The scare-tactics are in full-force this midterm election season, with anti-Muslim rhetoric being at the top of the list for some GOP candidates. This takes a step back to look at the ridiculousness being perpetuated by some GOP candidates on the basis of religion, and how Muslim Americans are impacted by it.

“What was it that hit us on 9/11…. was it Islam that did the dirty deed, or was it blow-back to US policy in the Muslim world?” asked by viruscauser via YouTube.

“Mosque/Community Center–which I think is today’s Viet-NAM vs Viet-NOM–is considered by some to be a “bad idea”. Don’t let a place of worship be built where they blah blah blah. My question to you: Hiroshima: Bad place to build a Christian Church?” asked by justinwasson via Formspring.

What rights do you wish to lose owing to the fear of others?

Opposition is mounting to the “Burn a Koran Day” scheduled for September 11th in Florida. President Obama today condemned the event, urging Pastor Terry Jones to cancel. General David Petraeus said it could harm our troops, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called it unrepresentative of Americans. Attorney General Eric Holder called it “idiotic and dangerous,” and the Vatican has called the planned demonstration “outrageous and grave.”

President Barack Obama faces pressure from a number of different directions as September 11 and the planned burning of the Quran at Dove World Outreach Center draw closer. It can be assured that no matter what response he chooses, that response will face strong opposition. Because many of his previous actions can be interpreted in terms of which fear controlled the response, it is informative to look at the pressures he will be facing in this situation and how fear when facing those same pressures has controlled his past behavior.

Jewish poet Heinrich Heine wrote 190 years ago, “Them that begin by burning books, end by burning men.“

Has it come to this? Do we, as Christians and as a when-it’s-convenient Christian Nation, hate Islam and Muslims so deeply that we could tolerate, even for a moment, the burning of their most prized book?

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010. Glenn Beck joins the interwebs with his new website, The Blaze.

When President George W. Bush said those words to mark 2002’s Eid al-Fitr, I agreed with him. I still do. But as the controversy surrounding the plan to build a mosque in Lower Manhattan continues to intensify along political and religious lines, our national discussion increasingly points the way to a much dimmer future.

Franklin Graham, son of the Reverend Billy Graham, tells us how to evaluate Barack Obama’s claims of being a Christian. Although Barack was, according to Graham, born a Muslim, because he got that “seed” from Dad, we can’t question when Barack says he’s a Christian. Phew!