The more you look at the twisted views of Bryan Fischer on the Islamic faith and Muslims in general, the more you question why ‘Mainstream Republicans’ will be sharing a speaker podium with Fischer at the Values Voter Summit in Washington next week. While it’s reasonable to assume that each prominent political speaker has their own individual views, somehow the catchy phrase pops up, ‘guilty by association.’
A random thought comes to mind, just how much damage control will these Republicans have to employ in order to neutralize connections people will make between their belief systems and the bigoted notions of Bryan Fischer? Kyle Mantyla, who writes for Right Wing Watch, has pointed out that Bryan Fischer’s hatred for Islam is even greater than the hatred of Terry Jones with the Dove World Outreach church.
I even wonder whether some of these Republicans will cancel their appearance at the Values Voter Summit. Will Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Mike Pence or Sen. Jim DeMint back out at the last minute with some lame excuse? And if they do attend, will they make some comments to help with distancing themselves from the extremist-Islamophobic doctrinaire of Bryan Fischer?
Maybe I should summarize for you a few of Fischer’s views, just in case you have been living in a cave for the last year or two. Bryan thinks Muslims are of inferior intelligence because of inbreeding. He concurs with the claims of Danish psychologist Nicolai Sennels. This reminds me of the Nazis’ vision for black people. Fischer believes that Christians are very peaceful, and Muslims are most violent. Bryan, what about the Holy Crusades in the Thirteenth Century?
Okay, there are other axioms in his sick value system. Fischer calls for an end to Muslim immigration to the U.S. and he wants Muslims to be banned from serving in the military. Oh yea, go and tell that to the many Muslims who have already served in either Iraq or Afghanistan! Anyway, this takes me to the fundamental question of the day. Obviously, Fischer believes that the entire Islam faith, not just al-Qaeda, is responsible for the growing wave of terrorism.
But do a growing number of ‘mainstream conservatives’ join in with Fischer in the ideology that all of Islam, or the entire body of Muslim people, wish to engage in a conspiracy to wage a radical jihad against the West? Perhaps Fischer is starting to rub off on some of these moderates. I will say, however, that I don’t find it too difficult to fathom that some of these guest speakers, such as Sean Hannity or Michele Bachmann, will join Fischer’s camp (if they haven’t already), and find comfort with this brand of hard-nosed Islamophobia.
And is there any sympathy in Newt Gingrich’s beliefs towards the Bryan Fischer ‘model of Islam’ or stereotyping of Muslims? We know that Newt is strongly opposed to building the Islamic Center at Ground Zero. And now I am hearing about this new film produced by Clarion Fund called America At Risk. We will all need to see this one. From watching the trailer, I hear from Gingrich that it’s primarily ‘Radicalized Islam’ that is responsible for this dramatic escalation of terrorism towards the West.
But what does Gingrich mean by ‘Radicalized Islam’? Couldn’t the line be moving towards inclusion of all Muslim people? Don’t many of these conservatives believe that, perhaps, the Islamic faith is intrinsically ‘radicalized?’ I suspect they do. They must have a lingering mistrust of Islam that dates back to the 6th century, when the religion was first created by the Prophet Muhammad. I’ll be interested to hear what Newt says at the Values Voter Summit. Discretion is a preferred approach to some of these touchy topics.
Even George Bush himself, after the planes slammed into the Twin Towers of New York on September 11, 2001, differentiated between the terrorists, who were renegades of Islam, and the ‘Mainstream Muslims,’ who could still be characterized as peaceful. Now the waters are muddied by the venom and vitriol of religious and ethnic bigotry. But Republicans in the center better watch out for the company they keep. Hobnobbing with Bryan Fischer may just be a boot in your pants for the November 2nd elections.