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Mosque Near Ground Zero Survey Results

By Arlon Staywell RICHMOND — Who are they? Who are those people who oppose building a mosque near the site of the former World Trade Center?
A quick, therefore perhaps less scientific, survey shows that 61 percent believe the people who oppose the mosque "are wise to seek to improve relations with God fearing Muslims in a somewhat more gradual way."
Meanwhile 37 percent believe that the people who oppose the mosque "are illiterate, pea brained, xenophobic grunts who should try to read at least one whole book before they die, and stop picking fights with God fearing Muslims before another plane magically crashes into them."
The smallest group, 2 percent, believe that the people who currently oppose the mosque should agree with Barak Obama that the "constitution requires" the mosque immediately.
The political analysts of course had to make it clear that Obama's number was so high because he is the sitting president and because anyone who could not pick a category was automatically placed with him.
More to follow
In the rather expansive contact list any reponsible journalist maintains I have as well as the major groups some lesser known; the Wiccans, pagans, and various new age religions and philosophical "traditions" and fads.
Among the questions put to them was if you can have a store that sells "spells" or "spell casting" materials and instructions, shouldn't you also have a religious center representing one of the world's major religions?
Perhaps not suprisingly they are still composing their responses or declining to answer altogether. A perhaps better worded question to which much more response is expected is whether they can compare how they have been misunderstood for so long with how perhaps the Muslims are misunderstood.
Watch for future articles here because they have also been invited to make freestyled comments.
Progress Report August 19, 2010
New site or new leader? In the general outcry against building the mosque near ground zero there is found an expression of concern for the religion of Islam as it might well be distinct from certain terrorists. We are told by some that Islam is not the problem, but the specific location or the specific leader who might run the center.
It might however seem to reasonable people that if they knew one Muslim leader in the the world they could approve, they could invite that leader to work more closely with them. That is, instead of saying, "another site," they should say, "another leader." Failing that it would appear that they indeed have serious reservations about the entirety of Islam. It would indicate a failure to work out differences. But whose fault would that be?
Report on Pastor Terry Jones
Terry Jones, the pastor of a small, "Christian" church (not directly tied to any large, organized disciplic system) in Gainsville, Florida grabbed headlines around the world by announcing a plan to burn copies of the Quran in a protest to be held on the anniversary of the September 11 World Trade Center attack. The resounding response from political and religious leaders was that it did not represent them, their constituencies or congregations at all.
Not Really News
For the sake of Pastor Jones and anyone who might agree with him on the idea to burn the Quran we reminded, all we could actually, that the singer songwriter of "Peace Train" has been a Muslim since 1978. Of course this was not news to many who could likely sing the song for you.
Some fans were disappointed with Yusuf Islam's ("Cat Stevens'") comments on the fatwa against Salman Rushdie as failing to draw the reigns on it.
Far less disappointing were his comments shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks ...

I wish to express my heartfelt horror at the indiscriminate terrorist attacks committed against innocent people of the United States yesterday. While it is still not clear who carried out the attack, it must be stated that no right-thinking follower of Islam could possibly condone such an action. The Qur'an equates the murder of one innocent person with the murder of the whole of humanity. We pray for the families of all those who lost their lives in this unthinkable act of violence as well as all those injured; I hope to reflect the feelings of all Muslims and people around the world whose sympathies go out to the victims of this sorrowful moment. -Rolling Stone

Jones cancelled the burning.
The "Dabbling" Controversy
In a probably unrelated event it was revealed that surprise winner of the recent Delaware republican senatorial primary, Christine O'Donnell said that she "dabbled" in "witchcraft." That on a tape from 1999 ostensibly for a Bill Maher television program.
Lest her obvious misuse of the term "dabbled" besmirch responsible journalists whose duty it is to keep lines of communication open, it was necessary to write the following, the text of which is essentially the same as in my article on Examiner.com.

Among the more admired traits of the government of the United States ever, and among the reduced number of traits still very widely admired, is the part where the courts, the press and the church may speak to convicted criminals. And more importantly perhaps, convicted criminals may speak to them. In fact it is technically impossible to be labeled a criminal unless one has an opportunity to speak out. Whatever Hillary Clinton's views on presidents speaking to foreign governments; certain speech, and especially certain answers, are still a guaranteed right of U.S. citizenship.
The point here is that even people with "bizarre" religious beliefs are free to defend them as they might in the general public discussion, especially if they aren't convicted criminals.
That means that people, especially with judicial, religious or public communication responsibilities, are likely to give at least some limited audience to people whose ideas are outside the mainstream. It has long been held that this is the best way to maintain and upkeep the mainstream, if nothing else.
So it should not seem terribly unusual for a person with political interests to have some limited traffic with people whose beliefs are as outlandish as for example Bill Maher. Yes, Bill Maher, more on that to follow later.
But for O'Donnell to say she "dabbled" in witchcraft was not a good choice of words. From the context of the rest of the appearance on the tape it is probably not what she meant to say. She should have said she "investigated" it, which is what the courts, the press and the church do at all times in all places anyway.
And if you disapprove of the term, "the church," as being artificially unified, please note that it is as unified as the "the press" certainly if not the "the courts" as well.
Her Big Mistake
Even so, using the word "dabbled" was not her biggest mistake. Her biggest mistake was appearing on a tape with Bill Maher.
The problem with Bill Maher is he believes that simply because he fails to appreciate the efficacy of any organized religion, that automatically qualifies him as a proponent of "reason" or "science." That in itself would be utterly hilarious if not for the fact that such large numbers of people in America today think the same incorrect way. That makes it serious.
Since he is a proponent of gay marriage, legalized marijuana, prostitution and gambling he is likely to offend far more voters than people who simply believe chamomile tea has more powers than widely recognized.
And if we asked some "Christians" whether the thought ever crossed their minds to ask Satan to get Bill Maher off television, in a few very rare cases they might have to admit they did, but repented and got forgiveness shortly after.
And that is before we note Maher's positions on euthanasia, abortion, the death penalty and dating Playboy models. But we shouldn't be concerned about his being an effective leader. He's a follower, not an original thinker. His attitudes on all those were likely copied straight out of Satan's playbook. And that is a contest for which we are prepared.

Further progress will be reported here when it occurs

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