The Islamophobia Dodge of the Religious Freedom Pledge

[rug]

November 28, 2011 2:01PM
Post by Sarah Posner

Open Doors USA, a Christian organization which evangelizes non-believers around the world, has drafted a Relgious Freedom Pledge, which it is asking the presidential candidates to sign.

The pledge states, among other things, that:

"religious liberty in full is the birthright of every American, as recognized by the First Amendment. It entails the right to believe, worship, and practice in accord with one’s faith, subject only to the limits imposed by the U.S. constitution and the Bill of Rights. The right of religious freedom must be applied equally to all religious communities in America, including Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, and others. At the same time, religious freedom does not mandate belief, but protects the right not to believe."

So why won't the pledge promoters talk about Islamophobia -- by the very candidates it is trying to get to sign the pledge?

The only candidate so far to sign the pledge is Rick Santorum, who just last week advocated for profiling of Muslims. Santorum has also maintained that "Christendom" is at civilizational war with "jihadis," who include, in his mind, moderates like Imam Feisal Rauf. When I asked an Open Doors spokesperson, Jerry Dykstra, about Santorum's endorsement of Muslim profiling, he told me that "we're happy to discuss the pledge, but not to comment on individual candidates’ stance on issues. We’re not experts in each candidates stance or statements on every issue. We do want candidates to pledge to upholding religious freedom for people of all faiths which of course includes Muslims." But when I asked Dykstra if I could interview an Open Doors representative about the pledge in light of anti-Muslim sentiment in the U.S. generally, he declined.

http://www.religiondispatches.org/dispatches/sarahposner/5440/the_islamophobia_dodge_of_the_religious_freedom_pledge/

[Ikonoklast]

1. ALL religions are valid, and deserve equal treatment, or NONE are.

Period.

No equivocating, no pick-and-choose, ALL OR NONE.

[Deep13]

2. Disagree. At most only one is valid.

They all make contradictory claims. Of none of them have any better reason to think its beliefs are right than any of the others.

Granted the law is not supposed to discriminate, but that has no bearing on the veracity of religious claims.

[rrneck]

3. The greatest natural resource in the history of the human race

is human emotion.