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Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 05, 2006 - 10:06 pm: | 
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ADL Statement on Dennis Prager's Attack On Muslim Congressman for Taking Oath of Office on Koran
New York, NY, December 1, 2006 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) issued the following statement in response to Dennis Prager’s November 28 online column, “America, Not Keith Ellison, decides what book a congressman takes his oath on,” where he said that the first Muslim elected to Congress should not be permitted to take his oath of office on a Koran:
Dennis Prager’s argument that Representative-Elect Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, should not be permitted to take his oath of office on a Koran is, intolerant, misinformed and downright un-American.
Prager is flat-out wrong when he asserts that Representative Ellison’s use of a Koran would be “damaging to the fabric of American civilization.” To the contrary, the U.S. Constitution guarantees that, “no religious test shall ever be required” to hold public office in America. Members of Congress, like all Americans, should be free to observe their own religious practices without government interference or coercion.
Prager’s patriotic prattling is misinformed on the facts, too. No Member of Congress is officially sworn in with a Bible. Under House rules, the official swearing-in ceremony is done in the House chambers, with the Speaker of the House administering the oath of office en masse. No Bibles or other holy books are used at all. Members may, if they choose, also have a private ceremony with family and friends. At these unofficial ceremonies, Members frequently solemnize the event by taking an oath while holding a personal family Bible.
Prager ridiculously asserts that permitting Rep. Ellison to take the oath of office would “be doing more damage to the unity of America and to the value system that has formed this country than the terrorists of 9-11.” What he fails to understand is that what truly unifies all Americans is a value system built on religious freedom and pluralism, not dogmatism and coercion.
Prager presents intolerant, ugly views. His comparison of Ellison’s desire to “choose his favorite book” to that of the right of a racist elected to public office to use Hitler’s Mein Kampf is outrageous. If Prager were merely a blogger and radio talk-show host trying to be relevant and provocative, these views might not merit a response. But as a newly-appointed member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, Prager and his views must be held to a higher standard.
The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.
"America counts millions of Muslims amongst our citizens, and Muslims make an incredibly valuable contribution to our country. Muslims are doctors, lawyers, law professors, members of the military, entrepreneurs, shopkeepers, moms and dads. And they need to be treated with respect." GWB
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Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Wednesday, December 06, 2006 - 12:10 pm: |
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Congress Needs to Kick Prager Off Holocaust Council
By M.J. Rosenberg
I understand that the Holocaust Memorial Council is not the FCC or the CIA. It is, in fact, a mainly symbolic institution.
But, as the father of two sons who are first generation Americans and whose mother (my wife) was born in a German Displaced Persons camp to Holocaust survivors, I believe that Prager's continued service on the Council is an insult to all of us who care about the legacy of the Shoah.
That is because there is only one lesson arising from the Holocaust and it is summed up in the words, "Never Again." What do those words mean? They do not mean that never again should the six million Jews and millions of others who were murdered in Europe be murdered again. Obviously, the dead are dead.
"Never Again" means that we must never tolerate the persecution or demonization of any group because of their skin color, creed, race or any other intrinsic personal characteristic including sexual identity.
Dennis Prager is a bigot who believes that America essentially belongs to conservative white Christians. He rails against homosexuals and considers equal rights for gays as threatening western civilization. He opposes programs that benefit minorities and women. He believes that Jews, Muslims and other non-Christians are second class citizens who should accept second class status as their due.
He says he is not a racist but he seems to believe that this country belongs to white Christians and no one else.
Most non-Christians are not threatened by the blatherings of a self-hating Jew like Prager (a Jew who goes on Bill O'Reilly to attack fellow Jews who would prefer to keep Christ out of the public square) but Muslims are threatened by Prager's kind of hatred.
Since 2001, there have been thousands of race-based attacks on Arabs and/or Muslims and on people who, to their attackers, "look like" Muslims.
I don't give President Bush credit for much but I honestly believe that immediately following 9/11 he made clear that Arab-Americans and Muslims in general are not to be singled out for the crimes of their co-religionists. He visited mosques, celebrated Muslim holidays at the White House and, in general, tried to bring Islam into the Protestant-Catholic-Jewish triad that has long been believed to be the fabric of America.
Prager's attack on a Muslim American for supposedly wishing to be sworn in on a Quran (which Keith Ellison did not say he intended to do) is incitement which can lead to attacks on Muslims and Arabs. Prager's words are, in fact, ammunition stored up to be used after the, God forbid, next terrorist attack on these shores.
I don't think that Prager would want to see violence directed against Muslims or anyone else. But I also believe that he does not care where his Muslim, gay or Jew bashing will lead. And, to me, it is that kind of thinking that led to the Holocaust. After all, the Shoah did not start with ovens. It began with words of hate.
That is why we are all outraged by a Michael Richards or a Mel Gibson. But neither of those sit on a board memorializing the Holocaust. They are just random entertainers,personal bigots and all-around cranks. I want Dennis Prager relegated to the simple crank category. Let him do all the ranting he wants on his various DJ gigs but get him off the Holocaust Council. Is there someone in Congress who will step up to the plate here and ensure that a bigot and a racist is not using the United States Holocaust Museum as his soapbox.
PS It is worth noting that Dennis Prager calls himself a non-denominational religious Jew. See this.
There is, in fact, no such thing as a nondenominational religious Jew. Religious Jews are Orthodox Jews. By nondenominational, Prager means that he likes the convenience of calling himself religious (his rightwing friends love that) but does not himself practice religious Judaism or observe the 613 Jewish commandments.
That helps explain why he says that he "disagrees" with an Orthodox Jew like, say, Joe Lieberman who will not take the oath of office on a Christian Bible. He does not understand why it is impossible for a religious Jew or Muslim to swear an oath on a Christian Bible. In other words, Prager would have been a wonderful inquisitor during the Spanish Inquisition when Jews and Muslims were killed for refusing to take Christian oaths.
I don't know if Prager's ignorance of Judaism and religious faith in general match his bigotry and racism but they surely comes close.
"America counts millions of Muslims amongst our citizens, and Muslims make an incredibly valuable contribution to our country. Muslims are doctors, lawyers, law professors, members of the military, entrepreneurs, shopkeepers, moms and dads. And they need to be treated with respect." GWB
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