American Freethought

Everybody in the West knows by now that Muslims get a bit tetchy when it comes to the Prophet Muhammed.  You can’t draw him, you can’t insult him…you’re even putting your neck out by publishing anything critical of him.  Danish cartoons, anyone?  And while he didn’t directly insult the Prophet, Salman Rushdie spent years in hiding over his novel The Satanic Verses, which included material considered controversial by Islamic fundamentalists.  It’s not surprising that polite society treads lightly when it comes to insecure primitives who threaten - and commit - murder against those who break their irrational taboos.

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Real Stories of American Muslims

by John C. Snider © 2008

If there’s one point author Melody Moezzi drives home in her new book War on Error, it’s that American Muslims have their work cut out for them these days.  They are, to coin a phrase, caught between two worlds.  The English name “Melody” combined with the Iranian “Moezzi” is in itself a summary of the situation in which many young American Muslims find themselves.  Those who are first or second generation Americans (what Moezzi humorously labels Children of Fresh-Off-the-Boats, or COFOBs) struggle to find a day-by-day middle ground between mainstream American culture, which is largely and often willfully ignorant of any faith other than Protestant Christianity, and the deep-seated Islamic traditions of their forefathers.  They are often called upon by their non-Muslim fellow citizens to account for the actions of the extremists within their faith (”…this mistaken minority of hate-mongers and power-seekers who fraudulently claim to be acting in the name of Islam.”).  The Western world is very much in conflict with this highly vocal and decidedly violent minority, regardless of how much we might wish it to be otherwise.  Fortunately, the United States has so far been spared the variety of home-grown extremists that have caused so much trouble in Spain, France and the United Kingdom.

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News Item Potpourri

- Mike Huckabee wants to amend the Constitution to conform with God’s laws.  Archbishop Earl Paulk fined and given 10 years’ probation for perjury.  Colorado lawmaker Douglas Bruce kicks a photographer during a prayer service.  A Muslim teen athlete’s uniform violate’s track federation rules.  The Kite Runner movie is banned in Afghanistan.  And Matthew McConaughey says “God bless evolution.”

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 American Freethought Podcast #8: Download (1473)

The Portable Atheist by Christopher Hitchens - We take a look at the latest collection of writing selected and introduced by the Bad Boy of Unbelievers!

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 American Freethought Podcast #6: Download (1905)

Mohammed, that is.  A British schoolteacher has been sentenced by a Sudanese court to 15 days in jail for allowing her young Islamic students to name a teddy bear “Mohammed.”  Apparently the court could have sentenced her to a fine and forty lashes.  Both the British and US governments have condemned the verdict.  Riots have broken out in Sudan by good ol’ regular Muslims calling for her to be executed by firing squad.  That’s right, a firing squad.

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Here’s a notice from author Sam Harris:

Ayaan Hirsi Ali is the most prominent advocate of free speech and women’s rights in the Muslim world, and for this she must live under perpetual armed guard, even in the West.  Unfortunately, on October 1st of this year, the Dutch government officially rescinded its promise to protect her.  Now, Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s friends, colleagues and admirers must come to her aid.

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A sneak peak at the upcoming film and what its aftermath says about the current health of the Afghan nation.

by John C. Snider © 2007

Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner is one of the most talked-about books in recent years.  Not only is it a heartbreaking story of childhood tragedy, this 2003 novel provides an invaluable insight into the culture of late 20th century Afghanistan - the culture that would trigger 9/11 and plunge the globe into a bitter, and likely-to-be-protracted, conflict.

Hosseini’s book wasn’t particularly controversial, but controversy has most definitely found the movie adaptation, directed by Marc Foster (Monsters’ Ball, Finding Neverland, Stay, Stranger than Fiction, and the as-yet-unnamed Bond 22), with screenplay by David Benioff (25th Hour, Troy, Stay).  Filmed in the western Chinese province of Kashgar, the film is notable for its multi-ethnic cast, including three young Afghan boys who are now at the center of a media storm.  More on them later.

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