{"id":18583,"date":"2010-09-15T21:28:17","date_gmt":"2010-09-16T03:28:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=18583"},"modified":"2014-11-10T16:02:21","modified_gmt":"2014-11-10T23:02:21","slug":"some-short-lessons-in-religion-and-constitutionality-for-cal-thomas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/09\/15\/some-short-lessons-in-religion-and-constitutionality-for-cal-thomas.html","title":{"rendered":"Some short lessons in religion and constitutionality for Cal Thomas"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I realize Cal Thomas is a big media personality who writes columns that appear in many famous newspapers. \u00a0He’s also a dolt when it comes to the Constitution. And history. And religion. And … well, pretty much everything else I can find.<\/p>\n

Thomas appeared on Alan Colmes’ radio show<\/a> for the following daft exchange, discussing mosques in the United States:<\/p>\n

Thomas<\/strong>: I want them to be monitored. I want there to be listening devices in very single one of them.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yes, Cal Thomas wants every mosque to have a listening device in it. \u00a0And, of course, he’s saying this publicly, so every radical Islamist terror cell now knows not to make plans inside of their mosque. \u00a0Nice way to drive them underground, Cal. \u00a0Maybe we need to bug the houses of every known Muslim in the US, and assign a personal monitor for every single one of them. \u00a0We certainly are going to need to hire a lot more FBI agents to monitor all the tapes of all the mosques each week.<\/p>\n

I do strongly suspect that there are in fact certain <\/em>mosques that are under surveillance, electronic and HUMINT, based on the rhetoric coming from them and other indicators (and, I trust, under a court order). \u00a0That’s a much more defensible stand — I’d expect a Christian militia church to be treated similarly. \u00a0But, then, I don’t assume that because there are Christian militias like the Huttaree planning on killing policemen, etc., that all <\/em>Christian churches need to be monitored.<\/p>\n

Colmes<\/strong>: Can you imagine saying that about any other religion?
\nThomas<\/strong>: No I can\u2019t, but no other religion\u2026is talking about the imposing the equivalent of Sharia law\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Obviously Cal hasn’t spoken to some Dominionist Christians. \u00a0Nor to Christianist folks who very seriously and sincerely suggest the death penalty (by stoning, preferably) for homosexuality, adultery, etc. \u00a0Still more would propose criminal penalties for blasphemy, and outlaw divorce. \u00a0We still have Blue Laws that restrict commerce on Sundays and Christian holidays. \u00a0And, of course, we can see all sorts of significant teaching from conservative Christians in this country about the subservient role of women vs. men, etc.<\/p>\n

(Let’s not even talk about Old School Mormons …)<\/p>\n

Some of the particulars might vary, but for Thomas to single out Muslims in this country for, in his eyes, proposing a theocratic basis for a judicial system is disingenuous. \u00a0It’s just not his <\/em>flavor of religion that he’s worried about.<\/p>\n

Colmes<\/strong>: So you want the government to monitor what happens in mosques.
\nThomas<\/strong>: I sure do\u2026
\nColmes<\/strong>: How will that ever pass a constitutional test?
\nThomas<\/strong>: Well, I don\u2019t know; we\u2019ll have to see; depends who\u2019s on the court.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Remember that, folks, next time you hear Cal Thomas or his ilk railing against “activist courts” as if it’s a liberal thing. \u00a0“Depends on who’s on the court” is his answer to how to make discriminating against a particular religion on a generic basis pass “constitutional” muster.<\/p>\n

The conversation was based on an article that Thomas recently put out “Purging Evil<\/a>” — by which, of course, he means Islam in the US. \u00a0I hadn’t been going to go through it in total, but it’s such zany hatemongering that I simply can’t resist.<\/p>\n

Terry Jones, the Florida \u201cminister\u201d who threatened to burn the Koran on the anniversary of September 11, is as much a distraction from the real challenge facing America as was Senator Joseph McCarthy when it came to communism.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Gee, wasn’t it just this morning that I first commented how Islam is the New Commie Menace?<\/p>\n

Communism was (and remains in its Chinese incarnation) a real threat.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

China may be a threat. \u00a0Communism, as an ideology, though, is a-mouldering in the grave. \u00a0Heck, even Fidel is suggesting that they Cuba needs to back away from it. \u00a0The People’s Republic of China is communist any more only insofar as they pay lip service to it; in reality, it’s as much of an autocracy (and growing plutocracy) as the imperial orders it supplanted.<\/p>\n

China is a \u00a0threat — or at least a challenge — to the US largely because of its massive population, growing industrial power, untapped resources, debt-holding over the US, and long and proud tradition of considering itself the center of the world. \u00a0That would all be true even if they were as democratic as the day is \u00a0long.<\/p>\n

But radical Islam \u2014 rabid, advancing, intolerant, subjugating \u2014 is potentially a bigger one and must be conquered.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

IT’S LIKE A WAVE OF ARMY ANTS … DEVOURING ALL THEY COME ACROSS …<\/p>\n

Various apologists for the Nazis …<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

NAZIS!!!<\/p>\n

… and communists in the media, academia and religion are now mostly forgotten and that\u2019s the problem. Forgetting what happens when evil is accommodated leads to terrible consequences and more evil.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Accommodating\u00a0evil is, in fact, rarely a constructive or long-term solution. \u00a0(Though, of course, one could consider our major financial and economic ties to “Communist China,” and the fact that we aren’t invading them or nuking them into a glass parking lot, would seem to indicate that we are “accommodating evil” in Cal’s world.)<\/p>\n

The problem comes in accurately identifying evil, and figuring out the most productive way to confront and stymie it.<\/p>\n

Some ancient wisdom about what must be done with evil is helpful for those who would pay attention: \u201cYou must purge the evil from among you\u201d (Deuteronomy 22:21).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Um, Cal? Here’s a bit of context for that reading from Deuteronomy …<\/p>\n

13<\/em><\/sup> If a man takes a wife and, after lying with her, dislikes her <\/em>14<\/em><\/sup> and slanders her and gives her a bad name, saying, “I married this woman, but when I approached her, I did not find proof of her virginity,” <\/em>15<\/em><\/sup> then the girl’s father and mother shall bring proof that she was a virgin to the town elders at the gate. <\/em>16<\/em><\/sup> The girl’s father will say to the elders, “I gave my daughter in marriage to this man, but he dislikes her. <\/em>17<\/em><\/sup> Now he has slandered her and said, ‘I did not find your daughter to be a virgin.’ But here is the proof of my daughter’s virginity.” Then her parents shall display the cloth before the elders of the town, <\/em>18<\/em><\/sup> and the elders shall take the man and punish him. <\/em>19<\/em><\/sup> They shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver <\/em>[<\/em>b<\/em><\/a>]<\/em><\/sup> and give them to the girl’s father, because this man has given an Israelite virgin a bad name. She shall continue to be his wife; he must not divorce her as long as he lives. <\/em>20<\/em><\/sup> If, however, the charge is true and no proof of the girl’s virginity can be found, <\/em>21<\/em><\/sup> she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death. She has done a disgraceful thing in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her father’s house. You must purge the evil from among you.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Um … about that whole “imposing Sharia law” thing?<\/p>\n

Instead, we are tolerating, even welcoming evil, under the false assumption that evil can be neutered when it is in the midst of good. If that were so, the good works performed by various cultures would have long ago eradicated evil. Evil must not only be purged, it must be defeated.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I could pull up a zillion quotes from the New Testament, Cal, about answering evil with good, and how treating evil people with goodness is the right path to choose, and all that. \u00a0But, then, why bother?<\/p>\n

The former co-chairs of the 9\/11 Commission, Democrat Lee Hamilton and Republican Thomas Kean, write of the \u201cAmericanization\u201d of al-Qaida leadership, reports the Washington Post. In a 43-page study by the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, Hamilton and Kean warn of the radicalization of Muslims inside the United States and how al-Qaida\u2019s strategy is changing from big events, like airplane hijackings and attacks of mass destruction, to plotting for smaller actions designed to spread fear and instability across the country.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Of which we’ve seen pretty much zilch so far.<\/p>\n

But, then, if al-Qa’eda were managing to be wildly effective in radicalizing Muslims in the US (if they’re not being radicalized by Anglo pundits calling them evil cryto-terrorists), one would expect that “smaller actions” wouldn’t be necessary. \u00a0A mass uprising would be much more effective.<\/p>\n

In this chilling sentence from the report is the challenge for those who deny the reality of what we face: \u201cThe U.S. is arguably not little different from Europe in terms of having a domestic terrorist problem involving immigrant and indigenous Muslims, as well as converts to Islam.\u201d The report says al-Qaida and its affiliates in Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen have minimally established an \u201cembryonic\u201d recruitment infrastructure in the United States. It points to convictions last year of at least 43 American citizens or residents aligned with radical ideology and high-profile cases of recruits who went abroad for training.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Good Lord! There were 43 American citizens or residents \u00a0convicted. \u00a0That’s a whopping 0.00014% of the 307 million people in the US! \u00a0IT’S AN EPIDEMIC OF EVIL!!!<\/p>\n

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano seemed to confirm the findings in the report when she spoke last week to a group of first responders in New York: \u201cThe old view that \u2018if we fight the terrorists abroad, we won\u2019t have to fight them here\u2019 is just that \u2014 the old view. It is abundantly clear that we have to fight them abroad; we have to fight them at home. We have to fight them, period.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Agreed. \u00a0Fight the terrorists, then. But who are the terrorists? \u00a0Cal seems to think it’s pretty much every single Muslim in America.<\/p>\n

We are doing a poor job of fighting the terrorists at home if we continue to allow Muslim immigrants, especially from Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen, into America.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Because every Pakistani, Somalian, and Yemeni is a terrorist. \u00a0Or will be a terrorist. Or could be a terrorist. \u00a0No, let’s go with is most likely a terrorist. \u00a0After all, why would anyone want to come to this country who didn’t want to blow it up?<\/p>\n

We won\u2019t win this war if we permit the uncontrolled construction of mosques, as well as Islamic schools, some of which already have sown the seeds from which future terrorists will be cultivated.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Right. Because, just like every Catholic Church and Catholic School was a seed bed for future IRA terrorists, and just like every Jewish\u00a0Synagogue\u00a0and Yeshiva in the 30s-40s was a seed bed for Israeli terrorists against the Brits, every Mosque and Islamic School is a seed bed for jihadists. \u00a0So let’s ban ’em all!<\/p>\n

We won\u2019t win this war if we continue to permit the large-scale conversion to Islam of prison inmates, many of whom become radicalized and upon release enlist in al-Qaida\u2019s army.<\/p>\n

Really? \u00a0Really? \u00a0How many prison inmates, converting to Islam, have gone on to be radicalized al-Qa’eda terrorists, Cal? \u00a0“Many”? How about some numbers? How about some examples and trends?<\/p>\n

Even Syria understands the threat better than our own government. The New York Times reported on Sept. 3 that the Syrian government has asked imams for recordings of their Friday sermons and has begun closely monitoring what is taught in religious schools: \u201c(Syria), which had sought to show solidarity with Islamist groups and allow religious figures a greater role in public life, has recently reversed course, moving forcefully to curb the influence of Muslim conservatives in its mosques, public universities and charities.\u201d<\/p>\n

What does Syria know that we refuse to acknowledge out of fear of offending \u201csensibilities\u201d?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Because, of course, we want to model our freedoms and liberties and tolerance and openness and lack of police state on … Syria? \u00a0Really, Cal? \u00a0We should take our cue from Syria?<\/em><\/p>\n

In Nigeria, Christian gangs have assaulted and murdered Muslims. \u00a0(Muslim gangs have done the same to Christians.) \u00a0Should we follow their model, too?<\/p>\n

We must purge the evil from among us, or else.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Fortunately for you, Cal, I’d prefer to be much more narrowly focused on actual purveyors of killing and death, rather than “purging” anyone I consider to be uncivil, un-American, hateful, and, yes, arguably evil.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I realize Cal Thomas is a big media personality who writes columns that appear in many famous newspapers. \u00a0He’s also a dolt when it comes to the Constitution. And history. And religion. And … well, pretty much everything else I can find. Thomas appeared on Alan Colmes’ radio show for the following daft exchange, discussing … Continue reading “Some short lessons in religion and constitutionality for Cal Thomas”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18584,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[715,108,27,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime-punishment","category-history","category-religion","category-zt-pc"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/cal-thomas.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":25222,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/01\/09\/jeffersons-bible-and-david-barton.html","url_meta":{"origin":18583,"position":0},"title":"Jefferson's Bible and David Barton","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 9-Jan-12 2:15pm","format":false,"excerpt":"David Barton, pseudo-historian (and dolt), will soon be publishing The Jefferson Lies, wherein he tries to demonstrate that Thomas Jefferson was just as much of an evangelical, miracle-believing, Jesus-praising, conservative Christian as ... well, Dave Barton claims to be. Part of the debate is Jefferson's Bible. The first was an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10506,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/01\/03\/a_hit_a_palpably_tolerant.html","url_meta":{"origin":18583,"position":1},"title":"A hit, a palpably tolerant hit","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 3-Jan-07 9:41pm","format":false,"excerpt":"After taking an appalling amount of heat for deciding to use his holy book -- the Koran -- to swear on in a private ceremony upon taking the oath of...","rel":"","context":"In "Religion"","block_context":{"text":"Religion","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38741,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/09\/10\/go-see-cal.html","url_meta":{"origin":18583,"position":2},"title":"Go see Cal!","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 10-Sep-13 6:17am","format":false,"excerpt":"Sorry to hear about Cal Worthington's passing. Well, to be honest, if I'd thought about it, I'd have guessed he was dead already. \u00a0Regardless, his \"Go see Cal!\" commercials were a staple on TV when I was growing in in LA -- usually on the indie stations like 5 and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25525,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/01\/18\/bearing-false-witness-against-thomas-jefferson.html","url_meta":{"origin":18583,"position":3},"title":"Bearing false witness (against Thomas Jefferson)","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 18-Jan-12 11:38am","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm a quotations wonk (http:\/\/wist.info). Pulling elided phrases out of context to provide a meaning not originally meant irks the hell out of me. In this case, we have the National Prayer Breakfast folk absconding with Jefferson's love for the moral code preached by Jesus to make it sound like\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11224,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/10\/18\/feeling_cross_2.html","url_meta":{"origin":18583,"position":4},"title":"Feeling Cross","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 18-Oct-07 10:20pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The local Catholic Church, St Thomas More, periodically decorates one of the hillocks on the edge of its parking lot with several dozen small white crosses,\u00a0 I'm fairly certain (based...","rel":"","context":"In "Parenting"","block_context":{"text":"Parenting","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/personal\/parenting"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20818,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/04\/20\/unblogged-bits-wed-20-apr-11-2331.html","url_meta":{"origin":18583,"position":5},"title":"Unblogged Bits (Wed. 20-Apr-11 2331)","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 20-Apr-11 11:31pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries .... Can You Recognize the 10 Greatest Swords Of All Time? [Daily 10] - I'm pleased to say that I recognized all the ones I've actually been exposed to (a few game-specific ones I'd not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-books"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18583"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47845,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18583\/revisions\/47845"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}