“This is not America. America was not built on hate.”

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   paarsurreyposted 13 years ago

   Courtesy NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF,Op-Ed Columnist who has written in The New York Times, a column titled "Is This America?" Published, September 11, 2010; a part of it is given below:
   
   Europe is alarmed that Muslim immigrants have not assimilated well, resulting in tolerance of intolerance, and pockets of wife-beating, forced marriage, homophobia and female genital mutilation. Those are legitimate concerns, but sweeping denunciations of any religious group constitute dangerous bigotry.
   
   If this is a testing time, then some have passed with flying colors. Hats off to a rabbinical student in Massachusetts, Rachel Barenblat, who raised money to replace prayer rugs that a drunken intruder had urinated on at a mosque. She told me that she quickly raised more than $1,100 from Jews and Christians alike.
   
   Above all, bravo to those Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders who jointly denounced what they called “the anti-Muslim frenzy.”
   
   “We know what it is like when people have attacked us physically, have attacked us verbally, and others have remained silent,” said Rabbi David Saperstein. “It cannot happen here in America in 2010.”
   
   Cardinal Theodore McCarrick put it this way: “This is not America. America was not built on hate.”
   
   “Shame on you,” the Rev. Richard Cizik, a leading evangelical Christian, said to those castigating Islam. “You bring dishonor to the name of Jesus Christ. You directly disobey his commandment to love your neighbor.”
   
   Amen.
   
   http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/opini … asdkristof

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      ALL4JESUSposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Agreed!  It is a test.....America is being challenged as all of us are every single day.
      
      http://hubpages.com/hub/Sept-11th-Call- … -For-Unity

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   paarsurreyposted 13 years ago

   It is true that Muslims have not assimilated well into the European Society; but this is only in the short term; ultimately Muslims and others would get assimilated in the long term. Not enough time has passed; both Muslims and others have to learn many things from one another.
   
   I appreciate the positive and charitable behavior of the many Christian and Jewish people as noted by NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF-Op-Ed Columnist who has written in The New York Times, a column titled "Is This America?" published, September 11, 2010.
   
   Love for all , hatred for none.

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   Shadesbreathposted 13 years ago

   I agree with this.  I think many people came together when the idiocy over the Islamic center caught fire and denounced the behaviors.  That moron with the Qur'an burning thing cemented a large national unity amongst all true Americans behind the freedom of religion that is an essential and biding part of the nation. I hope a few who were only ignorant or mislead were brought round by it all, and continue to be brought round as we move forward continuing to defend what is right.  Plus we've spotted where a few genuine enemies of freedom lie. It's nice to know where the snakes are before you get bit.

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   Mighty Momposted 13 years ago

   I hate to disagree, and wish it were different, but America IS built on hate. Always has been.
   Muslims are just the latest in a long, long line of "outsiders" singled out for discrimination and hatred.
   Let's see --
   Well, we started with the Native Americans. Nuff said there.
   How about the African American slaves that only got integrated into white society in the 1960s? But not really, in some places.
   The Irish and the Chinese, both discriminated against and both exploited to build our railroads.
   Japanese -- Easy to round 'em up after Pearl Harbor and put them in interment camps.
   Latinos? We assume they're all here illegally and hire them to do the jobs Americans really don't want to do (see Stephen Colbert's recent address to the Congress).
   I'm sure I've missed quite a few discriminees along the way.

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      paarsurreyposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I think it is time the Americans should improve their image to the world. Whatever America was built on to start with, it has become a state of equity and justice now; they should prove it by their good deeds.

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      qeylerposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      America was built on hate.  Firstly, many of the first settlers had to leave their homes because of it. Secondly, as Mighty Mom mentioned the native residents, called Indians, who were in some cases, exterminated by those who wanted their land.  Slavery needs no annotation.  The Japanese and Chinese were despised and abused, and that is how the railroads were built, how California was developed. 
      
      However, the objections to the Islamic centre are not due to hate, they are based on the realisation that what is being attempted is a cooption and denigration of Ground Zero. 
      
      The choice of 'Cordoba' for the Centre was not accidental.  It was a signal to Muslims all over the world that Islam had conquered.
      
      The saddest part of all of this are the non-Islamic fools who support the centre thinking there is some 'Freedom of Religion' or other 'Rights'  under debate.
      
      If one decided to post obscenities on placards outside of a church or school people would object; but according to the logic of those here, the person who decides to post these placards has freedom of speech.

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         paarsurreyposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Is not everything being done legally? If it is illegal that is another thing

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