New York Times hits “disturbing trend” of seeing Islam as “not a religion”

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This outstandingly disingenuous article is written by Asma T. Uddin, a Muslim religious liberty lawyer and scholar, who undoubtedly knows very well that when Bennett, McCarthy, Flynn and others say that Islam is a political ideology, they’re 100% correct. And that’s the real issue here, not whether or not Islam is a religion. If Islam is a political ideology, even if it is a religion as well, then that political ideology has to be evaluated in light of its compatibility, or lack thereof, with the U.S. Constitution and the rights and freedoms it guarantees. Asma Uddin presents her quotes from people saying that Islam is a political ideology as if they were self-evidently false, yet Islam is implemented as a political ideology today in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Sudan, and elsewhere. The elements of Islamic law that are political, authoritarian, supremacist, and injurious to the rights of women and others are the focus of anti-sharia laws, not the aspects of sharia that involve Muslim religious practices.

Uddin hits me for pointing out that there is a “Muslim effort to impose Islam on the secular marketplace,” and yet there is. The efforts to get accommodation for Muslim women wearing hijabs in the workplace are not the same thing as Christian bakers refusing to bake a cake for a gay wedding, because the Christian bakery is not part of a larger effort to establish and reinforce the principle that wherever Christian belief and practice conflict with American law, it is American law that must give way. But there is a large-scale and ongoing effort, as longtime readers of the Geller Report well know, to establish and reinforce the principle that wherever Islamic law and American law conflict, American law must give way.

The larger question in this insidious New York Times article is whether the protections afforded by the First Amendment give Muslims — or anyone else — permission to break other American laws. If some odious practice is enshrined in sharia, such as FGM or the killing of apostates, does that mean we have to allow it in America, because of the First Amendment? That question is on the table now in the trial of the FGM doctors in Detroit, who are using religious freedom as a defense. If they win, the door will be open for Muslims to commit any crime at all, as long as they can argue that it is sanctioned by sharia.

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“The Latest Attack on Islam: It’s Not a Religion,” by Asma T. Uddin, New York Times, September 26, 2018:

Religious liberty has become a particularly politicized topic in recent years, and recent months were no different. In a long-awaited June decision, the Supreme Court decided in favor of a Christian baker who refused to make a custom wedding cake for a gay couple. In July, Attorney General Jeff Sessions introduced a “religious liberty task force” that critics saw as a mere cover for anti-gay discrimination. And Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s record has been scoured for evidence of what his appointment to the Supreme Court would mean for future decisions in which Christian beliefs clash with law and policy.

But when it comes to religious liberty for Americans, there’s a disturbing trend that has drawn much less attention. In recent years, state lawmakers, lawyers and influential social commentators have been making the case that Muslims are not protected by the First Amendment.

Why? Because, they argue, Islam is not a religion.

This once seemed like an absurd fringe argument. But it has gained momentum. John Bennett, a Republican state legislator in Oklahoma, said in 2014, “Islam is not even a religion; it is a political system that uses a deity to advance its agenda of global conquest.” In 2015, a former assistant United States attorney, Andrew C. McCarthy, wrote in National Review that Islam “should be understood as conveying a belief system that is not merely, or even primarily, religious.” In 2016, Michael Flynn, who the next year was briefly President Trump’s national security adviser, told an ACT for America conference in Dallas that “Islam is a political ideology” that “hides behind the notion of it being a religion.” In a January 2018 news release, Neal Tapio of South Dakota, a Republican state senator who was planning to run for the United States House of Representatives, questioned whether the First Amendment applies to Muslims….

The fear is not limited to mosque cases. There have been legislative efforts in 43 states to ban the practice of Islamic religious law, or Shariah law; 24 bills were introduced in 2017 alone, according to the Haas Institute at the University of California, Berkeley. This year, Idaho introduced an anti-Shariah bill, bringing the number of measures introduced since 2010 to at least 217. Of those, 20 have been enacted.

The laws’ backers seem to see them as necessary stopgaps to protect against their imagined Muslim takeover of America. When an Idaho state representative, Eric Redman, a Republican, introduced his anti-Shariah bill in January, he said it was needed so that “foreign law” would not “defile our constitutional laws” and to “protect our state and our country.” That’s a similar sentiment to the one expressed by the conservative political activist Pamela Geller, who argued in a 2016 commentary published by Breitbart that Muslim women seeking accommodations to wear a head scarf in the workplace are part of a “Muslim effort to impose Islam on the secular marketplace.”…

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felix1999
felix1999
5 years ago

The SWAMP has been prepared for this!
ONLY ISLAM was singled out for “special protections”.

This passed under Obama – 2016!

Muslims have SPECIAL rights! No other religion was included in this bill.

Only ISLAM!
Rubio praised it!

https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-resolution/569/text

H.Res.569 – Condemning violence, bigotry, and hateful rhetoric towards Muslims in the United States.

114th Congress (2015-2016)
That the House of Representatives—

(1) expresses its condolences for the victims of anti-Muslim hate crimes;
(2) steadfastly confirms its dedication to the rights and dignity of all its citizens of all faiths, beliefs, and cultures;
(3) denounces in the strongest terms the increase of hate speech, intimidation, violence, vandalism, arson, and other hate crimes targeted against mosques, Muslims, or those perceived to be Muslim;
(4) recognizes that the United States Muslim community has made countless positive contributions to United States society;
(5) declares that the civil rights and civil liberties of all United States citizens, including Muslims in the United States, should be protected and preserved;
(6) urges local and Federal law enforcement authorities to work to prevent hate crimes; and to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law those perpetrators of hate crimes; and
(7) reaffirms the inalienable right of every citizen to live without fear and intimidation, and to practice their freedom of faith.

Mark Steiner
Mark Steiner
5 years ago
Reply to  felix1999

Thanks for revisiting this.

True kafir
True kafir
5 years ago

Islam is not a religion. Islam is a political ideology, its core objective is world domination.

Suresh
Suresh
5 years ago
Reply to  True kafir

Agree. They come, steal , threaten and ethnically cleanse without violence
https://tinyurl.com/y7yhc4dl

you cannot win unless there is organised legal /political pushback

Mark Steiner
Mark Steiner
5 years ago
Reply to  True kafir

It is from the pit of hell, with its religious attributes, and in it, has a false god to worship – actually a high-ranking general in the army of Satan.

fred m
fred m
5 years ago

I don’t know why people make a fuss about the word ‘religion’, as if it automatically conferred respectability on a belief. Voodoo is a religion, but a bloody awful one. Strictly speaking only monks and nuns are really ‘religious’, ie life according to a relig or rule.

Poppey
Poppey
5 years ago

This unease by that paper is understandable to a point, like most sheeple, the effort to think clearly has been a little too much for them so they just followed the message about Islam being a religion.

This fault line in Islamic theology introduced into the west will prove to be its downfall, because you cannot tolerate illegal practice in you western country because it’s referred to as “religious freedom” for a quiet life because pretty soon you won’t have a life at all if you do.

All rests on the question, do we as western people believe in the concepts of equality before the law for all we’ve established in our nations, to defend them against the left and their running dogs of Islam ?

R. Arandas
R. Arandas
5 years ago

Are cults generally considered “religions”?

Janet
Janet
5 years ago
Reply to  R. Arandas

A lot of them are like Scientology. That’s another bunch getting that tax exemption. Makes me crazy!

R. Arandas
R. Arandas
5 years ago
Reply to  Janet

It is interesting. I do not like to be too judgmental myself, but I have to admit, couldn’t anyone in theory start a “cult” and claim the same status and benefits?

Murielle
Murielle
5 years ago
Reply to  R. Arandas

Theoretically, yes. In actuality, it’s a bit harder. Hence, we have Mohamed’s conversion by the sword.

VoiceInDesert
VoiceInDesert
5 years ago
Reply to  R. Arandas

Even atheism, in my opinion, is a “religion”. The atheist worships himself, possessions, accomplishments and human idols.

Charles Martell III
Charles Martell III
5 years ago
Reply to  VoiceInDesert

You have to “Believe” there is no God . . . . “Belief” is a religious exercise !

CharlieSeattle
CharlieSeattle
5 years ago
Reply to  VoiceInDesert

Wrong!

Tamara Hussey-Mecklenburg
Tamara Hussey-Mecklenburg
5 years ago

Islam is military organization. Ie terrorist organization.

It has never been a religion. It’s a totalitarian regime. A vile cult.

Religion has nothing to do with Islam. Islam is hatred for all humankind.

Boocat Butterbee
Boocat Butterbee
5 years ago

You can tell this partly because no other religion outlaws the temples and churches of other religions. There are no churches or temples in Saudi Arabia. None. So what does that tell you? It is a fascist political organization. No one else has any legal rights.

Janet
Janet
5 years ago

Right! And the Saudi’s are the ones paying for all these mosques going up all over the country. I’m sure that’s not all they’re doing either.

CharlieSeattle
CharlieSeattle
5 years ago

In every WESTERN country where Muslims are in the minority, they are obsessed with minority rights.

In every ISLAMIC country with a Muslim majority, …there are no minority rights!

tom
tom
5 years ago

Who are you gonna believe? This idiot Muslima….or your lying eyes? These jihad enablers must take us for complete fools. News flash….I didn’t fall off the turnip truck last night, dear. It’s clear to anyone with two brain cells to rub together that Islam is a “religion” in name only. I mean really, what kind of legitimate religion straight up instructs its followers to kill unbelievers and apostates? Repeat after me…Islam is a supremacist, totalitarian ideology masquerading as a religion.

Janet
Janet
5 years ago

What’s it going to take for people to get a clue about Islam? Do ya have to knock them upside the head with a Quran? People think I’m paranoid when I try to tell them about it. What do we need another 9/11? They are hiring Muslims at airports, hotels and city buildings. They are now running for political office and winning! They are shoving it down children’s throats in our schools and colleges. They get away with preaching hate in their mosques because we’re to afraid to monitor them now.
Thank God for people like Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer and many others who fight for the rest of us. Heck I wish President Trump would use them for advisers in his administration. At least they’re honest about the threat.

chris VN
chris VN
5 years ago
Reply to  Janet

In Australia, ( where it’s not easy to own a gun ), muslims have taken over most security companies, ( where they can easily get a gun licence, and access to a hand gun ).

Janet
Janet
5 years ago
Reply to  chris VN

Wow that’s a scary thought. ????

Pathfinder0100
Pathfinder0100
5 years ago
Reply to  Janet

BOY!–O–BOY!! Janet. That first Question!! I have been askin’ it for over 10 years and STILL have NO answer!! Even my family thinks I’m some kind of a nut because I keep trying to wake people of the very real danger of Islam!! I’ll never quit tho tiI go to that “Great Motorcycle Shop in the Sky”. (Won’t be much longer for that. (87 years old and failing health) But I’ll fight for m Country, in the only way that I can, til I draw my last breath.

Janet
Janet
5 years ago
Reply to  Pathfinder0100

Don’t feel bad. Some of my family and friends think I’m a little nuts too. I have to say though that I’m kind of glad I’m on the second half of my life. I sure as hell don’t want to be here when these crazy, lazy young people who think socialism is the way to go are running this country. No thanks I’ll pass! But as long as I’m still breathing I too will fight for my grandchildren and great grandchildren in hopes we can stop this madness. Islam is determined but so are we and I’ll keep speaking my mind until I leave this earth. God Bless and take care! ????

Pathfinder0100
Pathfinder0100
5 years ago
Reply to  Janet

At 87 I’m fighting right along side of you and I know that we will fight til they drag us kickin’ and screamin’ to our graves!!

Pathfinder0100
Pathfinder0100
5 years ago
Reply to  Pathfinder0100

Sad–But true!!

Gordon Miller
Gordon Miller
5 years ago

Some religion.????

Dusty Rhodes Decker
Dusty Rhodes Decker
5 years ago

We have gotten to a point where Christians and Jews are allowed no accommodations due to the so-called “separation of church and state.” Aside from the fact the proponents of this “separation” are reading the constitution wrong, why do they insist we have to accommodate Islam? Like everything else about the left, there is no consistency except in that they consistently desire to harm this country.

Alleged-Comment
Alleged-Comment
5 years ago

Again, if you remove your Christianity, there goes your Constitution, then your country. You’ll have neither any of them left.

And nature abhors a vacuum. Something will quickly fill it up and replace it. But what? Whether it’s communism, Islam, socialism or lieberalism, I can guarantee you it will be GODLESS and LAWLESS.

Doyoureally Wanttoknow
Doyoureally Wanttoknow
5 years ago

To call islam a religion is like say mafia is religion – nobody call criminal activity religion except the criminals them self – phedophilia is a crime

Political_qrm
Political_qrm
5 years ago

Islam is a 7th century culture which has a religious component. It cannot be considered just a religion because every aspect of life has rules, even getting a loan at a bank.

Everything about Islam is counter to the laws, traditions and lifestyle of Western civilization. It’s not compatible. There are 57 muslim countries in the world. Go live in one of them.

Steve
Steve
5 years ago

Islam, a political system, hides behind the mask of religion like the man behind the curtain. One only has to read the Quran to see how much is devoted, not to religion, but how to deal with non Muslims. One only needs to read “Reliance of the Traveler” to understand even further the political system that controls every facet of your Muslim life.

The Quran is basically about sex, money and power.

Suggest reading Dr. Bill Warner’s books on Political Islam. politicalislam.com

Charles Martell III
Charles Martell III
5 years ago

Izlamofascism is a dangerous Ideology that intends to take over and create a Global Califat.
How many times do they have to tell you . . . before you start to understand?
Interesting that so many States are starting to catch on . . . . unlike our friends in Europe who seem to be going down for the count.

In my humble opinion Izzzlamofascism is the most dangerous movement on the Globe, completely incompatible with Western Democracies . . . and our inane Progressive friends seem to want to help them advance their influence!

Sherry Pennington
Sherry Pennington
5 years ago

I totally believe that Islam/Sharia Law is primarily a political ideology. It isn’t difficult to come to that conclusion if one simply reads the Quran. It is in complete opposition to all that our country stands for and is inhumane.
Believers can never assimilate to western society and beliefs.

Mike
Mike
5 years ago

It is a 7th century hate cult which for over 1400 years has been masquerading as a religion while at the same time demanding we all must Convert or Die.

No valid religion in 2018 demands the beheading of those who leave it, or beheads a women who cannot provide 4 male witnesses to a rape, or wraps detonation cord around the heads of dozen of prisoners to simultaneously blow off their heads,… It is a cancer on humanity and like any other cancer not a single cell can be allowed to remain.

CharlieSeattle
CharlieSeattle
5 years ago

>> Notice << > The fascist NY TIMES (formerly a reputable US newspaper 100 years ago) rarely takes or posts comments from American patriots sick of our slanted anti-American worker, anti-US Constitution, anti-Trump, pro-illegal alien, pro-muslim and racist liberal bias. < > Please Air Mail your complaints, taped to a brick, through any west side window of our main office between 3am and 5am for proper consideration by our editors. < > 620 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY < > Thank You, in advance for your submissions! <

CharlieSeattle
CharlieSeattle
5 years ago

In every WESTERN country where Muslims are in the minority, they are obsessed with minority rights.
In every ISLAMIC country with a Muslim majority, …there are no minority rights!

islam is NOT a religion of peace!!
islam is a sick and twisted terrorist ideology that is completely incompatible with western civilization!!

Deport all muslims, CITIZENS OR not, from the west at once!
Ban all muslims from traveling to the west, …FOREVER!
Implement muslim control, NOT gun control!

Defending your person, your family, your country from attack and invasion from those forcing a violent, terrorist, genocidal ideology on western civilization…is …not … islamophobia ….or racist. ….It is just common sense.

The people of Europe, Britain and Canada must throw down their treasonous leaders forcing this evil upon them.

……………………………The USA just did, Nov. 2016!

CharlieSeattle
CharlieSeattle
5 years ago

The US does NOT need to allow thousands of backward, 7th century, unvetted and violent muslim savages into our country that have ‘enshrined’ sexual slavery, rape, forced conversion, assault, murder and genocide in their FAKE religion!

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