Free pass on gay hatred? Turning a blind eye.

[Ian David]

Free pass on gay hatred?
Turning a blind eye
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | November 24, 2008

Outside observers have been quick to criticize any signs of anti-Semitism connected to the new Roxbury mosque. But there has been little or no public comment about the virulent homophobia that can be found within the Islamic Society of Boston (ISB) and the Muslim American Society of Boston (MAS-Boston) communities.

BU's Stephen Young surveyed 50 local ISB and MAS-Boston members for a just-published dissertation on the ISB. They were asked on a numerical scale how strongly they agreed or disagreed with the statement: "Homosexuals are hardly better than criminals and ought to be severely punished." Rather than rejecting this extremist sentiment, the average response fell in the middle. The Arabs among those surveyed were most likely to agree.

"These things are settled in Islam," says Talal Eid, an imam in Quincy who is considered relatively moderate. "No Muslim group is going to say, 'We are going to teach that it is okay for people to be gay and lesbian.' That is not going to happen."

City Councilor Chuck Turner of Roxbury equates the Koranic defense of homophobia to the Biblical interpretations used by Southerners against blacks — "all that Noah and Ham bullshit, that was a thin veil to justify their racism."

Yet Turner and other local leaders strongly supportive of gay rights — including Mayor Thomas Menino and State Senator Dianne Wilkerson — have said little to condemn the astonishing bigotry that's being taught at the Cambridge ISB, and that might well be expected to find its way into the Roxbury mosque.



More:
http://thephoenix.com/Boston/News/72382-Free-pass-on-gay-hatred/


See prior threads:

2 local imams arrested in alleged visa scheme (at least 1 is anti-gay activist)
Topic started by IanDB1 on Nov-16-06 07:58 PM (6 replies)
Last modified by smirkymonkey on Nov-16-06 09:30 PM
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=158&topic_id=11231


Gays 'Threaten Society' Islamic Leader Says
Topic started by JI7 on Mar-01-05 07:15 AM (58 replies)
Last modified by ashmanonar on Mar-02-05 09:39 AM
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1274076

Abramoff -- His Crimes and Connections to Public Figures...
Topic started by Open Edit on Nov-11-05 06:24 PM (58 replies)
Last modified by chat_noir on Jun-10-08 08:53 AM
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=358&topic_id=597




Also:

Jewish World Review Dec. 2, 2003 / 7 Kislev, 5764
Queer allies
By Evan Gahr
http://www.jewishworldreview.com

The little-noticed alliance between gay marriage opponents and alleged terrorist sympathizers


The Massachusetts Supreme Court decision to legalize homosexual marriage in the Bay state re-ignited the culture wars. The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, perhaps the preeminent liberal Jewish organization in Washington, DC, applauded the ruling. Religious-minded conservatives, however, were horrified. They are determined to stop the gay rights movement in its tracks. At what price?

JewishWorldReview.com has discovered that prominent religious conservatives — Jews, Catholics and Evangelical Christians — are allied with a radical Islamic group to stop gay marriage. Pushing a constitutional amendment that would restrict marriage to heterosexuals, they work with the Islamic Society of North America. What is ISNA? According to terrorism expert Steve Emerson, ISNA:

* has held fundraisers for terrorists (e.g., after Hamas leader Musa Marzuk was arrested, it raised money for his defense, claiming he was innocent and not connected to terrorism)

* has condemned US seizure of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad assets in the United States after 9/11

* has consistently sponsored speakers at their conferences that defend Islamic terrorists. Recently, a leader denied in an interview with an NBC affiliate that ISNA took any Saudi money but that was a brazen lie as evidenced by a recording of an ISNA conference in which it was revealed that money came from Saudi Arabia.

"ISNA," says Emerson, "is a radical group hiding under a false veneer of moderation."

<snip>

Although efforts to contact some ISNA's colleagues were unsuccessful, those that were located hardly seemed perturbed when provided last week with detailed information — from impeccable sources — about ISNA. Thus far, it appears they'll remain with ISNA on the advisory board to the Alliance for Marriage, which has attracted considerable Congressional support for its much ballyhooed constitutional amendment to prohibit gay marriage.

More:
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/1203/marriage_terrorists.php3

[msongs]

1. ain't religion wonderful..? nt

[donco6]

2. Yet another reason to avoid religion altogether.

I see no value in any of it.

[bluedawg12]

3. When can one find Muslim, Jewish and Christian leaders united ?

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1150885916950&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter

Religious leaders protest gay parade

Jul. 4, 2006
Sheera Claire Frenkel , THE JERUSALEM POST
Even as the ties between Palestinian and Israeli politicians strained against the current crises in Gaza, religious officials from the Muslim, Jewish and Christian communities united Tuesday to oppose a gay pride parade in Jerusalem.

More than 50 prominent religious figures visited the Knesset's Interior Committee to urge MKs to stop the World Pride event, scheduled to take place in Jerusalem next month. Several right-wing religious MKs brought the coalition to the Knesset, asserting that "never before has the Holy Land seen such a union of religious leaders...

MK Ibrahim Sarsur (United Arab List) told the committee that "these types of problems" don't exist in Muslim society. "Every man has the right to do what he pleases, but not if it offends others," he said.

"
..........

Ironically, the first amendment allows freedom of expression - even if it offends others. Guess we haven't really spread the word have we? :sarcasm:

[RetiredTrotskyite]

4. When can one find Muslim, Jewish and Christian leaders united ?

Anytime that LGBTQ people try to have a life. I'm not surprised, though, because "the big three" are all monotheistic entities. I personally find it disgusting that these people cannot see their way to unite against world hunger or human rights, or try to find some way to end war, but they CAN get together to persecute LGBTQs. WTF IS this?!

The older I get, the more alienated I become towards religion.

[bluedawg12]

5. the more alienated I become towards religion, especially wrapped in politics

it's a really dishonest debate - the other side simply claims divine justification. Geesh!

[HillWilliam]

6. Funny thing

My mom and were talking about this kind of stuff last night. She's quite elderly and has put a lot of thought and observation into what people do with so-called religion, using it as a weapon when the idea of religion should have been introspection and self-improvement. She undertook her realization a lot earlier than I did so I try to take benefit of her peaceful enlightenment when she's inclined to talk about it at all.

It took me a long time after I shed "religion" to chase that "old white man" out of my head. When I finally did, I found my faith itself was as simple and strong as it always was, just more quiet, undisturbed, and somehow stronger. The more I read religious works these days (the Gospels in particular, as I still often do), the less I find in them that would give anyone any excuse to do harm to anyone else. "Faith" doesn't need "religion" to do the right thing, but to me it seems that people need religion to justify doing all the wrong things, and to feel smugly "righteous" in doing them.

It's all about a power in numbers thing. "Everybody's doing it".

If Little Johnny jumped off a bridge, would you jump off a bridge, too?

Yeah, it's all fun and games until somebody puts an eye out :P

It's harder to do the right thing, but sometimes you have to do it by yourself. But if there's a hereafter (and I'm not willing to chance that there's not), it's my own Karma I'll have to answer for. I can't take one someone else's, nor can I use a group to justify what I myself did. You come into this world by yourself, you leave by yourself, and what you do in between those two events is still on you.

The haters talk about "being free" but I just want to know how in the world they can talk about being free when they willingly chain themselves to one another, all doing hateful things they'll likely have to answer for later on. You have to wonder what kind of god it is they're loving that when you get to the other side will say "you killed, maimed, hurt, said spiteful things and did ugly deeds in My name. Good on ya!" That's not a god, IMHO; that's some kind of booger. That ain't the kind of god I can get behind.

I don't know what the resolution will be to the kinds of problems that radical, fundamentalized religion is causing. I think there's a reason the world fundamentalism has "mental" in the middle of it. It's either craziness or laziness that keeps people flocking to it and using it as a weapon against their fellow human being.