Hannity: ?I Don?t Hear America Being Praised Enough By The Muslim World?
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on July 8th, 2010 4:38 am by HL
Hannity: ?I Don?t Hear America Being Praised Enough By The Muslim World?
During an interview with Al Jazeera last month, NASA administrator Charles Bolden noted that President Obama wants to improve U.S. relations with Muslim countries throughout the world and asked Bolden to “find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about […]
During an interview with Al Jazeera last month, NASA administrator Charles Bolden noted that President Obama wants to improve U.S. relations with Muslim countries throughout the world and asked Bolden to “find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science … and math and engineering.”
Media Matters’ Julie Millican noted the right-wing freak out that ensued, adding that none mentioned “a single reason why working with Muslim countries to ‘get more people to contribute’ to advancements in science and technology is a bad thing.” And last night on Fox News, host Sean Hannity joined the fray, wondering why Muslims don’t express more gratitude towards America:
HANNITY: I have a hard time with the President’s, quote, “outreach” to the Muslim community in this way. When he spoke to the Muslim world, he didn’t talk about America’s contributions to Kuwait. He didn’t talk about America’s contributions to Kosovo. He didn’t talk about America’s contributions to Indonesia or Iraq. … I don’t hear America being praised enough by the Muslim world. Does the Muslim world give America the credit it’s due?
Watch it:
It isn’t difficult to understand why Muslims around the world aren’t more appreciative of the United States, especially those in Iraq, where President Bush’s 2003 invasion led to the deaths of an estimated 100,000 Iraqis, a bloody two year sectarian civil war, and caused millions more to flee the country or become internally displaced — not to mention the costs of infrastructure damage due to the war.
And apparently to people like Hannity, it’s unclear why Muslims in Afghanistan and Pakistan aren’t thanking U.S.-led NATO forces for such things as predator drone strikes that routinely kill innocent civilians.
Or maybe Muslims around the world don’t appreciate it when American conservatives regularly berate and vilify Islam. Whether it’s such things as wanting a war with their religion, calling them “psychotics,” linking the entire religion to extremism, or advocating the destruction of mosques, it isn’t all that surprising that Muslims around the world don’t praise America more often. In fact, Hannity himself has participated in Muslim-bashing, once likening the Quran to the “Nazi bible” Mein Kempf.
Bush failed to grasp this simple concept as well, saying in 2007, “We liberated that country from a tyrant. I think the Iraqi people owe the American people a huge debt of gratitude.”
Head Of ?World?s Largest Interactive Christian Website? Calls Out Beck?s ?Deception? About His Mormonism
Glenn Beck often speaks about faith on his radio show and Fox News program, but he almost never mentions his own faith — Mormonism. Beck’s audience largely consists of conservative Christians, many of whom consider Mormonism to be a “cult.” So as to not alienate his followers, Beck obscures his religion, and focuses instead […]
Glenn Beck often speaks about faith on his radio show and Fox News program, but he almost never mentions his own faith — Mormonism. Beck’s audience largely consists of conservative Christians, many of whom consider Mormonism to be a “cult.” So as to not alienate his followers, Beck obscures his religion, and focuses instead on broad themes common to many Christian faiths.
But out of view of his general audience, Beck readily explains that the Church of Latter-Day Saints made him who he is today. “I was baptized on a Sunday, and on Monday an agent called me out of the blue,” Beck said in a Mormon promotional video. And the Church has rewarded Beck. For example, the Mormon-affiliated LDSTravel.com website is currently promoting Beck’s 8/28 rally in Washington, D.C., offering travelers an entire day as part of a seven day tour of the East Coast.
Today, Bill Keller, the “leader of the world’s largest interactive Christian website” — an internet ministry with over 2.4 million subscribers — is attempting to expose Beck’s “deception” about his faith, explaining Beck “lies to people by stating he is a Christian”
Keller states, “Beck likes to call out people for their lies and deception, yet he portrays himself daily as a Christian. The fact is, the beliefs of the satanic Mormon cult are totally inconsistent with Biblical Christianity. He uses the words “god” and “jesus,” yet the god and jesus of the Mormon cult are NOT the God and Jesus of the Bible!” […]
Keller concludes, “I could care less what Beck chooses to believe, but I do care that he lies to people by stating he is a Christian when a person who believes in the lies of the Mormon cult is no more a Christian than a Muslim is.”
Keller — who said during the 2008 campaign that a vote for former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney “is a vote for Satan” — is clearly an intolerant bigot, but his attack on Beck exposes a potential rift between Beck and his largely conservative Christian followers.
Indeed, Beck’s appearance at Rev. Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University in May “generated an unusual amount of public infighting among evangelicals.” Conservative Christians share many of Beck’s political and social views, but “many of them also remain extremely suspicious of Beck’s Mormon faith.” Several evangelical pastors said they were “shocked and disappointed” that the school had allowed Beck to speak there.