"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religi

Eaglecap,

Read again the announcement; it seems that you misunderstood what it is about.

The State Department is not funding a proselytizing campaign in America, but a scholar exchange. Cleric and scholar exchanges are good. We want these influential leaders to understand, appreciate, and like America. They will go back to their countries and give a positive account of the country that will negate the jihadists� propaganda. This is an excellent first step to winning their hearts and minds.

You do want Muslim clerics to have a positive view of the U.S., don�t you? So why oppose this grant?


Here are the goals of the program.

The initiative "Islam: Scholarship and Practice in the United States" will support an international exchange of scholars and clerics - influential and recognized for their ability to communicate, either in scholarly writing or through sermons - from Egypt, Jordan, and one or more additional countries of the Middle East selected at the discretion of the applicant and included with strong and persuasive programmatic justification. Libya and Iran are not eligible for participation in this exchange. The objectives of the exchange are 1) to enhance the non-American participants' understanding of the place of religion, particularly Islam, in American life; 2) to broaden participants' awareness of and appreciation for the serious religious study conducted in the United States particularly the study of Islam; 3) to provide a forum for examination and discussion of the compatibility of religious practice and democratic social and political structures; the social benefits produced by mutually respectful coexistence among diverse religious communities; ways in which Islamic practice in the United States, in particular, functions in a multi-cultural, multi-religious context; and 4) to broaden the understanding of American scholars, clerics, and laypersons of the place of Islam in the societies of the Middle East.

By the way, I found a grant from the State Department that can give you money. I will PM the information.

It is nice to be advised of news. Even if it is twisted. Lets hope we can all differentiate between balanced journalism and idiologies that tend to fit an author's perspective only.

Hugoestr you sure have a fine eye for catching details.

 

Originally posted by Seko It is nice to be advised of news. Even if it is twisted. Lets hope we can all differentiate between balanced journalism and idiologies that tend to fit an author's perspective only. Hugoestr you sure have a fine eye for catching details.

Thanks! I appreciate the comment.

Originally posted by hugoestr Haven't you ever wonder what kind of people read jihadwatch? Well, we cannot comment about all its readers, but we can about those who posts comments on it. Read their coments on the grant text!

I have read some of the comments and like any forum you get a variety of poeple making comments with different levels of education. What do you mean what kind of people read Jihadwatch? They are people who want to hear what the mainstream news covers up or fails to report. I cannot help from thinking that any comment you read that does not agree with your liberal viewpoint about islam is foolish. I use to be much more liberal until I attended The Evergreen State College and really had a chance to see the true face of extreme libaralism. The libaralism that was from the Kennedy era I accept but today it is much more extreme. Jihad watch comes from multilple sources and he is very accurate in his reporting. I do not know what your ancestry is hugo but did your ancestors come under the yoke of Islamic oppression for 500 years? Show me a real democracy in these Islamic nations, don't say Turkey because it is not. They still persecute Christains for sharing their beliefs in public.
Non-Muslims are the majority in the U.S. but I am convinced if they outnumbered us in America then watch how their so-called tolerance of other faiths will vanish. I know the majority want to live peacefully with others but it seems that it is the radicals who control things. Like Seko says they misinterpret the Koran to an extreme, like some Christians do. They are free to believe their relgion as long as they do not attempt to force their relgion and laws onto us. I believe Muslims can contribute greatly to our culture like Christians and Jews have in the past. Although, the roots of America is Judeo/Christian not Judeo-Christain-Islamic. Sorry Seko it was my ancestors who created this nation not yours, although they are now part of this culture and hopefully will add great things to it, the moderates like yourself.

Edited by eaglecap

Stalin replaced gos with the state, I would remove the interference of both god and the state, big difference.  I know I believe in personal freedom more than most in this forum, including you.  I dont care what individuals believe in at all and I dont think the government should promote anything in either negative or positive.  I just think religious views are incomopatible with a free government system, for example people can believe whatever they want but I damn dont want beliefs that regualte freedom in government, and if a person is of strong religious faith and they are in government they probably seek to regulat ethe bhavior of others.

 

Also it has to do with funding, I dont think taxpayers should have to pay for anything that doesnt benefit all of them.  For example the military and cancer research potentially benefits all American citizens so they should pay for it, scholarly exchanges wont help the average American, so why should they pay for it?

I did not say you would not get some idiots that reply. You are dealing with all kinds of people. It is still not take away William Spencer's work.
I have already read some of the foolish comments and you can find that anywhere. I agree some of the comments here are offensive but that is not his fault. I still believe that radical Islam is a threat to our freedoms and way of life. Already in Australia you cannot speak against Islam in a public forum or at a church. It is a crime there and that could happen here. Any type of criticism of their prophet or their religion is an offense, do you want that??? You can complain to william Spencer and I might just do so maybe he will better moderate the forum.
They are free to have their religion here but I will fight for our freedoms at any cost. "Give me freedom or give me death!!" patrick Henry


Comments hugo read please!
(Note: Comments on articles are unmoderated, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Jihad Watch or Robert Spencer. Comments that are off-topic, offensive, slanderous, or otherwise annoying may be summarily deleted. However, the fact that particular comments remain on the site IN NO WAY constitutes an endorsement by Robert Spencer of the views expressed therein.)

Edited by eaglecap

Originally posted by eaglecap I did not say you would not get some idiots that reply. You are dealing with all kinds of people. It is still not take away William Spencer's work. I have already read some of the foolish comments and you can find that anywhere. I agree some of the comments here are offensive but that is not his fault. I still believe that radical Islam is a threat to our freedoms and way of life. Already in Australia you cannot speak against Islam in a public forum or at a church. It is a crime there and that could happen here. Any type of criticism of their prophet or their religion is an offense, do you want that??? You can complain to william Spencer and I might just do so maybe he will better moderate the forum. They are free to have their religion here but I will fight for our freedoms at any cost. "Give me freedom or give me death!!" patrick Henry Comments hugo read please! (Note: Comments on articles are unmoderated, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Jihad Watch or Robert Spencer. Comments that are off-topic, offensive, slanderous, or otherwise annoying may be summarily deleted. However, the fact that particular comments remain on the site IN NO WAY constitutes an endorsement by Robert Spencer of the views expressed therein.)

You may have noticed that I didn't say anything about Spencer. You also seemed to miss that I never claimed that all readers are like this.

What I said was that some readers, some of the ones that posts, are extremely bigotted. The fact that people who go to this site put up with this nonsense is telling.

Now, I don't like extremist muslims either. They are a proven threat to the safety of the world. My problem with people posting in the site is that they equate Islam with the jihadists radicals.

What drives me the craziest about the bigotted posters is that they are actually playing the role of the anti-Islam westerner that hates and insults Islam which only confirms the statements of fundamentalist muslims.

If anti-western statements of jihadists are abhorrent to us, so should the anti-Islam sttatements be.

Originally posted by eaglecap [QUOTE=hugoestr]Although, the roots of America is Judeo/Christian not Judeo-Christain-Islamic. Sorry Seko it was my ancestors who created this nation not yours, although they are now part of this culture and hopefully will add great things to it, the moderates like yourself.

I always thought that the ancestors of this nation were the Native Americans. Where are they now? Dead mostly. You talk about tyranny of the majority, ask yourself what are things like now? Christians abusing a muslim minority instead of the other way around.

Originally posted by hugoestr Originally posted by eaglecap I only focus on the extreme religionist in Islam. I would say the same about Christians and Mormons but currently they are not the real threat to our society. Peaceful moderate Muslims I support like Seko 100% and I believe that they can add to our culture in a positive manner, like many cultures have. I am sorry you misunderstood me and I was agreeing that there are some bigots and fools who post on that forum. I hope he moderates it better. We can agree to that! The forum does not cause me to hate or dislike all Muslims but only the radicals who threaten our nation and freedoms. I keep in mind that many Muslims in this nation want to avoid this radicalism. Eaglecap, As I have said many times before, I know that you do not harbor bigotted feelings towards other people. In fact, you are one of the most culturally respectful person that I know. No reading material is going to change that about you. Now let me discuss jihadwatch. Media outlets give its readership what they want. The fact that Islam-haters go to this site is not surprising. The fact that Spencer drags his feet on moderating the site is reprehensible, especially knowing that his site will attract many haters. Spencer could have volunteer moderators if he doesn't want to pay people. My suspicion is that he doesn't want to moderate because he is afraid that his site' traffic would go down dramatically. I would rather keep my credibility than serve bigots, but I am strange that way. But that is about Spencer and his site. I am glad that we have gotten our misunderstanding out of the way

I suppose it is because I am a mutt and I enjoy learning about other people. I have traveled a lot so that helps. Some of my underlaying concerns about the world is the enviromental decline and the extinction of other species by mankind. Nature and wildness are part of my nature and so it is part of my concerns. Maybe I was an Native American in my other life-lol. I agree with you on the offensive statements and I will send a complaint to William Spencer but the forum does keep me aware of the current events. I have no anger towards the Turks but I have not forgotten my Greek past, just forgiven. This is why I am even more concerned about the loss of our freedoms and that could even come from the Patriot act. We are losing them and there is nothing we can do.
Don't forget tonight on coast to coast am there is a show on illegal immigration. If you want you can call the guest and challenge him. I know it is on late in your area. I am happy you have a wife and hope that things will work out with me and Heather in that direction- she is a cutie. Funny, she is very conservative but takes your view on illegal immigration, so we avoid the topic-lol We never fight though just debate!! lol lol
I have a philosophy that whenever I have an ugly racist thought come in I try to meet someone from that ethnic group or race and get to know them. In Spokane it is hard because it is mostly white but on campus it is great and it works. I think my late Greek mother would come back and haunt me if I had turned that way- http://www.coasttocoastam.com/