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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Verdana>Nick,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Verdana></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Verdana>I fear for the sanity of our country not
only for the intolerance of one or more religions for others, but mostly
because so many thoughtlessly buy into religious fantasies in the first place,
and for which plethora of fantasies there is no method of deciding
which is true, if any.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Verdana></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Verdana>There is little or no dispute about the
truth of the terrestrial applications of the so-called Law of Gravity upon which
evidence can be brought to bear, but pick all the religious beliefs for which
there is little or no credible evidence, and arguments, uncertainty,
intolerance, torture, death, etc is sure to result. This is especially
ironic in the cases such as Christianity and Islam where the beliefs include an
all-knowing, all-powerful, perfectly good god, who apparently cannot write a
clear instruction manual nor get the word out any better than a severely failing
ad agency.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Verdana></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Verdana>Man, the rational animal? Methinks
not.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Verdana></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Verdana>W.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="FONT: 10pt arial; BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=nickgier@roadrunner.com
href="mailto:nickgier@roadrunner.com">nickgier@roadrunner.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">vision2020@moscow.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, August 26, 2010 10:23
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Vision2020] Update on Muslim
Center in Lower Manhattan</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>Good Morning Visonaries,<BR><BR>New information has been
pouring in about the NYC Muslim Center controversy. The most dramatic
revelations have to do with initial positive responses from Fox news
personalities and the moderate contents of Imam Rauf's highly acclaimed book,
published by Rupert Murdoch's HarperSanFrancisco.<BR><BR>Additions to my
column, the edited version of which is attached:<BR><BR>Rauf's book "What’s
Right with Islam: A New Vision for Muslims and the West" was picked as one of
the best five books of 2004 by the Christian Science Monitor. The book was
published by HarperSanFrancisco, which is owned, along with Fox News and the
Wall Street Journal, by Rupert Murdoch. In a December, 2009 interview with
Imam Rauf’s wife Daisy Khan on Fox News' "The O’Reilly Factor," Laura Ingraham
had this to say about the plans for the cultural center: "I can't find many
people who really have a problem with it. I like what you're trying to do."
Fox News is now leading the charge against the project.<BR><BR>In "What’s
Right with Islam" Rauf goes back to the beginnings of Islam and shows how a
fatal mistake was made by those who built autocratic political institutions on
a basic Abrahamic ethic shared with Judaism and Christianity. Early Muslim
government was based on elections, broad deliberation (including women) and
consensus, and religious pluralism. The rule of force dramatically came into
the play with the assassination of the third caliph in A.D. 656, and a switch
to hereditary rule, which as been the norm in Muslim countries for centuries.
Rauf believes that Islamic countries should "recognize in the American form of
governance a genuine substantive workable expression and model of their
centuries-old longing for the kingdom of heaven on earth."<BR><BR>I also added
some material on a parallel reaction against Catholics in American history, up
do the Nixon-Kennedy election in 1960:<BR><BR>In announcing the decision not
to preserve the old building at 51 Park Place, Mayor Michael Bloomsberg--with
the Statue of Liberty as backdrop--reminded his audience that the early Dutch
settlers refused to grant Jews permission to build a synagogue, and that they
had also prohibited Quakers and Catholics from holding services. In the 19th
Century there were objections to the construction of Catholic churches, and
some of them (including some convents) were burned down. (One priest was
tarred and feathered by a mob.) Strong anti-Catholic sentiment flared up
during the 1960 election with many people fearing that a president John F.
Kennedy would mean an alliance with the papacy.<BR><BR>Finally, here is what
Imam Rauf said about the 9/11 attackers in 2006 on ABC News. Glen Beck
was sitting in on the conversation with Diane Sawyer and indicated how
important it was to have good moderate Muslims such as
Rauf:<BR><BR>"[Jihadist] reactions are not at all called for by Islamic
teaching. The teachings of Islam are very similar to the teachings of
Christianity, of loving the one God and loving thy neighbor. These are the two
common principles."<BR><BR>As Muslims and their places of worship are
threatened all over the country, I fear for the sanity of my
country.<BR><BR>Nick<BR><BR><BR>
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