Oh, ignorance. Sadly, there is so much of it my state that even the legislators can be incredibly crass and downright intolerant. Apparently, when a group of people interested in educating people about their religion offer free copies of the Koran to such legislators, that group is automatically labeled as terrorists. It only makes sense, right?
Basically, this week, Representative Rex Duncan (R, of course) turned down a copy of the Koran, because he didn't want to support terrorism. Yep, taking a free copy of the Koran is supportive of terrorism. I bought a copy of Machiavelli's "The Prince" once, but I don't condone heartless dictatorships. From the article:
OKLAHOMA CITY — A state lawmaker strongly objected Monday to receiving a centennial copy of the Quran, compliments of the Governor’s Ethnic American Advisory Council.
Rep. Rex Duncan, R-Sand Springs, wrote his fellow legislators that he is refusing a copy of the Quran because, "Most Oklahomans do not endorse the idea of killing innocent women and children in the name of ideology."
Marjaneh Seirafi-Pour, a Muslim and chairwoman of the governor’s council, said she received a call from Duncan wondering whether state money was used to buy the books.
"Members of the Oklahoma Muslim community paid for copies of the Quran," she said.
They include businessmen, doctors and professors, she added.
"We are not trying
to force anything on anyone,’’ Seirafi-Pour said, ‘‘This is a peaceful, thoughtful project to introduce ourselves to leaders."
She estimated that there are 30,000 to 50,000 Muslims in Oklahoma.
Representative Duncan doesn't even listen to the Commander and Chief on this issue, who has had the decency to say that not all Muslims are terrorists. It's not particularly convincing of Bush, but he's said it.
The money quote, though, is: "I don’t know any Christians who run around using the Bible as their basis of justification or instruction booklet to keep killing innocent people."
Since Christianization of Europe, Christians have been killing people in each God's name. The Crusades are the great cliche of this behavior. These days, one can find various such clashes in Africa.
It gets better, because stupid is contagious. Sixteen more legislators from my great state have joined the good fight against human decency and religious tolerance. To quote our good conservative friend Duncan again, "Most Oklahomans do not endorse the idea of killing innocent women and children in the name of ideology."
I'm not an expert on the Koran, and I've only read a few passages from the book, but I have read the Bible in its entirety (including the dreadfully boring census of Israel.) It's been a long while, but I remember that God did occasionally order the odd genocide of Israelite enemies. Here's one from Joshua's conquest of Ai:
24 When Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai in the fields and in the desert where they had chased them, and when every one of them had been put to the sword, all the Israelites returned to Ai and killed those who were in it. 25 Twelve thousand men and women fell that day—all the people of Ai. 26 For Joshua did not draw back the hand that held out his javelin until he had destroyed [a] all who lived in Ai. 27 But Israel did carry off for themselves the livestock and plunder of this city, as the LORD had instructed Joshua. --Joshua 8:24-27
This is not taken out of context. Whether you're Christian or not, the Bible records God's chosen ruler of His chosen people merrily slaughtering everyone in sight. God certainly didn't repudiate Joshua for an act that all decent modern people, and I'd hope all decent ancient people, would find completely repugnant. I'm not judging Christians and Jews for the passage, though. It is what it is.
So, yeah, there's a lot of ignorance here. If you have the stomach for it, you can read the comments in the Tulsa World links. They're obscene enough that my Massachusetts-raised wife told me not soon after that she does not want to raise our future children here. I can't blame her, but it makes me sad.