The author wants to lump all muslims together. I know all muslims are persona non grata lately, but they are not all the same. The author mentions "White Christian or Aryan Nations Cookie Parlor." Black Muslims have as much to do with Orthodox Islam as white supremacist Christian fringe groups do. Islamists or "Radical Islam" is more in line with mainstream Islam than Black Muslims are. If this group's crimes are being overlooked due to prejudice, I would guess it is because they are black, not because they are muslim.

"There is no official connection between YBMB and Louis Farrakhan's racist and cultish Nation of Islam, though it seems that Yusuf Bey Sr. did convert to some form of Islam under that sinister organization's auspices." ~ the article

I think you either skimmed or are being unfair. Hitchens clearly states that the YBMB is a heretical off-shoot of the Nation of Islam, which itself has as little to do with Islam as the Church of LDS has to do with Christianity. Perhaps Hitchens could have explained that for any of his readers that are completely uneducated in the subject, but this is not USA Today or Us Weekly, this is Slate. I think it is quite fair of Hitchens to expect a certain level of education (be it collegiate or experiential) in his readership.

The article has nothing to do with Islam; it's another in Hitchens continuing series about people who are "gaming the system" of tolerance, and the recognition that when you're playing the prisoner's dilemma, and your counterpart keeps defecting, it's time for tit-for-tat.

I read the article and I didn't get a tilt against Muslims in particular.

Can a Good Muslim be a Good American?

Interesting questions for the Muslim Community to discuss & for
research on our part also.

Can a good Muslim be a good American? I forwarded that question
to a friend who worked in Saudi Arabia for 20 years .
The following is his forwarded reply which I respect:

Theologically - no. Because his allegiance is to Allah, the moon
God of Arabia.
Religiously - no. Because no other religion is accepted by his Allah
except Islam (Quran, 2:256)

Scripturally - no. Because his allegiance is to the five pillars of
Islam and the Quran (Koran).

Geographically - no. Because his allegiance is to Mecca, to which he
turns in prayer five times a day.

Socially - no. Because his allegiance to Islam forbids him to make
friends with Christians or Jews.

Politically - no. Because he must submit to the mullah (spiritual
leaders), who teach annihilation of Israel and destruction of America,
the great Satan.

Domestically - no. Because he is instructed to marry four women and
beat and scourge his wife when she disobeys him (Quran 4:34 ).

Intellectually - no. Because he cannot accept the American
Constitution since it is based on Biblical principles and he believes
the Bible to be corrupt.

Philosophically - no. Because Islam, Muhammad, and the Quran do not
allow freedom of religion and expression.
Democracy and Islam cannot co-exist. Every Muslim government is either dictatorial or autocratic.

Spiritually - no. Because when we declare "one nation under God,"
the Christians God is loving and kind, while Allah is NEVER referred to
as heavenly father, nor is he ever called love in The Qurans 99
excellent names.

Therefore after much study and deliberation.... Perhaps we should be
very suspicious of ALL MUSLIMS in this World. They obviously cannot
be both "good" Muslims and good Americans.

Call it what you wish, its still the truth. You had better believe it!
If you find yourself intellectually in agreement with the above
statements, perhaps you will share this with your friends.
The more who understand this, the better it will be for our country
and our future.
Pass it on to Fellow Americans. The religious war is bigger than we
know or understand.

And Braack Hussein Obama, a Muslim, wants to be US President...nice
move but no cigar.

Can a Good Catholic be a Good American?

Interesting questions for the Catholic Community to discuss & for research on our part also.

Can a good Catholic be a good American? I forwarded that question to a friend who worked in Italy for 20 years.
The following is his forwarded reply which I respect:

Theologically - no. Because his allegiance is to Mary, the "virgin" who purportedly birthed a god.
Religiously - no. Because no other religion is accepted by his Pope accept Catholicism (The Pope even requires that non-believers be tortured until they convert! Ad exstirpanda, May 15th, 1252)

Scripturally - no. Because his allegiance is to the ten commandments and the Bible (Bible).

Geographically - no. Because his allegiance is to Vatican City, of which he constructs diaramas in his segregated parochial elementary schools.

Socially - no. Because his allegiance to Catholicism requires him to incessantly evangelize Muslims and Jews.

Politically - no. Because he must submit to the Pope (spiritual leaders), who teaches annihilation of gays, feminists, Jews, and the seizure of non-Christian lands with the enslavement of their inhabitants (Romanus Pontifex, January 8th, 1455).

Domestically - no. Because he is instructed to stone his children if they disagree with him strongly, and his god sends bears to eat kids who make fun of the bald. (2 Kings 2:23).

Intellectually - no. Because he cannot accept the American Constitution since it is based on liberty, democracy, and tolerance, and Biblical principles he believes in tell him that god is going to torture for eternity anyone who disagrees with him.

Philosophically - no. Because Catholicism, the Pope, and the Bible do not allow freedom of religion and expression. Democracy and Catholicism cannot co-exist. Every Catholic government is either dictatorial or autocratic.

Spiritually - no. Because when we declare "one nation under God," (a tradition acquired in living memory, during the McCarthy hysteria) the Catholics are secretly thinking about Mary and all of the saints they worship, because they are a bunch of polytheists.

Therefore after much study and deliberation.... Perhaps we should be very suspicious of ALL CATHOLICS in this World. They obviously cannot be both "good" Catholics and good Americans.

Call it what you wish, its still the truth. You had better believe it! If you find yourself intellectually in agreement with the above statements, perhaps you will share this with your friends. The more who understand this, the better it will be for our country and our future. If you don't redistribute this ridiculous diatribe to 10 people by the next fortnight the Pope will send the Inquisition after you.

Pass it on to Fellow Americans. The religious war is bigger than we know or understand.

And Barack Hussein Obama, who is a devout Christian who regularly attends church, wants to be US President...great idea, let's celebrate with a cigar.

No, the problem is society lumping all religions together as supposedly perfect, holier-than-thou entities that cannot be criticized. They are not.

Just because it's a religion, doesn't mean it's right. We should be able to freely criticize any religion just as we can criticize other things that affect our life. If not, we are just lumping all religions together as being this wonderful thing that they are not.

Agreed. I blame not being able to criticize someone's religious beliefs or irriational opinions, for that matter, on the cult of "political correctness" and not wanting to hurt people's feelings or opinions ever.

Ironic though, how unable religious people are to leave "non-believers" or people of other faiths alone about their beliefs, when you compare that to their reactions when their beliefs are criticized.

Lots of ignorance/hate in this one:

Kick:

Can a Good Muslim be a Good American?

Interesting questions for the Muslim Community to discuss & for
research on our part also.

Can a good Muslim be a good American? I forwarded that question
to a friend who worked in Saudi Arabia for 20 years .
The following is his forwarded reply which I respect:

Theologically - no. Because his allegiance is to Allah, the moon

God of Arabia.

Not true, there is only one god in this world, Allah. It is not geography specific (Arabia) or a moon god. It is the god of Abraham, same as Jews and Christians.

Religiously - no. Because no other religion is accepted by his Allah
except Islam (Quran, 2:256)

True, except it is islam lowercase 'I" as in "submits to the will of god" God will only accept total submission to the will of god as religion, not half-hearted attempts.

Scripturally - no. Because his allegiance is to the five pillars of
Islam and the Quran (Koran).

Not true, our allegiance is to god, nothing else.
Geographically - no. Because his allegiance is to Mecca, to which he
turns in prayer five times a day.

Not true, see above. We don't worship places, we pray towards Mecca to show unity and brotherhood. We all face one direction to pray.

Socially - no. Because his allegiance to Islam forbids him to make
friends with Christians or Jews.

Not true, Muslims are even allowed to marry Jewish and Christian women.

Politically - no. Because he must submit to the mullah (spiritual
leaders), who teach annihilation of Israel and destruction of America,
the great Satan.
Not true, see above . We submit only to god. There is no clergy in Islam. No man is Holy or closer to god than any other.

Domestically - no. Because he is instructed to marry four women and
beat and scourge his wife when she disobeys him (Quran 4:34 ).

Not true, Muslims are allowed but discouraged to marry more than one wife.
Intellectually - no. Because he cannot accept the American
Constitution since it is based on Biblical principles and he believes
the Bible to be corrupt.

Not true, This government was NOT founded on the bible, (see T. Jefferson)

Philosophically - no. Because Islam, Muhammad, and the Quran do not
allow freedom of religion and expression.
Democracy and Islam cannot co-exist. Every Muslim government is either dictatorial or autocratic.

Not true, Freedom is highly valued in Islam. The Quran states that the is no compulsion in religion.

Spiritually - no. Because when we declare "one nation under God,"
the Christians God is loving and kind, while Allah is NEVER referred to
as heavenly father, nor is he ever called love in The Qurans 99
excellent names.
Not true, This one is just silly, it hardly makes sense. One nation under god? that is fine with Islam. Read the 99 names yourself, many refer to God as loving, merciful, beneficent, etc.
Therefore after much study and deliberation.... Perhaps we should be
very suspicious of ALL MUSLIMS in this World. They obviously cannot
be both "good" Muslims and good Americans.

The above paragraph is quite scary. No wonder my 10 year old son is scared to wear o kufi outside of the home or mosque.

Call it what you wish, its still the truth. You had better believe it!
If you find yourself intellectually in agreement with the above
statements, perhaps you will share this with your friends.
The more who understand this, the better it will be for our country
and our future.
Pass it on to Fellow Americans. The religious war is bigger than we
know or understand.

And Braack Hussein Obama, a Muslim, wants to be US President...nice
move but no cigar.

Sadly Obama is not muslim and attends a christian church regularly.

Yeah Gslape; I'm pretty sure that list wasn't even original to the poster who put it there. It reads like a chain letter. I'm sorry your son feels afraid; I never wore my yarmulke around town when I was younger either, but eventually I realized that it was more important to me than what people thought of me. It's tough being a kid.

Salaam,
Eric

Not a bad refutation of the original poster's misunderstanding and misstatements about Islam, but at least one item that you wrote is also mistaken.

Allah is not the same God of Jews and Christians. Allah was one of many gods worshipped in Arabia at the time of Christ. There was never any connection with that god and Abraham until centuries after Christ when Mohammed came along and conquered most of the other Arabian tribes, uniting them under his Moon God. He then determined to spread his religion and tribe's dominance outside Arabia, and therefore concocted the Isaac-Ishmael connection.

I agree with you that the United States is NOT a Christian Nation and never was. That's all McCarthyist propaganda.

It's ridiculous that the Right-Wing Nuts keep pretending that Obama is a muslim, simply because he lived a small portion of his life in a Muslim country and has a common name from that part of the world that has little religious significance (any more than David, Mary, Joshua, Joseph, etc. in the Western World).

I always enjoy the rantings of a coward like yourself. You drop down some cut&paste idiocy and then refuse to ever back up what you say. This little piece of bulloney (go visit Snopes.com) is so full of crap it could only have been intentionally created full of misinformation.

Obama is a Christian, not a Muslim. Clearly this crap was targeted at him. If you have to lie about your opponent, then perhaps your side isn't worth defending.

I have a friend that was a Christian missionary for 12 years in Turkey. He knows Islam quite well. He laughed at this description of Islam, before he got really annoyed with it.

But why am I even pointing this out by pretending that KICK would ever see this? Cowards never come back to see how they've been eviscerated. They prefer the self-deception that create in their bubble world. Rush is all they need.

And heroin and Viagra and boys from the Dominican Republic.

. . . that this was actually written by a Saudi, that doesn't make it representative of all muslims. As I understand it, the Wahabbi brand of Islam is pretty strict by comparisons with most others-- the Taliban is the only other group I know of that matches up.

But if Wolfen's correct, you'll never read this. Oh well.

Salaam/Shalom Eric,

It is not so much that he is afraid of what people think of him, he tells me he is afraid people will attack him, or "arrest him because he looks like a terrorist." I tell him that neither is likely. I ask him: how many 10 year olds do you see getting arrested for anything? He will get over it some day, I hope.

To read that you think the teachings of Muhammed are of his own concotion tells me to save my argument about Allah. Read Chapt 109 of Quran.

One of Hitchens' articles displell the US as a christian nation theory very clearly.

I loathe to think I used to be one of those "right-wing nuts."

I'd like to thank the clarifications about Islam, so many people try to generalize Islam and I don't think that it can ever be done or should be done. It almost makes me laugh when people do that, because a Muslim doesn't have a specific stereotype or a 'LOOK'. So many people mistaken Islam for a culture, or a nation or even a country. It is a religion, a guide in life, just as any other religion. When people choose to ignore or practice specific aspects of any religion, they CHOOSE it. So we should never make generalizations based on ONE Muslim or a particular group that says they practice Islam.

No one is perfect and if any one person chooses to practice a specific religion in a particular way, then it is THEIR version and we should not take that as a generalization on the religion as a whole.

Plus who are we to judge anyone in this world. We may think we know what is right or wrong, but my point is each and every one of us views the world in their own dimensions. WE ARE ALL HUMANS, it doesn't matter where we come from, how we speak or what are values are, it only matters that we are of the the species Homo sapiens and that is what we are.