CONTROVERSY!

Home
In this issue

July 2, 2009

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: The hallmark of a person

Abe Novick: Up, up, and aliya

July 1, 2009

Rabbi Avi Shafran: The Road Taken

The Kosher Gourmet by Marialisa Calta: Get into the holiday spirit with these Star-Spangled desserts

June 30, 2009

Rabbi Binyomin Ginsberg: What makes a great parent?

Caroline B. Glick: Ideologue-in-Chief

June 29, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Beware of 'Caveat Emptor'

Steven Emerson: ACLU pushing for more money for Hamas

June 26, 2009

Rabbi Yoni Posnick: Learn the secret to a healthy marriage from a scriptural villain

Caroline B. Glick: Barack Obama vs. International Law

June 25, 2009

Rabbi Shimon Apisdorf: The Absurd Power of Truth

Jordan "Gorf" Gorfinkle's strip: Everything's Relative

June 24, 2009

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Advancement of technology is a wake-up call for humanity

The Kosher Gourmet by Andrea Weigl: Summer on a stick: Making frozen treats can be easy, creative and fun

June 23, 2009

Martin M. Bodek: 'On Surnames': And so, We Begin

Caroline B. Glick: The Obama Effect

June 22, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Working for a corrupt firm

N. Richard Greenfield : Where are American Jews?

June 19, 2009

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: Emotion v. intellect

Caroline B. Glick: Israel's rare opportunity

June 18, 2009

Jonathan Rosenblum: Sometimes it is more essential to define the nature of evil than good

Jordan "Gorf" Gorfinkle's strip: Everything's Relative

June 17, 2009

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The Language of Confusion

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: Nothing pleases Dad more than a thick, juicy onion-smothered steak. Add home-Baked Potato Chips and …

June 16, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Career v. Careersism

Caroline B. Glick: Obama's losing streak and Israel

Richard Z. Chesnoff: ‘Palestinians’: Never Missing an Opportunity …

June 15, 2009

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu: How Judea and Samaria can become 'Palestine'

Daniel Pipes: Where Netanyahu's speech failed

June 12, 2009

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: Some big thoughts about not acting so big

Caroline B. Glick: Obama's High Commissioner

June 11, 2009

Victor Davis Hanson: Our historically challenged President

Mitch Albom: Beware the True Believers

Lewis Grossberger: What we learn from the new Hitler photos

June 10, 2009

Mort Zuckerman: What Obama and his advisors won't -- or refuse to -- grasp about Israel and the Muslim world

The Kosher Gourmet by Steve Petusevsky Lotsa pasta: Tips, techniques and (amazing) taste

June 9, 2009

Anne Bayefsky: Obama's stunning offense to Israel and the Jewish people

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: America's first Muslim president?

June 8, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Merchant must take responsibility for careless shopper?

Mark Steyn: A superpower that feeds on mediocrity cannot survive for long on leftovers from the past

Richard Z. Chesnoff: How do you say 'kumbaya' in Arabic?

June 5, 2009

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: In quest of spirituality

Caroline B. Glick: Obama's Arabian dreams

Charles Krauthammer: The Settlements Myth

June 4, 2009

Paul Greenberg: The War Comes to Little Rock

The Kosher Gourmet by Judy Hevrdejs: Splash it on! Tap your inner jazz musician and improvise when stirring up a vinaigrette

June 3, 2009

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q. Should terrible teacher be exposed?

Jonathan Rosenblum: The Israel Lobby: Missing in Action

June 2, 2009

Dennis Prager: The Speech President Obama Won't Dare Give in Egypt

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Pressure on Israel raises war risk

Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review Nov. 3, 2003 / 8 Mar-Cheshvan, 5764

Stop insulting Judaism and Christianity, Mr. President

By Diana West


Printer Friendly Version

Email this article


It's high time to tell the truth about the adherents — and, more importantly, leaders — of the "great religion"


http://www.jewishworldreview.com | I'd like to think that with Ramadan rolling around again, President Bush at least considered calling off his annual White House dinner with assorted Muslim luminaries to break their holiday fast. No other religious group — not Jews, Catholics, Protestants or even Druids — rates an official celebration like the Iftaar supper, a White House "tradition" since 2001. That was the year the United States first decided that "reaching out" to Muslims following Muslim terrorist attacks on the United States was a good idea. Three Ramadans later, a sense of dining entitlement has no doubt kicked in that's harder to buck than not.


So,the president hosted his Ramadan dinner. Believing (and having written) that this man is all that separates us from the abyss, I'm pulling for Mr. Bush to succeed. At the same time, I'm also hoping he choked a little on his official remarks, at least on the part where he called on people of all faiths to reflect on "the values we hold common — love of family, gratitude to G-d, and" — insert Heimlich Maneuver here — "a commitment to religious freedom."


Islam may have a lot of things — love of family and gratitude to G-d, as the president said, along with jihad (holy war), dhimmitude (inferior status of non-Muslims) and a corner on the suicide bombing market — but it does not have "a commitment to religious freedom." And, that goes even after excluding al Qaeda, the Taliban and the entire royal family of Saudi Arabia. Take Egypt. According to a report I first saw posted at www.robertspencer.org, a new Web site devoted to both jihad and dhimmitude, a slew of Christian converts from Islam have been arrested since Oct. 21 in Egypt — our modern (moderate?) friend and recipient of billions in U.S. aid — in a crackdown on "apostates."

Donate to JWR

As reported by the Barnabas Fund, a British watchdog group, as many as 22 Christian converts "have been taken from Alexandria to police stations in Cairo and are being beaten, interrogated and tortured." The charge? Falsifying identity papers. While it's not technically against the law in Egypt for Muslims to convert to Christianity — as it is under the sharia law of, say, Iran, Sudan and Saudi Arabia — it is illegal for any Egyptian to drop his Muslim name for a Christian name. "Thus," as the Barnabas Fund explains, Christian converts in Egypt are always "regarded as Muslims in the eyes of the law."


The repercussions never end. Muslim women who convert to Christianity are prohibited from marrying Christian men, while children of converts are regarded as Muslims and educated as Muslims. Even in death, converts must be buried as Muslims. As a result, the Barnabas Fund explains, some Christian converts apply for official papers under assumed names the Egyptian state considers illegal. If their unofficially adopted Christian names are detected, converts are open to charges of falsifying official documents — "which can be used as a way of punishing them for their apostasy."


What was that the president was saying about Judaism, Christianity and Islam being equally committed to freedom of religion? It sounds like the voice of diplomatic politesse — as it does every time Mr. Bush insists the Muslim terrorists waging jihad on Western civilization "are evil people who have hijacked a great religion." It may seem nice and neighborly, but such a formulation categorically denies the fact that there is something inherent to that "great religion" — jihad and dhimmitude, for starters — that inspires the supposed "hijacking," shaping a theology that has always been part terrorist manifesto. This same soft-soap routine also obscures the desperate need for Islamic reformation, an accommodation with modernity that would allow other religions to coexist with Islam without fear.


The impulse to hide the truth about Islam — about its connection to terrorism and its disconnection from Western civilization — is a shocking fact of the "war on terrorism." Addressing reporters on the day of his Ramadan dinner, Mr. Bush said Muslim leaders have asked him: "Why do Americans think Muslims are terrorists?" Instead of answering, "Because an unending pattern of catastrophic terrorism against the United States has been perpetrated by Muslims, that's why," Mr. Bush replied: "That's not what Americans think. Americans think terrorists are evil people who have hijacked a great religion."


Preaching on Saudi state television from the holy mosque in Medina, Shaykh Salah Bin-Muhammad al-Budayr recently hailed Ramadan, concluding his sermon (according to a translation at www.imra.org.il): "O G-d, support Islam and Muslims and destroy the enemies of Islam, including Jews, Christians and atheists. . . . O G-d, deal with the Jews for they are within your power. . . O G-d, shake the land under their feet, instill fear in their hearts and make them a booty for Muslims and a lesson to others."


Such sermonizing — quite common in the Muslim world — may show a commitment to something, but religious freedom isn't it.

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in Washington and in the media consider "must reading." Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.

JWR contributor Diana West is a columnist and editorial writer for the Washington Times. Comment by clicking here.

© 2003, Diana West