By Joseph Picard: Subscribe to Joseph's RSS feed
August 12, 2010 8:08 PM EDT
A writer and radio personality for the American Family Association is not simply against an Islamic center being constructed a few blocks from Ground Zero in New York City. He's against any mosque being built anywhere in the United States.
"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," said Bryan Fischer in a column posted Aug. 10.
"This is for one simple reason: each Islamic mosque is dedicated to the overthrow of the American government," Fischer said.
He also said in the same post that because of their "subversive ideology, Muslims cannot claim religious freedom protections under the First Amendment."
Fischer is scheduled to speak at the 2010 Values Voter Summit, in September in Washington, D.C., an event sponsored by several organizations, including American Values, the Heritage Foundation, the Family Research Council and the American Family Association.
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Many of the scheduled speakers are well-known conservatives. At least one, Rick Santorum, is a former U.S. elected official.
Three of the scheduled speakers are current elected U.S. lawmakers - Sen. Jim DeMint, R-SC, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-MN and Rep. Mike Pence, R-IN - each of whom has taken an oath to uphold and defend the U.S. Constitution, which includes upholding the First Amendment protections to religion, the same protections Fischer would deny to Muslims.
None of the three lawmakers responded to inquiries asking specifically if they knew Fischer was a scheduled speaker, if they knew of his views on mosques and Muslims, if they supported his views, or if they thought they were legitimizing his views by appearing at the same event with Fischer.
Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said that Fischer's remarks "represent a growing trend in our society, fueled by right-wing politics, to say that Islam is not a faith but an ideology, and thereby demonize it and deny it religious protections."
On Aug. 3, with a unanimous vote by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission not to grant landmark status to a building on Park Place, the last legal obstacle to the construction on an Islamic center a few blocks from Ground Zero was removed. It is not yet known when actual construction will begin.
Groups are currently protesting the construction of mosques in Murfreesboro, TN and Temecula, CA.
"This new wave of anti-Muslim sentiment is manufactured by right-wing extremists," Hooper said. "Right-wing politicians have discovered that Muslim-bashing is a winning strategy politically. So, they are willing to throw the entire Muslim community under the bus to appeal to the Tea Party for votes."
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