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Should Multiculturalism Take A Holiday?
Guest Column | By Margo Itskowitch | January 2, 2008
In the last decade, we have witnessed several examples of intervention by CAIR in this country.
Three religious holidays, Hannukah, Christmas and Eid al-Adha, were observed within a few weeks of one another this year, allowing Jews, Christians and Muslims to celebrate their respective holidays almost simultaneously. Seasonal celebrations of different religions can provide a spiritual anchor for many in a world that provides very little in the way of moral substance. What are we to make of the desire in today's society to highlight a multicultural tolerance by attempting to demonstrate that all faiths share common features?
While Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus by attending church and praying for peace on earth and goodwill towards men, Jews light a menorah for eight consecutive nights to commemorate the miracle of light that occurred when their Holy Temple in Jerusalem was reclaimed over 21 centuries ago. Religious writings note that when the Jews entered their temple to clean it, they had only one jar of oil to illuminate the interior, which was expected to last only one day, but miraculously, lasted for eight days. The Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha (Feast of Sacrifice) concludes the Pilgrimage to Mecca known as the Hajj, lasts for three days and commemorates Ibraham's willingness to obey Allah by sacrificing his son. Eid al-Adha is celebrated throughout the Muslim world and in some Muslim communities in the U.S. by the ritual slaughter of animals, usually goats, cows and sheep. The purpose of the festival is to remind Muslims of their duty at all times to submit to Allah's (God's) will. The word Islam means "submission," or the total surrender of oneself to Allah.
While the principles of modernity have been widely accepted throughout the Judeo-Christian world, are primitive rituals based on current practices associated fundamentalist Islam compatible with Western civilization? Can it be stated that fundamentalist Islam with its many anachronistic tendencies has begun the process of modernization? There is empirical evidence suggesting it has not.
Eddie Rowe, a hog farmer in North Carolina, recently sold approximately 250 animals to Muslim families this year for ritual slaughter during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha. A December 2007, LA Times article reported that for the past six years, a large assembly of Muslim families left Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill to drive to Rowe's farm for a picnic during which the children played, ate sandwiches, and watched while the "patriarch of each family awaited his turn to slit the throat of a lamb or goat." Despite the tradition, this year's festivities did not go quite as planned. The North Carolina Department of Agriculture obtained a restraining order against Rowe, stating that he was "operating an unsanitary and illegal slaughter facility." Upon hearing of this, some of the Muslim families took their animals, saying they had plans to kill them elsewhere, they backed their vehicles into the barn where a farmhand bound the animals by their ankles, then dumped them into the trunks of cars.
Conspicuously absent was, PETA (People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals), which goes out of its way to take action when people hurt animals, including the use of animals for testing on cosmetics. PETA has been completely silent this week as millions of sheep, camels, and cows are being barbarically slaughtered – often in the street in front of happy crowds of people, including children – in honor of the Eid al-Adha celebration.
One visitor to Rowe's farm suggested that next year the community should lobby for a way to legalize the ritual slaughter. "I think we will have to go to the governor," he said. Will the Council on American Islamic Relations, (CAIR) founded in June of 1994 with roots to the Muslim Brotherhood and ties to Hamas, intervene on behalf of these Muslims so as not to deprive them of this religious ritual?
In the last decade, we have witnessed several examples of intervention by CAIR in this country. For example, prayer rooms and foot baths have been installed on several U.S. university campuses, in airports, and in U.S. companies who have made accommodations for Muslim employees' daily prayer requirements, even when doing so interferes with assembly line productivity. CAIR has intervened on behalf of several Muslim taxi drivers throughout the U.S. who refused to transport passengers carrying alcohol, and blind persons accompanied by Seeing Eye dogs. At Target, a large national retail chain in the U.S., Muslim cashiers at the Minneapolis store have refused handle pork products. These employees are being allowed to opt out, and are being reassigned to other positions within the store. Similar accommodations of this nature have been reported in UK food markets.
In 2006, seventh graders at a San Francisco-area public school were required to "become Muslims" for two full weeks as part of California's world history curriculum. This included teachers prompting students to recite the Muslim prayers – "Allah is the only true God and Muhammad is his messenger" – and chant "Praise be to Allah," "Allahu Akbar." Tragically, the latter phrase was the last words heard from the cockpit of Flight 93 on 9/11. Parents were outraged that Islamic beliefs were being forced upon their children; some sued the school district, only to lose in federal court. They appealed, but the ultra-liberal 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals of San Francisco ruled that such Islamic catechism is constitutional. Ironically, this is the same court that held our Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional because it contained the phrase "under God."
In 2007, Carver Elementary, a San Diego Unified public school, instituted a program allowing Muslim students to pray for 15 minutes each day during classroom instruction time while non-Muslim students waited. The K-8 school has even added Arabic to its curriculum, and provided separate classes for girls. CAIR is defending the Carver program, insisting that public schools must cater to the growing number of Muslim students. A spokesperson from CAIR's San Diego chapter stated: "Our country has to now accommodate things that are not traditionally accounted for before." In addition to the prayer accommodation for Carver Elementary school's nearly 100 Somali Muslims, the school cafeteria has banned pork and other foods that conflict with the Islamic dietary laws.
In July of 2007, CAIR successfully negotiated on behalf of two Ohio women who requested that their driver's license photos be taken wearing Islamic head scarves after initially being asked to remove them by the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
In 2006, Tyson Foods, the world's largest processor of beef, pork and poultry, added approximately 400 "legal" Somali Muslim "humanitarian refugees" to its 2000 employee work force in Emporia, Kansas. They provided a prayer room space and installed foot baths to allow Muslims to pray facing Mecca five times a day. They also brought federally-funded, sensitivity training specialists into the company.
Many are familiar with the case of the "Flying Imams," who embarked upon a well-orchestrated campaign to test the multicultural sensitivity of our airports and airlines. In November 2006, a group of six imams were removed from a US Airways flight in Minneapolis bound for Phoenix after exhibiting behavior that raised serious security and safety concerns amongst fellow travelers. In March 2007, with the involvement of CAIR, the imams filed a law suit against US Airways, the Minneapolis Airport, and "John Doe" passengers who reported the highly suspicious behavior. The lawsuit against the "John Doe" passengers was subsequently dropped after Congress passed a law giving passengers who report suspicious behavior immunity from litigation. In November 2007, a federal judge ruled that the lawsuit against US Airways and the Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Airports Commission would proceed. CAIR's executive director, Nihad Awad, proclaimed, "At its core, this case has always been about the ability of all Americans to practice their faith without fear of intimidation or harassment." Paradoxically, one would have to question the inability of the non-Muslim American passengers to practice their Free Speech Rights. Meanwhile, US Airways spokeswoman Andrea Rader recently stated that the motion is not a "setback." "Our position hasn't changed: We believe our crew and ground employees acted appropriately and in the interests of our customers' security by having authorities further investigate what the crew and passengers perceived was suspicious behavior by the imams."
A few days ago, it was reported that Muslims in the UK plan to broadcast a loudspeaker call to prayer from a central mosque in Oxford, which has raised the anger of local residents who are concerned that it could drown out the traditional sound of church bells interfering with Christian worship.
In 2005, British banks began banning piggy banks, the universal, time-honored symbol of saving, because they offended some Muslims. This was followed by the banning of novelty pig calendars from a UK council office – in case they offended the Muslim staff. Workers in the benefits department at Dudley Council, West Midlands, reportedly were told to remove or cover up all pig-related items, including toys, porcelain figures, calendars and even a tissue box featuring Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet.
Are these examples of part of a larger effort to bring Sharia to the West and to the United States? Are we are facing an eruption of controversies over Sharia law? Exposure to multiculturalism contains lessons for all people, and at the same time, it has limits. It is not an issue of who handles alcohol or pork. It is about the extent of the concessions we make to our fellow citizens in the interest of maintaining, not subverting, the greater freedoms set forth by the framers of the Constitution. The ultimate question is where does a society draw the line?
Political Islam is a regressive force with a social structure encompassed by its religious law, and must not be allowed to insinuate itself into the fabric of Western civilization, which it typically seeks to do through litigation, rather than by the example set by other groups who through hard work were woven into the fabric of Western society. What is critical in understanding our society today is that it is built on a progression of incremental achievements. As a consequence of "liberal" humanitarianism, we have collectively bought into a system of multicultural devoutness that seeks to render all cultures equal, even barbaric Islamic rituals that are antithetical to Western values. Ironically, we accept the demands set forth by organizations like CAIR because we don't want to be labeled racist, prejudiced or politically incorrect.
An attempt to establish an Islamic caliphate in Europe centuries ago failed. Where they once failed, they now appear to be succeeding. Will America and the rest of the Western society wake up before it's too late? At this moment, one would have to assume, based upon what is happening in the U.S. and in many European countries today, probably not. Appeasement, fear, political correctness, accommodation and multiculturalism are the order of the day, and have now become an inherited genetic trait of the contemporary Western mind set.
FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Margo Itskowitch is an architectural designer, freelance writer, and community activist dedicated to confronting the threat of radical Islam and its infiltration into the fabric of Western society. She resides in Los Angeles and New York.
Guest columns do not necessarily reflect the views of Accuracy in Media or its staff.
10 Comments | Post a Comment
If you want to share in another culture, you can go to that country and enjoy it. Drink their wine, speak their language, explore. I’ve done it many times. It’s not closed minded to feel that way.
You can go to that country and enjoy it. Drink their wine, speak their language, explore. I’ve done it many times. It’s not closed minded to feel that way
You can go to that country and enjoy it. Drink their wine, speak their language, explore. I’ve done it many times. It’s not closed minded to feel that way.
Drink their wine, speak their language, explore. I’ve done it many times. It’s not closed minded to feel that way.
Multicultural experience is something great,Don’t be conservative, you enjoy visiting many country and enjoy the culture there and take the best.
Well, Political correctness can sometimes be taken too far. But we should also promote tolerance and mutual understanding
CAIR has intervened on behalf of several Muslim taxi drivers throughout the U.S. who refused to transport passengers carrying alcohol, and blind persons accompanied by Seeing Eye dogs.
Well, multiculturalism can still thrive; as long as we all have the same rights (you don’t get special rights just for being from a different culture; all these civil rights are universal).
i do not like this at all. I know people have religions but this is sad.
June 21 at 8:20 am | #1 | Link
A recent survey showed that many young people improve their language skills during non formal learning activities. The reactions show that the multicultural experience has a big impact on the participants.