GOP senator turns the tables at Muslim rights hearing

AP

Defenders of Muslim civil rights went to Capitol Hill today to ask the federal government to stem what they say is a rising tide of anti-Muslim discrimination. Yet for one Republican senator, the real question was whether Muslim advocacy groups are doing enough to help the government curb Islamic extremism.

Today's Senate hearing, led by Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.), is the first in Congress to explore Muslim civil rights. It is intended to show that most Muslim Americans "are patriotic, law abiding people who simply want to live their life as we do," Durbin said today.

Republican Sen. Jon Kyl (Ariz.), however, questioned the need for the hearing and suggested one of the groups testifying could do more to cooperate with the government.

"I'm a bit perplexed by the focus" of the hearing, Kyl said, in light of the fact that most religious hate crimes in the United States are committed against Jews.

"The point is, all bigotry is to be condemned," Kyl said. "Selective indignation is not helpful."

Today's hearing comes about three weeks after a controversial House hearing on the radicalization of Muslim Americans that critics said unfairly portrayed the Muslim community. Farhana Khera, the executive director of the group Muslim Advocates, testified in today's hearing that "in the last several months, anti-Muslim rhetoric has reached a disturbing new level." He said political leaders have jumped into the fray with sweeping, critical statements about Islam.

Kyl defended the hearing over Muslim radicalization today, saying, "Political correctness cannot stand in the way of identifying those who would do us harm." He questioned whether Khera's organization was committed to helping root out extremist elements of Islam, given that its website advises Muslims to consult a lawyer before speaking with the FBI about violent extremism.

"I would think Muslim Americans would feel a special obligation to help in such investigations," Kyl said.

Khera responded that "every American has a civic duty to report criminal activity," but added that "every American has the right to seek legal advice."

Khera and other witnesses spent much of their testimony relating stories of Muslim Americans being subject to harassment because of their religion, which they said illustrated a disturbing trend of growing bigotry.

Khera said employment discrimination complaints are at an all-time high, with Muslim bias-based complaints comprising 25 percent of those received by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from 2008 to 2009. Additionally, she said, opposition to mosque construction is on the rise and "getting uglier," while the Muslim community is "more concerned than ever" about school bullying.

Muslim Advocates and other groups also provided recommendations for ways lawmakers could curb anti-Muslim discrimintation. For instance, Muslim Advocates urged Congress to explore amending Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include religion as a protected class. The group also urged the administration, particularly the Education Department, to boost bullying prevention resources and enforcement.

[theaffluentsociety2]

I am not Muslim. I don't like Islam that much; many muslim countries host the least prosperous and least progressive societies on Earth. But truth depends on free dialogue, and liberty depends on tolerance. If a Muslim tries to bomb a building, you arrest him for that, not for being Muslim! Similarly, if a group complains about discrimination, you fight the discrimination; dont shift the blame. Just like the GOP, to deny that anything is wrong with America, rally around the flag, and attack minorities. It worked with Reagan, it worked with Nixon, it worked with the Bushes, and it'll probably work for whoever is next elected for the GOP.

[nottblu]

Islam has more followers world wide than any other religion, theirs is truly the religion of intollerence, that fact is undeniable, they do not assimilate to any society or country they invade just ask France or Holland. The defening silence from the over billion strong Muslims in regards to the radicalism in their midst is further exemplified by the critisism laid at the feet of those who fight these barbarians or attempt to IDENTIFY THEM using logical common sense measures to shed light on these specific offenders. Little white Grandmothers from Florida are not strapping on suicide vests or flying airliners into skyscrapers, get it libs? Probably not.

[lcuchulain]

@nottblu, actually Christianity has more followers worldwide, not Islam. But I agree, Islam IS in fact a religious ideology of intolerance.

[Charlious]

If I haven't said it already then here goes.
I have a constitutional right to hate a religion or not. Islam IS EVIL. It is satanic Verses.
"It is so full of contradictions that nothing is possible with it. The only goos thing in it is "A man may have up to 4 wives If he can support them." Three would be plenty fore me. But I'll be damned if I'll get down on the floor 5 times a day, Face east and pray to Satan.

[SWampFox-82nd]

I don't know about any of you, but I detest racism. I learned if you want the respect from others, you show respect to others. Then and only then we will achieve social harmony. We could learn much from the Muslims. Most are good people, wanting the same thing all Americans want.

[FP1970]

I'd like to know if any of the Muslims testifying at these hearings have anything to say about the fact the non-Muslims are basically 2nd class citizens (at best) in almost every Muslim-majority country. Have they ever done anything to help prevent persecution of non-Muslims in their home countries?

[sandyhansen]

Islamophobia- Myth or Reality http://muslimsdebate.com/faces/sn.php?nid=1614

[Highplains2]

user000049586849302948603:

"Thank you Republican Senator Racist Guy."

Criticisng a theo-political belief system is now "racist?" Wow, that word can do ANYTHING!

Newster:

"Which is a whole lot less still than the CHRISTIAN cruisaders slaughtered, and the witch trials, burning at the state and all the rest.. . . "

Do you know how many victims of jihad there have been in human history - not political wars, but ACTUAL religious jihad warfare to impose islam on the rest of humanity? 270 million. 80 Million from the Sindh/pakistan area alone - by FAR the bloodiest conquest in history. 120 million Africans fell to the E. African slave trade which lasted a thousand years longer than the Atlantic one and was many times more brutal (most of the men were castrated.) It was aided by the explicit sanction given in the Quran to the acquistion of slaves, especially female sexual slaves or "right hand possessions" as the Quran calls them, as a "fruit of jihad" as a means of spreading islam. The mass enslavements and killings of non-muslims in Sudan in recent years is but a pale reflection of what has taken place in that part of the world since Mohammad saw his "Shining Angel"- and it continues to this day. On Zanzibar it ended when the black population rose up en masse and killed every arab muslim on the island in 1964. Other recent jihad warfares? Algerian civil war, Bangadeshi genocide, mass forced displacement of Kashmiri Pandits, the extermination of the Armenians by the last Caliphate, the Iraqi extermination of Christians. Now that the ME is practically judenrein, they've started on the Christians. . . And you do understand that the Crusades were a belated defensive response to the almost non-stop acts of war, ransom and piracy committed by muslims against Christians all across the middle east, right? Right?

[lcuchulain]

WELL SAID 'HIGHPLAINS 2!!' If more Libtards and muslim sympathizers knew history and the facts before they opened their mouths, we'd have a very short comment page to this posting, lol!

[meboard]

Good to see Kyle on-board with gay marriage. Thanks senator. P.S., hope to see you in one of our gay pride parades this June!

[pasha128]

Senator Kyl's BIGOTRY is clearly showing. HIS rights were guaranteed by BIRTH (silver spoon syndrome) while he ALONE is empowered to decide which other people DESERVE?? the same rights, ALL GUARANTEED BY THE US CONSTITUTION. Where does the US Constitution support Senator Kyl's bigoted delusion? Hint; IT DOESN'T.

[lcuchulain]

@pasha, how is Kyl a bigot? He clearly challenged the authenticity of the hearings by stating; "Selective indignation is not helpful." Where are the muslims that decry the more than 17,000 Islamic, terrorist attacks worldwide since 9/11? He even preceded that statement by saying '' all bigotry is to be condemned" - What article did YOU read?

[pasha128]

It takes a true BIGOT like Senator Kyl to believe his RIGHTS were guaranteed by birth alone (silver spoon syndrome) while others he ALONE chooses must EARN THEIRS in a different manner. Where does this provision exist in the US Constitution? Hint -- IT DOESN'T.