Admitted Muslim-hater Molly White, a Belton Republican, failed to win reelection to the Texas House last year, but it seems like the Legislature will have at least one other anti-Muslim fanatic to replace her: freshman state Rep. Kyle Biedermann, R-Fredericksburg.
On Wednesday reporter James Russell reported for the online political news site Quorum Report (subscription required) that Biedermann recently sent to Texas Muslims a questionnaire asking about their personal beliefs.
Biedermann’s letter went to mosques and Muslim students organizations. According to Quorum Report, the letter includes a survey asking whether recipients support the Declaration of the Muslim Reform Movement and the Muslim Pledge for Religious Freedom and Safety from Harm for Former Muslims. And it asks whether recipients support federal legislation requiring the U.S. Secretary of State to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a foreign terrorist organization.
In response to questions about the letter, a spokesman for Biedermann sent to the Texas Tribune a media advisory noting that the legislator is hosting a “homeland security summit” at the Texas Capitol on Jan. 26 “to thoroughly understand the critical threat of radical Islamic terrorism in Texas.”
We wonder whether Rep. Biedermann is planning to send letters asking Christians across Texas whether they support other Christians who have attacked and blown up abortion clinics. That would be deeply offensive, of course — the vast majority of Christians think such extremism is abhorrent. Of course, so do the vast majority of Muslims. But certain politicians see no problem bullying and intimidating people of minority faiths.
Molly White, you might recall, had her staff interrogate Muslim visitors to her legislative office about whether they “renounce Islamic terrorist groups and publicly announce allegiance to America.” After she lost her reelection race last spring, White openly expressed her contempt for Islam on Facebook: “Yes, I hate Islam, the Muslim Brotherhood and all terrorist organizations.”
