AMERICAN MULIMS PLAN "MILLION MUSLIM MARCH" TO PROTEST DISCRIMINATION

9/11:  A DATE FOREVER ENGRAVED ON THE AMERICAN PSYCHE

September 11 is the date oddly chosen by the American Muslim Political Action Committee (AMPAC)  to protest what it calls "religious bigotry"  and "discrimination" in the United States.

After reading that the committee was calling for a "Million Muslim March" on Washington, I could not help but think about my own experience in living for 6 years in a Muslim country, where I was not even allowed to practice my faith of Christianity openly and without fear of state action being taken against me.

As a Christian in a Muslim land, I conducted myself in a respectful manner - as far as local customs and Islam were concerned.  Eventually, in learning more and more Arabic, I began to understand the sermons blasting from the speaker systems protruding from mosques.  On more than one occasion, I heard words demanding that Jews and Christians should be driven into the sea and exterminated.

Absolutely no allowances were made for my religious holidays, and I was expected to work on Christmas day.  Even Christmas trees were banned, and I eventually found a scrawny specimen of a tree in the desert, which somehow I managed to adorn with makeshift decorations.

Along with a small coterie of Christians, I worshiped secretly on weekends.  After six years, when I left the country, I later got wind that the small congregation of Christians had been discovered by the authorities and had been expelled.

Being one who enjoys a glass of wine or even sometimes a beer, I did not have the right to protest the fact that I was living in a "dry country."  If I had been so dense as to do so, I would have been expelled immediately.

As for the legal system, Sharia was the rule.  The Koran was the constitution.  If I had not given assent to my living under this arrangement, I would have been forthwith sent away from the country.

Because of my experience of living under Islam, I am more than a little skeptical when I hear about Muslims who wish to protest discrimination planning a massive march on 9/11, a day when Americans should be honoring the memories of those martyrs who fell victim to Islamic terrorism.

AMERICAN RELIGIOUS LIBERTY INCLUDES MOSQUES

As for the alleged discrimination, are Muslims denied the right to worship freely and openly?  Are they subjected to ear-shattering sermons demeaning their faith?  Are they able to move about in society and associate with whomever they wish?  Are they not given due consideration about their religious holidays? Are they forced to live under a legal system and a constitution which establishes only one religion?  Do not Muslims in this country have access to their religious symbols and the foods demanded by their dietary practices?  Somehow - at least, it seems to me - these Muslims are raising a "red herring" at a particularly inauspicious time.

Most of the 9 million Muslims in the U.S. seem to be completely cowed by radical Islam.  Too few of them ever speak out against terrorism.  Are their voices now being raised against the genocide against Christians that is now taking place in Egypt by the Muslim Brotherhood?  Why do they never protest the blasphemy laws in Pakistan which victimize Christians?

And, I would ask, do Muslims really want to enter into the mainstream of American life? Do American Muslims engage in joint efforts with non-Muslims in the U.S. for community betterment?  It is strange, but I have not heard of Muslims joining up in droves with the Rotary, Kiwanis, and Lions clubs!  Do Muslims ever use their Zakat (a type of tithing prescribed by Islam) to benefit anyone other Muslims?  And, in Dearborn, Michigan, which has been totally taken over by Muslims, why does their city government proscribe freedom of expression for Christians?

Rather than protesting phony issues, I would hope that American Muslims would spend their time in disavowing 5th column organizations such as the Council on American Islamic Relations, which pose as "civil rights" groups.  I would also hope that American Muslims would initiate a crusade against their coreligionists funding terrorist organizations such as Hamas.  And, finally, American Muslims - if they really think of themselves as Americans - might wish to join other Americans in praying for the souls of the martyrs of 9/11 on a day which should be devoted solely to that.

In conclusion, and taking liberties with Shakespeare:  "Methinks these Muslims doth protest too much!"