WaPo: "Bitter religious fighting over mosque plays right into al-Qaeda's hands"
By Evan Kohlmann
The Washington Post kindly invited me to contribute a column to their "On Faith" blog regarding the latest controversy over the proposed Cordoba House Muslim community center in New York near the site of "Ground Zero." See below:
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvoices/2010/08/by_evan_f_kohlmann_the.html
Bitter religious fighting over mosque plays right into al-Qaeda's hands
By Evan F. Kohlmann
The way that renowned Christian preacher Franklin Graham portrayed Muslims on a nationally-televised news broadcast last week, one would imagine that Islam is some sort of insidious cancer devouring the civilized world. Between his nauseating description of Islam as a "devilish" faith and his nonsensical discussion about the "Muslim seed" of President Obama, Graham managed to shame not only himself, but also the very democratic, pluralist ideals that we as Americans aspire to. I watched in disgust as his uninterrupted tirade continued, and it suddenly occurred to me that some viewers might not recognize that Graham speaks only for a prejudiced minority, whose numbers have been artificially inflated by the cynical recent tactics of various political candidates. To that segment of viewers, Graham instead represents the larger, ugly face of American xenophobia and prejudice--and in doing so, this self-described "man of God" has merely provided extra ammunition for al-Qaeda to use in its battle against us, our constitutional ideals, and our ethos of personal freedom...
Click to view the entire column at the Washington Post "On Faith" Blog
