September 9, 2010
A test on Islam, PC, and Progressivism
The Hartford, Connecticut, NBC television affiliate posts an update on the City Council's decision to invite imams to deliver the invocation prior to the next Council meeting. Faced with angry disagreement, Council president Jo Winch says that they are reconsidering the decision to promote Islam at a time so close to 9/11.
Presented here, for your entertainment, are published quotes and observations on the subject. Your challenge is to determine which ones are attributable to: a) "Moderate" Islam; b) Political Correctness; c) Progressive socio/political philosophy; d) Constitutional conservatism.
The email from the City Council referenced the ongoing battle over a proposed mosque in New York. "One of the goals of the Council is to give a voice to the many diverse peoples of the City, which is especially important given the recent anti-Islam events throughout the country," [emphasis added] the email read. [....]
She [Council president, Winch] instead said she would consider an interfaith prayer before next Monday's meeting. [....]
"There might be 20 different faiths there on that day because, I understand his position, we have to understand we live in a multicultural city and there are 125,000 residents here so we don't want to have anyone be offended," Winch said. [....]
That idea, however didn't sit well with Council Minority Leader Luis Cotto, the council member who originally made the proposal to ask the imams to perform the invocations. Cotto said he had no problem with the timing of the proposal. "I thought that doing this in September or at the next meeting, which happens to be September, makes sense, and I still do," Cotto said.
Local Islamic leaders were also not happy about Winch's apparent backtracking. "We feel as though it would be a step backwards because it would be labeling me as part of the problem that took place on 9/11 and we had nothing to do with that," Imam Kashif Abdul-Karim said. Abdul-Karim was scheduled to perform the invocation at the Sept. 13 City Council meeting.
He said he plans to be at City Hall Monday to say the prayer.
The only incorrect answer is....