Politics

TN gov. candidate: Islam arguably a cult (via Talking Points Memo)


Talking Points Memo pointed out this quote today from Tennessee Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey who is now running for governor:

Now, you could even argue whether being a Muslim is actually a religion, or is it a nationality, way of life, cult whatever you want to call it.
…Now, you know, I’m all about freedom of religion. I value the First Amendment as much as I value the Second Amendment as much as I value the Tenth Amendment and on and on and on. But you cross the line when they try to start bringing Sharia Law here to the state of Tennessee — to the United States. We live under our Constitution and they live under our Constitution.

Someone should tell him what those Jews have been doing in their yeshivas in America all these years and then get him on the record about that.

7 thoughts on “TN gov. candidate: Islam arguably a cult (via Talking Points Memo)

  1. That’s truly unfortunate, but one incident does not a rampant wave of antisemitism make.
    And I didn’t realize Jon Stewart had done this joke already, but I suppose I should’ve known better…

  2. yeah, he played some clips of some islamophobes on fox news then asked why he couldn’t buy liquor on sundays.
    also lets not argue semantics before you look up “rampant” in the dictionary.

  3. Were you not using it in this sense: “rife, or occurring widely, frequently or menacingly?” (Definition 5 on wiktionary). I suppose you could’ve meant definition 4, “unrestrained or unchecked,” which would also make perfect sense, but you could have also meant it in the sense of heraldry.
    So what am I missing?

  4. okay… antisemitism has reared onto its hind legs and viciously attacked the synagogue. (definition 1)
    so what is your point then? no need for alarm? put away the “bat signal”?
    it’s one thing to put your head in the sand. its another thing to put it in so deep that your head pops out on the other side of the world and in a mosque.

  5. As a resident of Tennessee, I’ve got to agree with David. We’ve seen mosques vandalized more recently than we’ve seen threats of violence at our shuls and JCCs. That said, I don’t think that either of the prevailing cultures of the state are particularly interested in promoting Jewish interests.
    The Evangelical rapture-minded set would like Jews to make token appearances — a reiteration of the old Augustine/Luther line that a sherit Yisrael has survived so that we can be “made an example of.” This, admittedly, is tempered by a short-term alliance for the sake of having Eretz Yisrael around as a staging ground for WW3.
    As for the more progressive set, there’s a bias among secular liberals (or semi-secular — Unitarians, Episcopalians, UMC’ers and the like) against both Medinat Yisrael and haAm. The Palestinian situation causes the first: liberation theology and its intellectual descendants love conflicts that can be painted in Marxist tones, with a good-vs.evil transparency thrown on top. The second issue stems from secularists’ being baffled (frightened?) by a people that is well-represented publicly but rejects cultural homogeneity. Of course, contradictions and cultural narcissism abound in the secularist view of Israel as a savvy Western nation savagely thrust on the primitive, childlike Arabs of the Levant and therefore culpable in any conflict.
    Nevertheless, secular liberals and I are actually on the same page when it comes to wanting mosques built in and around our cities. If Islam is going to undergo its own haskalah, it’s likely to start in the West. If people don’t allow Muslims room to breathe, adherents of the world’s second most populous religion are going to become increasingly isolated while remaining in our midst. They will turn all their thought inward, without action, and meet the outside world with action unmoderated by thought. If Muslims are faced only with fear and intolerance, then xenophobes’ own ravings only become self-fulfilling prophecies.

  6. @Oren– And in a mosque? I’m not sure I follow you. Hate ain’t going away. But one incident is the work of a few yahoos. A whole wave is cultural phenomenon worth worrying about. And this is one incident.
    @Goyisher Yid– Amen.

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