One thing you can be sure of: when the religious right and its supporters talk about “religious freedom,” they’re not talking about freedom for people of all religions. They want government to pick and choose which people of faith will be more free than others. The far-right faction on the Texas State Board of Education offers repeated examples of this kind of hypocrisy. Another example is a new anti-Muslim screed making the rounds on the Internet, criticizing what it calls efforts to “islamicize our schools.”
The author of the piece is Pamela Geller, a blogger and commentator popular in the far-right media (including the cable news networks). Think Ann Coulter, but with even less restraint or shame. Seriously.
Geller, writing on her Atlas Shrugs blog, attacks an “instruction sheet” from an online resource explaining how Muslim parents can ensure that the religious freedom of their children is respected by American public schools:
“Check out this ‘instruction sheet’ to Muslims on how to islamicize their public schools. There is no separation of mosque and state — mosque is state in Islam. If this guide shows us anything, it’s what idiots they take us for. This is, of course, an outrage. None of this should be introduced into the public school. If this is what Muslim parents want, they should send their children to madrassah.”
Yet the website simply suggests six steps parents can take — every one of which is what any parents, regardless of their faith, would take under the law if they thought that their child were denied the opportunity to pray on his or her own or take time off for a sacred holiday: know the law, get the support of a teacher, put requests in writing, meet with school officials, etc. Yet Geller sees all this as evidence of Muslims seeking to take over public schools. But that’s the kind of irrationality one sees in rank bigotry.
This isn’t Geller’s first trip on the Muslim-bashing train. In one of her columns on a far-right website, she suggested that Muslims are all violent extremists and insisted that they be barred from serving in the U.S. military:
“Devout Muslims should be prohibited from military service. Would Patton have recruited Nazis into his army?”
There are other signs of Geller’s extremism. Geller is a “birther,” for example, doubting that President Obama is telling the truth about his birth and citizenship. She even posted to her blog an idiotic piece suggesting, in part, that the president is the late Malcom X’s love child. In addition, she believes Sarah Palin resigned in the middle of her term as Alaska governor because Americans in other states needed her “to lead the next revolution.” Indeed, Geller’s political views appear to be as extreme as they can get, including support for neo-fascists in Europe.
Anti-Muslim bigotry — from Geller and other prominent writers, commentators and politicians — is especially alarming at a time when some politicians (such as members of the Texas State Board of Education) argue that our nation’s Founders wanted government to promote religion. When they make that argument, of course, they specify Christianity. The Founders knew, in fact, that the greatest danger to religious freedom for everyone is permitting government to pick and choose which religions to promote or disfavor. That’s why the Constitution bars the government from doing so.
Geller’s anti-Muslim nonsense would probably find a welcome audience among some Texas State Board of Education members, by the way. Recall that board member David Bradley, R-Beaumont Buna, distributed campaign fliers in 2008 accusing his opponent of wanting to write an Islamic curriculum for Texas public schools. His “proof” was a photograph of Laura Ewing, the Democratic nominee for his board seat, posing in front of the Taj Mahal in India. Never mind, of course, that Ewing was on the trip with other educators — including a Republican member of the State Board of Education — and that Texas Gov. Rick Perry supported the trip.
Geller also seems to have plenty of admirers in Texas political circles. Last November the Collin County Conservative Republicans hosted “An Intimate Evening with Pamela Geller” in McKinney, north of Dallas. The host committee included Republican Congressmen Sam Johnson and Ralph Hall from North Texas, GOP state Rep. Jerry Madden of Richardson and Collin County Judge Keith Self. Members of the so-called “Patriot Host Committee” included Republican state representatives Jodie Laubenberg of Parker and Ken Paxton of McKinney. (Video from the event is here.)
Ayn Rand, whose Atlas Shrugged is the inspiration for the blog name, I assume, was hardly Christian. She was pro Nazi.
She believed in social darwinism, big time.
I guess the liberal left will go so far as to teach kids “algebra” (Arab invention), and start using Arabic numerals, like 1,2, 3, instead of the godly Christian numbers I, II, III…
“There are other signs of Geller’s extremism. Geller is a “birther,” for example, doubting that President Obama is telling the truth about his birth and citizenship. She even posted to her blog an idiotic piece suggesting, in part, that the president is the late Malcom X’s love child.”
I have two other birther theories that are even better than hers:
1) Barack Obama is actually the secret love child from an illicit union between Mr. Clean and Aunt Jemima.
2) Barack Obama is actually the secret love child from an illicit gay union between Uncle Ben and Mr. Whipple, who used Hillary Clinton as their surrogate mother. Yes, that’s right. Hillary Clinton is actually Barack Obama’s birth mother!!!
Fruit……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
David & Charles: those are classic posts!
As I read the article above, I became so worried that Pamela Geller is Jewish (Geller is a Jewish name). But then when I got to the part where it says she supports neo-fascists in Europe, I thought Wha??
The internet is a hodge-podge of good science, communication, news and information, AND a cesspool of insanity. We’ve just seen more evidence supporting the last part of my statement.
Two of my fellow cytotechnologists are Muslim men from Pakistan. Better people you’d never find. But apparently, based on these whack-jobs like Geller, it’s my patriotic (or hatriotic?) duty to shoot them tomorrow!
What’s even scarier than Geller is that elected officials and a JUDGE are fans. Further proof that America is in decline and well on its way to being finished. I’d better sign up now with Nefesh B’Nefesh and prepare to make aliyah (emigration) to Israel – while I can still get out of here.
Geller is actually Jewish, Cytocop. She’s a well known blogger who had a huge war with Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs. Charles Johnson’s break with the right-wing started with Geller when she supported neo-fascists and he refused to do so, and called on other right-wing bloggers to back him. They didn’t and he saw them for what they were.
Over at LGF, we call her the Shrieking Harpy. She is completely and utterly insane.
“She is completely and utterly insane.”
Well, I guess so! To be against one’s self and one’s people is self-criticism gone wild.
Even Jewish a-holes like Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith, David Frumm, and William Krystol don’t go so far as to be anti-Jewish!
Again, I say the existence of whack-jobs like Geller isn’t nearly as scary as is the fact that they always get a following. That’s what scares me.
Good grief! Someone more foaming at the mouth than Coulter? Almost unbelievable.
The kind of revolution that was spoken of meant the BALLOT BOX not the cartridge box.
It is unfortunate that most Christians do not read their bibles as to when it was written. They are mostly ignorant of what a part of the bible means. The children of Israel were about to enter the land that had been promised to them: Canaan. They had been in Egypt. Certain religious rites were followed in this countries and God was telling THEM at THAT TIME not to do the things that they had seen. Ritualistic homosexuality was one of the things prohibited. So what do Christians do today? Yup, they damn homosexuals to their hell or try to “cure” them when it is not a disease.
Paul, who began Christianity, had a few things to say that he prohibited, but Christians see ONE thing only: Homosexuality. They ignore backbiting, gossip telling, etc. It’s right there in the “New Testament.” Go to any meeting of people and what is the first thing that happens? GROUP PRAYER in the name of Jesus. Not only does that break the second commandment, it violates what Jesus said about public prayer. He said “Don’t pray in public, go to your closet and pray there.” You will find that in Matthew six.
So whose brand of Christianity should be followed?
It has already been shown that many of the founders of this country denied the trinity; they were Deists. Even George Washington, who had been born into the Church of England turned his back on it and adopted Deism. They did NOT want any religion to be superior to any other religion, particularly Christianity.
As a non Christian (thank G-d!) I have seen the excesses of what Christianity can do when it is left to its own resources. I have also seen the best part of Christianity; people who understand the bible and keep it. It is a matter of intelligence. The dumber people are, the deeper are the tracks they make with their knuckles dragging in the dirt.
One can dismiss Coulter as nothing more than a hack, who says outrageous things in order to make money.
One should, indeed, be very wary of people like Geller who are (semi)closer Nazi’s.
Oh, I’ve never heard of Geller, but Ayn Rand was a Jew herself. The premise of Atlas Shrugged is as revolting as anything I’ve ever read. How can one live for themselves alone? There are a lot of self-hating Jews out there; they believe anti-Israel propaganda. That is their problem.
But what I love about Judaism the most is that we don’t judge where others will spend eternity. Most people keep the seven Noahide laws (Google the term) and Jews believe that all of Gd’s creatures have a proper place in the world to come.
I love TFN too…it’s nice to hear intelligent voices…thanks all.