Sunday, November 13, 2011

Detroit: Muslims continue to pretend they're physically threatened by Christians praying

Muslims in Detroit continue to pretend that Christians praying pose a threat to them, as if they were Christians in Egypt or Pakistan being attacked and brutalized by Muslims storming out of mosques after Friday prayers. In reality, the Muslims in Detroit are in no danger from these Christians, as they well know; to pretend otherwise, however, helps advance the fictions of moral equivalence that they regularly retail in order to try to deflect attention away from how Islamic jihadists use the texts and teachings of Islam to justify violence and supremacism.

More on this story. "Detroit prayer event puts Muslim community on edge," by Jeff Karoub for the Associated Press, November 11 (thanks to all who sent this in):

DETROIT (AP) An area with one of the largest Muslim communities in the United States is bracing itself for a 24-hour prayer rally by a group that counts Islam among the ills facing the nation.

The gathering in Detroit at Ford Field, the stadium where the Detroit Lions play, starts Friday evening and is designed to tackle issues such as the economy, racial strife, same-sex relationships and abortion. But the decade-old organization known as TheCall has said Detroit is a "microcosm of our national crisis" in all areas, including "the rising tide of the Islamic movement." Leaders of TheCall believe a satanic spirit is shaping all parts of U.S. society, and it must be challenged through intensive Christian prayer and fasting. Such a demonic spirit has taken hold of specific areas, Detroit among them, organizers say. In the months ahead of their rallies, teams of local organizers often travel their communities performing a ritual called "divorcing Baal," the name of a demon spirit, to drive out the devil from each location.

"Our concern is that we are literally being demonized by the organizers of this group," said Dawud Walid, executive director of Council on American-Islamic Relations' Michigan chapter, which last week urged local mosques and Islamic schools to increase security. "And given the recent history of other groups that have come into Michigan ... we're concerned about this prayer vigil stoking up the flames of divisiveness in the community."...

Smith told the AP that fears of the event taking on an anti-Muslim tone are overblown. He said attendees won't be "praying against Muslims," but rather "against terrorism that has its roots in Islam."

"We're dealing with extremism," he said. "We're against extremism when it comes to Christians."

Still, in a pre-event sermon he delivered Oct. 9 at a suburban church, Smith called Islam a "false," ''lame" and "perverse" religion. He said it was allowed to take root in Detroit because of the city's strong religious base. That's why TheCall event is "pivotal," he said....

Does this mean Christians attending the event will attack Muslims? Of course not, much as the Islamic supremacists would like to conflate criticism of Islam with incitement to violence.

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