The other day, I wrote about the “fear-based evangelism” practiced by a Florida church intent on burning copies of the Quran.
Turns out the American Family Association — or at least Bryan Fischer, its director of issue analysis — is not about to be outdone in the fear-mongering business:
Permits should not be granted to build even one more mosque in the United States of America, let alone the monstrosity planned for Ground Zero. This is for one simple reason: each Islamic mosque is dedicated to the overthrow of the American government.
[…]Because of this subversive ideology, Muslims cannot claim religious freedom protections under the First Amendment. They are currently using First Amendment freedoms to make plans to destroy the First Amendment altogether. There is no such thing as freedom of religion in Islam, and it is sheer and utter folly for Americans to delude themselves into thinking otherwise.
[…]Bottom line: it’s suicidal for America to allow terrorist training cells to crop up all over the fruited plain. And each mosque is an actual or potential terrorist training cell, as Anwar al-Awlaki has demonstrated. His north Virginia mosque was used to radicalize three of the 9/11 jihadis as well as the Major Hasan who shot up the infidel idolaters at Fort Hood.
It’s hard to know what to say about this insanity, other than that it’s, umm, insane. I guess what needs to be added is that in addition to being absolutely bonkers, it’s deeply, deeply afraid. As in afraid enough to lash out and hurt somebody:
Normally I would think we could ride out this latest wave of nativism and racism, but there are two factors that make it more dangerous than usual. The first, of course, is the economy which looks like it’s not going to recover smartly thus giving this impulse more oxygen than it might otherwise have. The second is that the right wing demagogues have an entire industry now devoted to creating and nurturing these wedge issues for political and financial gain. The culture warriors have just shifted their strategy away from “family values” to their other stand-by, “stop the boogeyman.” It’s all part of the same throwback tapestry, but different times require difference emphasis. We’re officially in the “the foreigners and blacks are ruining everything” portion of the show.
Wish I could disagree. I’d tell you all to “fear not,” but the truth is, I’m getting a little bugged out myself. Just so long as people don’t start showing up in churches toting guns…oh, crap.
