I have been thinking a lot about how Muslims are being treated in this country, especially by the Conservative pundits and their followers. I will fully admit I know little about the actual Muslim religion. I actually became friends with a Muslim woman at college and she was not at all what is perceived about Muslims. She wore a headscarf and long skirts, which I know is a part of traditional Muslim attire, but that was just her outer appearance. She was fun, friendly, and did not judge me at all, for being transgender. She never denigrated me the way some of my Christian peers did. In fact, one Christian peer asked me, “Why don’t you go to therapy, so they can make you be the gender God made you?” He obviously had no comprehension of the requirements of the Harry Benjamin standards of care and the months of required therapy before being approved for hormones or surgery. My Muslim friend never said a negative word about my transition, which may be surprising to some.
Regardless, I learned that not all Muslims are radical thanks to actually knowing a Muslim. The woman I went to school with actually seemed rather liberal. I mean, she was a theatre student, so that may have had something to do with it. She never brought up her religion or her beliefs unless I asked her about them. Really, we usually just talked about classes, what we were up to…you know, normal things. She was about as down to Earth as it gets, and I relished a chance to talk with her.
Every religion has its crazies, so blaming an entire religion of people for the actions of radical Islamics is not only wrong, it’s stupid. Did we learn nothing from Adolf Hitler? He was the last person to successfully persecute a group based on religion. Hitler’s plans to eradicate Jews from the face of the Earth started out in what seemed harmless to the German people. First, he raised anti-Semitic feelings by saying things like “the Jews killed Jesus” and playing on the fact that the hardworking Jews had money while many non-Jews were poor. This is exactly what many Conservative pundits are doing today. I regularly see people posting anti-Muslim sentiments on Facebook, comments on blogs and news stories and all over the web. All Muslims are terrorists is one such false claim. These political leaders use the same misinformation and tactics Hitler used on the Nazis, to persuade Americans to hate Islam and Muslims.
Then Hitler gave the Jews curfews and took away their right to free enterprise. Anti-Jewish sentiments spread to the destruction of Jewish businesses (i.e. bricks through windows). We have not given Muslims curfews, but look how many Muslim-run businesses have been attacked? Mosques have been bombed, bricks have been thrown thrown through the windows of mosques, Muslim-businesses and homes of Muslims. Now, we are trying to prevent Muslims from opening businesses where we don’t want them to be. If that is not a restriction on free enterprise, I do not know what is. I wonder how long it will take for leaders to call for the rounding up of Muslims and Muslim sympathizers, if they are allowed to continue to spew such hate-filled rhetoric.
All of this led to research, and a realization that many of these leaders sound like Hitler. Some of these quotes are about Islam. Others, were rather surprising, as they covered all non-Christian religions. Can you guess which of these quotes are by Adolf Hitler and what are by Conservative Christian leaders of today?
THE QUOTES
1. “The god of Judaism is the devil. The Jew will not be recognized by God as one of His chosen people until he abandons his demonic religion and returns to the faith of his fathers – the faith which embraces Jesus Christ and His Gospel.”
2. “”My feelings as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter. It points me to the man who once in loneliness, surrounded by a few followers, recognized these Jews for what they were and summoned men to fight against them and who, God’s truth! was greatest not as a sufferer but as a fighter. In boundless love as a Christian and as a man I read through the passage which tells us how the Lord at last rose in His might and seized the scourge to drive out of the Temple the brood of vipers and adders. How terrific was His fight for the world against the Jewish poison. To-day, after two thousand years, with deepest emotion I recognize more profoundly than ever before the fact that it was for this that He had to shed His blood upon the Cross. As a Christian I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice… And if there is anything which could demonstrate that we are acting rightly it is the distress that daily grows. For as a Christian I have also a duty to my own people.”
3. ‘Lord, make us free!’ is transformed in the brain of the smallest boy into the burning plea: ‘Almighty God, bless our arms when the time comes; be just as thou hast always been; judge now whether we be deserving of freedom; Lord, bless our battle!’
4. “We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity.”
5. “Our culture is superior. Our culture is superior because our religion is Christianity and that is the truth that makes men free.”
6. “… the world has no reason for fighting in our defense, and as a matter of principle God does not make cowardly nations free…”
7. “I think Mohammed was a terrorist. He – I read enough of the history of his life written by both Muslims and – and – non-Muslims, that he was a – a violent man, a man of war. And I do believe that – Jesus set the example for love, as did Moses. And I think that Mohammed set an opposite example.”
8. “The task of preserving and advancing the highest humanity, given to this earth by the benevolence of the Almighty, seems a truly high mission.”
9. “Anyone who dares to lay hands on the highest image of the Lord commits sacrilege against the benevolent creator of this miracle and contributes to the expulsion from paradise.”
10. “If you don’t want a Christian nation, then go to one of the many nations that are heathen already, rather than perverting ours.”
11. “This is our land. This is our world. This is our heritage, and with God’s help, we shall reclaim this nation for Jesus Christ. And no power on earth can stop us.”
12. “Peoples which bastardize themselves, or let themselves be bastardized, sin against the will of eternal Providence…”
13. “This is God’s world, not Satan’s. Christians are the lawful heirs, not non-Christians.”
14. “With satanic joy in his face, the black-haired Jewish youth lurks in wait for the unsuspecting girl whom he defiles with his blood, thus stealing her from her people.”
15. “God gave us the earth. We have dominion over the plants, the animals, the trees. God said, ‘Earth is yours. Take it. Rape it. It’s yours.’
16. ” Jews are the real Nazis. They started all the wars of the world.”
17. “We are on God’s side. This is not a war between Arabs and Jews. It’s a war between God and the devil.”
18. “Today Christians … stand at the head of [this country]… I pledge that I never will tie myself to parties who want to destroy Christianity .. We want to fill our culture again with the Christian spirit … We want to burn out all the recent immoral developments in literature, in the theater, and in the press – in short, we want to burn out the poison of immorality which has entered into our whole life and culture as a result of liberal excess during the past … (few) years.”
19. “We ought to tell every other Moslem (sic) living in this nation that if you say one word, you’re gone.”
20. “Who says I am not under the special protection of God? ”
These quotes are all very disturbing. They are harmful and hurtful to the message of peace that Christianity’s greatest figure, Jesus Christ, was attempting to spread. They go against the very nature of liberty, justice, and freedom for all.
Are you ready for the answers?
Some are a little obvious, but others were surprising.
Here is a list of the people who have said the above quotes.
THE ANSWERS
1. David Chilton
2. Adolf Hitler
3. Adolf Hitler
4. Ann Coulter
5. Pat Robertson
6. Adolf Hitler
7. Jerry Falwell
8. Adolf Hitler
9. Adolf Hitler
10. Jeff Fugate
11. D. James Kennedy
12. Adolf Hitler
13. Gary North
14. Adolf Hitler
15. Ann Coulter
16. Bill O’Reilly
17. Benny Hinn
18. Adolf Hitler
19. Jimmy Swaggert
20. Adolf Hitler
I have to wonder how and why hate drives these people? Did we learn nothing from World War II and the Holocaust? I only hope Americans wake up before another genocide occurs.
[tags]quotes, Adolf Hitler, Conservative Christians, Christian leaders, Politicians, Conservatives, Religion, Christianity, Jews, Islam, Muslims, Religion, Hate[/tags]
Seriously, seriously disturbing. And people cant wait to vote for some of these people in November.
That is the scary part. Many people only want to see what they want to see and not the truth about these people.
You might want to check out a woman named Deanna Spingola, an excellent Historian who has really brought some astounding facts to light. Her radio broadcast is found here http://republicbroadcasting.org/ and her website and writings here http://www.spingola.com/. I highly recommend both of her books but be warned of the cognitive dissonance it will throw you in. Te winners write HIStory and things are not always what they seem.
So you’ve been told ignorant and offensive things by pepole who call themselves Christians, but you knew A Muslim woman who was kind and understanding? So you admit your sample size of Muslims is one, and that’s your generalization of Muslims, meanwhile, 70% of the US identifies as Christian, and because some who identified as Christian (a statistical likelihood) said something offensive, Christianity and it’s message is offensive? I imagine if you went to Saudi Arabia you may change your mind as to which religion is more hateful, closed minded, and ignorant towards transgendered individuals. Bottom line, yes, Christians can be ass holes, and the hateful messages being pushed forward about Muslims is abominable, especially when it comes under the banner of “Christianity” (you’d be hard pressed to find such a hateful message in the New Testamemt), however, do be careful to blame Christianity, as the true enemy isn’t religion, but rather it is fear, ignorance, and sweeping generalizations casting large groups of people into categories based on cultural, ethnic, and religious backgrounds… which it kind of feels like you’re doing here with Christians and their ignorance.
Actually, I know multiple Muslims, and none of them have been assholes or terrorists. My friend has been profiled just for existing as a Muslim in this country. I have experienced YEARS of oppression by Christians actually. Christians who were ableist/audist to my dad for being Deaf. He was excluded from a whole church community for that. An entire Catholic church (the church I went to) turning their back and castigating my adopted brother for being gay. I have been threatened with being killed for being LGBTQ by self-professed Christians. Further, nowhere did I say all Christians were bad. Nowhere did I say all Muslims were good. There are extremists on both side. That being said, I have met many very oppressive Christians. I grew up in a town where evangelicalism was rampant, and people were very judgmental just for being different. So, this has been a lifelong experience of oppression by Christians for me. I believe religion in general is often problematic.
And to be sure, it is impressive you picked up on this 6 years ago, as it surely has grown to a problem of Biblical proportions today.