Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Does Islam need an intervention?

I heard a discussion today on talk radio about CAIR, the Congress of American Islamic Relations, which functions for Muslims the way PETA does for animals, or the Sierra Club for spotted owls; it attacks anybody and everybody who even suggests that it might not be as precious as it thinks. One point made by the guest was that there are many moderate Muslims here who are cowed by the radicals for fear of being branded as less than zealous or being booted from their mosques which are nearly all controlled by groups like Salafists, the Muslim Brotherhood and the Wahhabi Sect of Islam, all three are the sort that would establish another Taliban the first chance it was given.

So, thinks I, since mosques are not really sacred buildings the way Christian Churchs puport to be, what would be wrong with a Christian congregation offering space on Fridays for Muslims who only seek to say their prayers without being harangued and threatened by radicals? It would be an expression of good will, and call attention to the fact that you don't have to authorized by any central authority to lead prayers. Islam has no priesthood, as such, but the role of preachers, pastors and priests has been taken by those who attend seminaries become scholars. They're authority comes from their collection of and administrations of donations for the poor and social services. Nevertheless, they aren't really representatives of God or Islam, since all Muslims are equal, in theory at least.

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