope and inspire us to do our share of good in keeping America beautiful.


Follow Mike Ghouse on Twitter: www.twitter.com/MikeGhouse

My Sermon at Pathway Unitarian Universalist Church, South Lake

It’s a blessing to understand the beauty and wisdom of many a religious traditions and most certainly, I find a common ground at the Unitarian Universalist Church, a universal place of worship where all traditions are welcome. If you unchain yourselves from any pervious conditioning about a faith or a tradition, your boundlessness will offer the joys of seeing the beauty in every tradition. I thank God for blessing me with no boundaries.

Pluralism Greetings & Pluralism Prayers
http://theghousediary.blogspot.com/2011/12/pluralism-greetings-and-prayer-at.html

 My sermon was about three key points.

Finding the truth is your own responsibility, as truth relives one from anguish, ill-will and pain. No matter who tells you what about others, you are the one to live through the anguish and not them. It behooves for you and I to find the truth for our own peace of mind.

Personal responsibility in creating a cohesive society, I cannot be safe when what surrounds me is not, I cannot be at peace when there is no peace around me, if I threaten others, I am the most frightened one in my vulnerable moments.

Patience is a virtue. Nothing happens instantaneously, the seed has a plan, a program and process till it yields a flower, and it took me sixty years to be at this point in life. Living a regret free life is the key to successful living.

 I share the personal story of tying the loose ends of life and finding liberation. It is living a successful life free from anxieties, apprehension and in union with the self and the loved ones.

 Mike Ghouse
Committed to build a cohesive America
www.MikeGhouse.net

Sean Hannity, David Horowitz & Mike Ghouse on Playland

The talk was about the row at Playland, where Muslims celebrated Ramadan festival and it ended up being a sour event. David Horowitz needs to stop making things up and the police needs sensitivity training. Minorities are sensitive to being singled out - Jews are ready to invoke Anti-Semitism, African Americans are eager to call it Racism and Muslims have a stock answer because we are Muslims. No one needs to be singled out. Full Story at: http://theghousediary.blogspot.com/2011/09/sean-hannity-david-horowitz-mike-ghouse.html
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Sean Hannity, David Horowitz & Mike Ghouse
Scuffle at Playland Park 2:00 -2:20 PM EST 09/01/11
http://www.hannity.com/guest/ghouse-mike/10804

The police needs sensitivity training as well – all minorities are sensitive to being singled out and opt for the group blame – Jews are ready to invoke Anti-Semitism, African Americans are eager to call it Racism and Muslims have a stock answer because we are Muslims. Not all Jews, African Americans or Muslims do that, but a few who do get highlighted on the media.

Individuals should be treated as individuals and no affiliation needs to be given and even if they proclaim it - because I am Black, Muslim, Hindu, Jew or whatever.

The Muslim girl was wrong on three counts; 1) arguing with the police, 2) arrogance over safety issue and 3) claiming because she was Muslim.

We are all in this together and historically and psychologically, the ones under the gun (under the gun) find easy answers in assuming it is their heritage that is being attacked. The larger society needs to be sensitive to build a cohesive society. No one needs to be apprehensive of the other.

David Horowitz has a habit of cooking up,  among other things he said “Muslims are indoctrinated to play victim” and “Muslims are geared up for war”  I have jumped on him three times on the program to prove it and admonished him not to make up things.

I challenged him, “No Muslim is indoctrinated to play victim, you are making this up, there is no proof and no evidence and no basis for your statement” and “David, where did you find the Muslims are geared up for war?” -  David did not admit he was wrong, but did not argue either and was shooting his mouth on other issues; a typical right winger attitude.

The girl had said, “It is clear this happened because we’re Muslims” It is a bait, why play it up as a Muslim issue? It was a security issue.

David Horowitz attacked CAIR – I argued it was civil rights organization just like ADL and other groups to defend the rights. He said they are a hate group, I retorted, what hateful thing have they done? What have they done to you?

Sean Hannity cannot leave me alone without talking about my support for Ground Zero Mosque and Imam Feisal, whom I defend.

I believe it was a good program, where I was able to be objective to acknowledge the mistakes of those few individuals who were attempting to label it as a Muslim issue. Thank God, Sean finally introduced me correctly and has promised to call me “Mike” from here forward.

God willing next week we will be talking about the Unity Day USA, a 9/11 Memorial.  www.Unitydayusa.com a Muslim initiative to bring Americans together for the safety and security of America.

Indeed, I have been working on making this a national day and have spoken with several congress persons. Nancy Pelosi was excited about the idea and Republican congressmen Pete Session, Ralph Hall, Sam Johnson and Kenny Marchant had agreed to sponsor the bill in a luncheon with me a couple years ago. Unity is about bringing the Republicans and Democrats together for common good of our nation. If you are in Dallas, please join us at 5:00 PM, Sunday, September 11, 2011 at the Unity Church in Dallas. Details are at the site www.UnitydayUSA.com

Mike Ghouse is committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day to the media and the public. He is a speaker thinker and a writer on the topics of pluralism, cohesive societies, Islam, interfaith, India and Peace. He is available to speak at your place of worship, work, school, college, seminars and conferences. . Mike's work is reflected in 4 website's and 27 Blogs indexed at http://www.mikeghouse.net/ and you can find this article at www.TheGhousediary.com

Anders Breivik a Christian Terrorist?

The title “Christian Terrorists” will anger the right wingers, they will deny it vehemently, the fact remains; terrorists have no religion. There should be no such thing as Muslim terrorist or Islamic Terrorist either. Most the people around the globe see it as the act of bad guys from among them. 

We may seriously consider stepping out of being imbeciles in allowing every idiot to plaster a religious label for his act. The evil men are seeking to shift the responsibility of paying for their crime to an intangible non-entity called Religion so they can go scot free shooing some of us dogs to bark at Religion and many a right wingers do that; bark at each other’s religions.


Religion came into being to restore the social order, it was the case for Moses, Zoroaster, Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, and Nanak and on and on… their intention was not to create a private club with ownership resting in a few “chosen” ones. Their message to the people was to take a look at their solutions, which will build trust, justice and ultimate security for everyone.

Professor Mark Juengensmyer presents, “The similarities between suspected mass killer Anders Behring Breivik and Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh are striking.” And further compares the loonies of Bin Laden and others. None of them had religious backgrounds.

It is time for the FBI to investigate all serious links to terror. The extremists among the right wingers continue to spew hate towards fellow citizens. Isn’t that how KKK resorted to violence? Al-Qaeda resorted to violence? If unchecked, we may have more of these in Europe and America.

We need to investigate the effects of hate spewing out of Pamela Geller, Brigitte Gabrielle, Robert Spencer and host of them out there. We need to hold them accountable as accessories for any violence generated by them.

Religion dispatch - http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/politics/4910/is_norway%E2%80%99s_suspected_murderer_anders_breivik_a_christian_terrorist/

Mike Ghouse is committed to building cohesive societies, details at www.MikeGhouse.net
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Anders Breivik a Christian Terrorist?

By Mark Juergensmeyer

The similarities between suspected mass killer Anders Behring Breivik and Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh are striking.

Both were good-looking young Caucasians, self-enlisted soldiers in an imagined cosmic war to save Christendom. Both thought their acts of mass destruction would trigger a great battle to rescue society from the liberal forces of multiculturalism that allowed non-Christians and non-Whites positions of acceptability. Both regretted the loss of life but thought their actions were “necessary.” For that they were staunchly unapologetic. And both were Christian terrorists.

Their similarities even extend to the kind of explosive used in their actions. Both used a mixture of fuel oil and ammonium nitrate fertilizer which Breivik said he needed for his farm operations. The farm, it turned out, was rented largely because it was a convenient place to test his car bombs.

And then there is the matter of dates. McVeigh was fixed on the day of April 19, the anniversary of the Waco siege. Breivik chose July 22, which was the day in 1099 that the Kingdom of Jerusalem was established during the First Crusades.

·         The title of Breivik’s manifesto, which was posted on the internet on that day, is 2083; the date that Breivik suggested would be the culmination of a 70-year war that began with his action. Yet 70 years from 2011 would be 2081—why did he date the final purge of Muslims from Norway to be two years later, in 2083? I found the answer on page 242 of Breivik’s manifesto, where he explains that on 1683 at the Battle of Vienna, the Ottoman Empire’s military was defeated in a protracted struggle, thereby insuring that most of Europe would not become part of the Muslim empire. The date in Breivik’s title is the 400th anniversary of that decisive battle, and in Breivik’s mind he was recreating the historic efforts to save Europe from what he imagined to be the evils of Islam.

The threat of Islam is a dominant motif of his 1500-page manifesto, 2083: A European Declaration of Independence. The writing of a manifesto is a major difference between Breivik and McVeigh, who was not a writer; instead McVeigh copied and quoted from his favorite book, The Turner Diaries, a novel by neo-Nazi William Luther Pierce under the pseudonym Andrew Macdonald.

McVeigh’s beloved novel explains his motives in a matter eerily similar to the writings of Breivik in his 2083 manifesto: he thought that liberal politicians had given in to the forces of globalization and multiculturalism, and that the “mudpeople”—non-White, non-Christian, non-heterosexual, non-patriarchal males—were trying to take over the country. To save the country for Christendom the righteous White, straight, non-feminist Christian males had to be shocked into reality by the force of an explosion that would signal to them that the war had begun. These were McVeigh’s ideas from The Turner Diaries, but they were also Breivik’s.

“The time for dialogue is over,” Breivik writes on page 811 of his manifesto. “The time for armed resistance has come.”

The enemy of this imagined cosmic war were “the cultural Marxist/multiculturalist elites” whom he regarded as the “Nazis of our time,” intent on “leading us [White Europeans] to the cultural slaughterhouse by selling us into Muslim slavery.” Breivik says, threateningly, to the “multiculturalist elite” that “we know who you are, where you live and we are coming for you.”

The manifesto is an interesting and eclectic document, something of a scrapbook of everything from his instructions for small-scale farming to a syllabus for a course on revolution that he’d love to see taught (complete with extensive bibliography that includes authors such as Immanuel Wallerstein, Theda Skocpol, and Eric Hobsbawm, and recommends as a textbook the book, Theorizing Revolution, written by my colleague at Santa Barbara, John Foran). It also includes theoretical and historical overviews of European history and political ideas, and an attempt to explain Muslim ideas and Islamic history, skewed in such a way to make it appear as if this major religious tradition were a single ideology eager to control the world.

The manifesto also includes a how-to manual for the creation of terrorist devices and acts of terrorism themselves—a manual not unlike the “Army of God” handbook created by Christian anti-abortion activists, most likely penned by Lutheran pastor Michael Bray. It advises on costumes that might be worn in order to avoid detection (including a policeman’s uniform).

Perhaps the most interesting section is Breivik’s day-by-day accounts of the weeks preceding the July 22 bombing and massacre, a chronology that ends with this matter-of-fact statement: “I believe this will be my last entry. It is now Fri July 22nd, 12.51.”

Moments later he posted the 1500-page book on the website before allegedly driving to downtown Oslo to detonate the bomb that killed 7 and shattered major buildings containing the offices of the ruling political party. Afterwards he reportedly donned the policeman’s uniform to gain entrance to the liberal party’s youth camp where he coldly murdered over 80 of the young people in a rampage that lasted more than an hour.

Like McVeigh, he thought that this horrible dramatic action would bring a hidden war into the open. Like many modern terrorists, his violent act was a form of performance violence, a symbolic attempt at empowerment to show the world that for the moment he was in charge. The terrorist act was a wake-up call, and a signal that the war had begun.

Behind the earthly conflict was a cosmic war, a battle for Christendom. As the title of Breivik’s manifesto indicates, he thought he was recreating that historical moment in which Christianity was defended against the hordes, and Islam was purged from what he imagined to be the purity of European society.

Breivik meticulously detailed what he expected to be the historical trajectory of this war through four stages, culminating in 2083. He expected that the forces of multiculturalism would be tough, and would resist the efforts to combat it. “It will take us up to 70 years to win,” Breivik writes on page 811, but adds that ”there is no doubt in our minds that we will eventually succeed.”

In the final phase, the civil war between the evil multiculturalists and the righteous few, a series of coup d’etats throughout Europe will overthrow the liberal forces. Then, finally “the deportation of Muslims” will begin, and European Christendom will be restored.

Is this a religious vision, and am I right in calling Breivik a Christian terrorist? It is true that Breivik—and McVeigh, for that matter—were much more concerned about politics, race and history than about scripture and religious belief, with Breivik even going so far as to write that “It is enough that you are a Christian-agnostic or a Christian atheist (an atheist who wants to preserve at least the basics of the European Christian cultural legacy (Christian holidays, Christmas and Easter)).”

But much the same can be said about Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri and many other Islamist activists. Bin Laden was a businessman and engineer, and Zawahiri was a medical doctor; neither were theologians or clergy. Their writings show that they were much more interested in Islamic history than theology or scripture, and imagined themselves as recreating glorious moments in Islamic history in their own imagined wars. Tellingly, Breivik writes of al Qaeda with admiration, as if he would love to create a Christian version of their religious cadre.

If bin Laden is a Muslim terrorist, Breivik and McVeigh are surely Christian ones. Breivik was fascinated with the Crusades and imagined himself to be a member of the Knights Templar, the crusader army of a thousand years ago. But in an imagined cosmic warfare time is suspended, and history is transcended as the activists imagine themselves to be acting out timeless roles in a sacred drama. The tragedy is that these religious fantasies are played out in real time, with real and cruel consequences.

Courtesy: http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/politics/4910/is_norway%E2%80%99s_suspected_murderer_anders_breivik_a_christian_terrorist/

Mark  Juergensmeyer  is Professor of Sociology and Director of Global and International Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the winner of the Grawemeyer Award for his book Terror in the Mind of God (UC Press). He is the editor of Global Religions: An Introduction and is also the author of The New Cold War? Religious Nationalism Confronts the Secular State and Gandhi's Way: A Handbook of Conflict Resolution, both from UC Press.