I read the testimony, sampled the other references, but no more clarity emerged. Senate testimony isn't gospel truth (often far from it), and this consisted of allegations without substantiation, and dubious extrapolations of financial backing from a few documented transactions. $100,000 from the Saudis to help build a mosque in New York? That actually sounds pretty stingy, given property values.
When the facts are skimpy it's useful to fall back on judging the source. Schwartz is a director of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, linked to neocon and Conservative think tanks, and described by RightWeb as the successor to the pro-Israel lobby EMET. No real help there, just grounds for skepticism.
I followed his footnotes. One interesting document is The Mosque in America: A National Portrait (2000), the Islamic subset of the Faith Communities Today study. It doesn't bear directly on Scwarz's assertions, but if it's accurate, it depicts mosque as engaging in the same good works as any church or synagogue: Drug counselling, marriage counselling, teen programs, etc. Paints a very "normalizing" picture of Islam. CAIR is one of the sponsors, and I understand that they're viewed with suspicion by the Right. Take it for what it's worth.
'Fraid I don't feel any more enlightened than when I started.
Off Topic » in reply to re: Really.
re: Really.
The whole thread (68 posts)
- Little Mosque on the Prairie
- re: Little Mosques Everywhere is what they aim for.
- re: Little Mosques Everywhere is what they aim for.
- I don't get the joke. Maybe you could explain it to me. (n/t)
- No, sorry. (n/t)
- You knew the question was a set-up, didn't you?
- Is their clever juxtaposition too easily interpreted as negative?
- Let me take a shot at it.
- I think their joke is more juvenile than you suggest.
- re: I think their joke is more juvenile than you suggest.
- THANK GOD WE dont start wars.... (n/t)
- All insult humor is name-calling.
- No, just read the news.
- Naturally. If one white man shoots someone, does that make white men murderers?
- If one white man shoots someone, it is usually for isolated and unique reasons.
- Ah. You must have missed Ireland (Christian on Christian) & the ethnic cleansing in Sarajevo (Christian on Muslim).
- Numbers
- Yes, let's talk about racial violence.
- Well, religion is as religion does, eh?
- Ah. You must have missed Ireland (Christian on Christian) & the ethnic cleansing in Sarajevo (Christian on Muslim).
- If one white man shoots someone, it is usually for isolated and unique reasons.
- Naturally. If one white man shoots someone, does that make white men murderers?
- No, just read the news.
- I also think religious-oriented tv programs have no place in an educated society
- I think their joke is more juvenile than you suggest.
- Let me take a shot at it.
- No, sorry. (n/t)
- I don't get the joke. Maybe you could explain it to me. (n/t)
- Were the prieviews really religious? The clip I heard on the radio was not. (n/t)
- re: Little Mosques Everywhere is what they aim for.
- re: Little Mosque on the Prairie
- I heard excerpts of this show on Fresh Air
- re: Little Mosques Everywhere is what they aim for.