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John L. Esposito and Sheila B. Lalwani
Bill O'Reilly and his inflammatory speech was on "The View" this week, and everybody knows it.
But, the attention should go elsewhere.
His baseless anti-Muslim rhetoric that led to Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg to walk off the set earlier this week was a ratings boon for him and the show. O'Reilly appeared on the Glenn Beck show and "The View" hosts are scheduled to discuss Thursday's show on Monday.
The show is likely to grab more ratings and headlines, but really, it's time to shift gears and focus on the anti-Islam hysteria sweeping over the U.S. Bill O'Reilly is getting bashed in the press, but thousands, maybe millions, agree with him. Some of them are silent. Many are not. It has become mainstream to bash Muslims.
The trickledown impact is that Muslims who were born, raised and educated in the U.S. are being maligned and alienated when conversations about religion in America need to include everyone. According to the Pew Center on Religion & Public Life, 35 proposed mosques and Islamic centers have met with community resistance over the last two years. Hate crimes against Muslims are also on the rise.
Major polls report increasing fear and prejudice toward Muslims and Islam, and the temptation to view Muslims through the prism of terrorism and oppression remains deceptively easy. Right wing and anti-Islam blogs bash Muslims, Islam or those who support freedom of religion. Public perception of Muslims and Islam is distorted by the media's disproportionate emphasis on the acts of a dangerous and deadly fraction of Muslims overshadowing the vast majority of mainstream Muslims.
A study from the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life found that the public's view of Islam has worsened. The study found that 30% have a favorable view of Islam, while 38% hold an unfavorable view. Gallup polling reveals that Americans were asked what they admire about the Muslim world, 57% responded "nothing" or "I don't know."" Despite major polling by Gallup and Pew that show that American Muslims are well integrated economically and politically, a January 2010 Gallup Center for Muslim Studies report found that 43% admit to feeling at least "a little" prejudice toward Muslims - more than twice the number who say the same about Christians, Jews, and Buddhists.
These opinions existed but were less visible until the debates in New York over the proposed Islamic Center reached a high pitch. When the University of North Carolina assigned reading the Qur'an to incoming freshman, O'Reilly compared the assignment to having students read Hitler's Mein Kampf in 1941. More recently, Newt Gingrich compared Muslim Americans who want to build the Islamic center in New York to Nazis who would erect a sign next to Holocaust museum. Gingrich has also received a standing ovation earlier this year at the Values Voter Summit when he called for a "federal law that says Shariah law cannot be recognized by any court in the United States." Oklahoma State Rep. Rex Duncan also expects that his "Save our State" referendum to keep Islamic law out of state courts to pass easily on Election Day. The Center for Security Policy released a 177-page report last month called "Shariah: The Threat to America" and says Islamic Law is infiltrating American society. The report cites examples such as Muslims building mosques and using Islamic financing to buy homes.
Never mind that nobody is calling for Islamic Law - including Muslims. The rhetoric is misguided and cheap.
Accommodating a person's religious views in no way imposes religious law in the workplace or society. Basic religious exercise by Muslims should not be viewed as an imposition. It's their right. It's the American way. Unfortunately, that is in danger of becoming lost in the debate to give way to hostility.
It's true: Finding stories that criticize O'Reilly are hard to miss.
And, it's also true that finding stories that factually confront Islamophobia are hard to find.
John L. Esposito is University Professor and Founding Director of the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. He is co-author of Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think, and author of the newly released book The Future of Islam (2010). Sheila B. Lalwani is a Research Fellow at the Center.
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Post to Facebook.Post to Blogger.Post to Twitter.Post to WordPress.Post to TypePad.Post to Tumblr.Post to Yahoo! View All Favorites Recency | Popularity IAMBRIEF 2 minutes ago (2:45 PM) 9 Fans no one is bashing "peaceful" Muslims ..... the issue is ... radical Muslims .... who are, indeed, Muslims .... get it?They are "Muslim terrorists" ... what's difficult about that to understand? Duh! IAMBRIEF: no one is bashing "peaceful" Muslims ..... the issue is http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/IAMBRIEF/bigotry-and-islam-bill-or_b_765300_63931096.html Permalink | Share it HUFFPOST SUPER USER charlietuna11 33 minutes ago (2:14 PM) 51 Fans john, as an arab american, i know on a personal level at least a few thousand arab muslims as well as non muslims. i have never met one muslim who has ever even insinuated they would be receptive to sharia . if there is such a thing as a non issue , this is it. why my fellow americans can't take a moment to research these allegations from hate groups like gingrich is regrettable. mr. gingrich, a well known coward and draft dodger also suggested that muslims should not be allowed to wear the uniform. sir, my two oldest brothers , both deceased served in ww 2, one in the battle of the bulge, the other in the south pacific. i served in korea during that conflict and our youngest brother stepped on a land mine in nam. i feel nothing but contempt for gingrich and those that support his bigoted ways. i am confident this current islamaphobia will pass . with all there warts, americans are a kind compassionate people who almost always do the right thing when they find out they have been lied to and betrayed. you have done more than your share to shine a light into this dark period. after watching that great film, COME SEE THE PARADISE. a movie about the internment camps and what they had to indure, i am confident we as a nation will come together inspite of gingrich, beck, Oreilly and fox news. charlietuna11: john, as an arab american, i know on a personal http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/charlietuna11/bigotry-and-islam-bill-or_b_765300_63928653.html Permalink | Share it iridium53 1 hour ago (1:38 PM) 186 Fans Implementation of sharia law in the United States is an asinine red herring argument designed by Repugnantones to increase the fear level of ignorant voters. It's working.
You are correct that, "Public perception of Muslims and Islam is distorted by the media's disproportionate emphasis on the acts of a dangerous and deadly fraction of Muslims overshadowing the vast majority of mainstream Muslims."
On the other hand, there is a portion of Muslims, even in America, that harbor and protect Muslim Extremist Terrorists. For instance, a single Mosque in San Diego harbored and supported two of the 9/11 terrorists during their pilot training and, later, supported one of the current leaders of the Taliban. Multiple people over multiple years. Coincidence? You decide.
As much as I may hate to agree with O'Reilly - the truth is that there are Muslim clerics who are preaching terrorism in the United States and there are Muslim congregations that support these individuals. iridium53: Implementation of sharia law in the United States is an http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/iridium53/bigotry-and-islam-bill-or_b_765300_63925800.html Permalink | Share it fb0252 1 hour ago (1:33 PM) 10 Fans Koran:
http://www.submission.org/suras/sura8.html fb0252: Koran: http://www.submission.org/suras/sura8.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/fb0252/bigotry-and-islam-bill-or_b_765300_63925440.html Permalink | Share it pinkibus 1 hour ago (1:23 PM) 469 Fans Islam - read the Koran. Note when you read it that women are actually better off in the Koran than they are in the Bible. Two - note that there are a hundred thousand wacky ways of interpreting the Bible. Some people were persuaded to give their children poisoned koolaid and then drink it themselves. Anyone who has studied literature is well aware of the many many different interpretaions of one line in a poem and how that can change the meaning of the whole poem. Most Muslims are as good or better than most Christians. Focusing on the insane few is like focusing on the insane in Christianity. But somehow I am sure not one person reading this post will go to the library and read the Koran and think about Islam from a relatively knowledgeable point of view. Americans, kind generous Americans seem predisposed to hate people they disagree with whether in religion, ethics, or politics. pinkibus: Islam - read the Koran. Note when you read it http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/pinkibus/bigotry-and-islam-bill-or_b_765300_63924686.html Permalink | Share it New comments on this entry — Click to refresh
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