RE: Madonna calls for peace at Los Angeles concert

[Donna Halper <dlh@donnahalper.com>]

>Paul wrote--
>
>As far as those religions that are pacifist in nature, #1 I'd like to see
>them try to practice their religion in Iran or Iraq or China or in a
>Bin-Laden led nation. It's easy to be pacifist in a Democracy.

Umm, and our founding fathers guaranteed us the freedom to be pacifists, if 
we chose to, here in the USA.  (What people do in Iraq or Iran or wherever 
is not the issue.  what they do here in America is what matters.)   A very 
dear friend of mine in college was a conscientious objector-- this was 
during the Viet Nam war, and his draft board was really skeptical of his 
refusal to fight.  But it was not based on cowardice at all.  He was a 
Quaker, and his religion was a major part of who he was; he truly believed 
killing was wrong.  He also loved his country and willingly served in a 
hospital as a medic throughout the war, trying his best to save lives.  A 
lot of people made fun of him and questioned his manhood (sigh), but I say 
he was being true to his beliefs, and I respect that.

>Paul wrote--
>Like it or not,at the base line (in my opinion) the Bin-Ladens et al are
>anti-semites, and when the layers of BS are removed, it's their hatred of
>Israel and Judaism that really at the crux of the issue.

True-- if you go to www.memri.org and read some of what is in the textbooks 
in the Palestinian Authority, Egypt, Syria, and Iraq, it's pretty 
scary.  Little children not only being taught to hate Israel, but to hate 
Jews.  Bin Laden has absolutely said that it is the duty of Muslims to kill 
Jews.  Now, most American Muslims that I know (and I know many-- we have 
had a Muslim community in Quincy since the 1890s, and the current imam has 
been a guest speaker in my classes)  think he is a bizarre fanatic and they 
wish somebody would make him go away permanently, since he gives their 
religion a bad name.  But sadly, I heard an interview on CNN today that has 
me rather concerned.  There was a priest (the very famous Father Robert 
Drinan), a rabbi (a gentleman from LA whose first name is David and whose 
last name escapes me-- but he has written a number of books and is very 
articulate) and an imam (also articulate and very forceful about what Islam 
really believes).  The topic was the response to the tragic events, and 
everybody was being very nice and very conciliatory, until the rabbi, 
trying to be ecumenical, said that the three traditions have so much in 
common, since they all come from the same book, namely the Hebrew Bible 
(Old Testament).  Now, to me, that was not a terribly controversial 
statement, because in the Holy Koran, it says that Jews and Christians are 
"people of the Book."  But the imam took offence, and stated that nothing 
in Islam comes from the Hebrew Bible.  "Islam was revealed by God," he 
stated, "and it does not come from Judaism. Nothing in the Koran comes from 
Judaism."  The rabbi was a bit taken aback-- and I was too.  This is very 
much in line with what young Muslims are being taught today in foreign 
countries-- that Judaism is a false religion which should be destroyed.  I 
hope that belief isn't coming to the Muslims in the USA, and I wish the 
moderator had said something.  Two nights ago, on the BBC's "Question 
Time", a representative of the US government (a former ambassador to 
England, I believe) was being interviewed about his reaction to the tragic 
events of the past week, but when the audience was permitted to ask 
questions, they began berating him for US foreign policy and demanded that 
the US stop supporting Israel.  From newspaper reports of the incident, the 
criticism grew so forceful and vehement that the moderator lost all control 
of the show, and between 600 and 1000 (depending on which version you read) 
people phoned to complain about audience members being so harsh at such a 
time of grief.

On the other hand, I have been hearing a number of talk shows (Howie Carr 
among them) wherein Arabs in general were criticised to what I felt was a 
very uncomfortable degree.  And on Thursday, a talk show host in Orlando 
Florida claimed Muslims were at their mosque celebrating--a totally false 
charge, it turned out, but enough to get listeners ready to go there and 
kick some butt.  It's at times like these when I wonder how much freedom of 
speech is a good thing, but then, that gets me back to Madonna.  If the 
worst we can say about her is that she called for peace and love, I'd 
rather hear that than some of the hateful rhetoric (be it anti-Jewish or 
anti-Arab) that is turning up on some chat shows...