Moderate Islam

Cincinnati Enquirer Reporter: Cancellation of High School's 'Covered Girl Challenge' May Signal 'Bigotry'
By Tom Blumer | April 19, 2015 | 10:35 PM EDT

At Mason High School in Ohio this past week, the school's administration originally supported but has now cancelled a "Covered Girl Challenge." The goal, according to a school email captured in full at Jihad Watch and almost nowhere else, was to "celebrate ... diversity and promote open mindedness" by promoting the Muslim Student Association's invitation to "all female students to ... wear a headscarf for the whole school day."

Jihad Watch, unlike every Ohio-based establishment press outlet report I have seen, including one found in the Cincinnati Enquirer, also linked readers to a reminder that collegiate chapters of the Muslim Student Association, which also encourages the creation of high school chapters under its aegis, have served as breeding grounds for terrorism (bolds are mine throughout this post):

Slate Writer: If We’re Going to Call Out Extremist Groups, ‘We Could Start at Home With Republicans’
By Tom Johnson | February 25, 2015 | 11:13 AM EST

Apropos of President Obama’s refusal to use the terms “Islamic extremism” or “radical Islam,” Saletan opines, “If we’re going to start calling out religious and political groups for extremism, we could start at home with Republicans. Too many of them spew animus. Too many foment sectarianism. Too many sit by, or make excuses, as others appeal to tribalism. If Obama were to treat them the way they say he should treat Islam—holding the entire faith accountable for its ugliest followers—they’d squeal nonstop about slander and demagogy. They’re lucky that’s not his style.”

Ask The Wall Street Journal: When Are Islamists 'Moderate'?
By Quin Hillyer | February 24, 2015 | 3:47 PM EST

Even the Wall Street Journal news pages can get caught in the politically correct labeling games that mar so much of today's reporting -- especially when it comes to Islam. Case in point: Friday's story about Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, complete with big headline and large photo, occupying the whole top third of the back page of the front section. The article explored Western governments’ reluctance to fully back Al Sisi's call for military action against Islamic State's terrorists in Libya. According to the article, Western diplomats object to Al Sisi's "crackdown at home on moderate Islamists."

Lefty Site Vox Notes Obama’s ‘Awkward Attempts to Sidestep the Role of Religion in Islamist Extremism’
By Tom Johnson | February 19, 2015 | 10:04 PM EST

Vox writer Max Fisher argues that Obama “has veered so far into downplaying Islamist extremism that he appears at times to refuse to acknowledge its existence at all, or has referred to it as violent extremism. While he has correctly identified economic and political factors that give rise to extremism, he has appeared to downplay or outright deny an awkward but important fact: religion plays an important role as well.”

CBS and NBC Bash Giuliani for Criticizing Obama; ‘War of Words’ Taken ‘to Another Level’
By Curtis Houck | February 19, 2015 | 9:59 PM EST

In covering President Obama’s refusal to refer to terrorism as Islamic extremism, CBS and NBC devoted portions of their reports on Thursday night to comments Rudy Giuliani made the day before with NBC reserving a majority of their airtime to attacking the former New York City Mayor for having “set off a war of words” and taking presidential criticism “to another level.” Andrea Mitchell declared he set off “a firestorm” over telling an audience that “I do not believe that the President loves America” and suggested that Giuliani went too far.

CBS, NBC Barely Touch on Criticism of Obama Refusing to Use the Term Islamic Extremism
By Curtis Houck | February 18, 2015 | 11:22 PM EST

In their Wednesday night coverage of President Obama’s speech on “violent extremism,” CBS and NBC did the best they could to ignore the criticism surrounding the President’s speech in addition to his conscious and repeated inability to refer to the beliefs of terrorist groups such as ISIS and al-Qaeda as Islamic extremism.

NBC Finally Acknowledges Atheist Beliefs of Accused Muslim Killer in North Carolina
By Curtis Houck | February 13, 2015 | 5:25 PM EST

NBC News took the step of acknowledging on Friday’s Today show that the man accused of killing three Muslims in North Carolina held atheist beliefs after having ignored that element of this tragic story in both their morning and evening newscasts since the first stories aired on Wednesday night. During the program’s 7:00 a.m. hour, newsreader Natalie Morales referred to Craig Stephens Hicks in a 27 second brief as “a self-described gun-toting atheist” and is now “facing first-degree murder changes.” The brief did not bring up Hicks’s liberal political beliefs (as have fellow networks ABC and CBS in their coverage).

NBC Continues to Omit Atheist, Liberal Beliefs of Accuser in Killing of Muslims; CBS Drops After Previous Mentions
By Curtis Houck | February 12, 2015 | 11:04 PM EST

After making no mention on Wednesday evening or Thursday morning, NBC continued its streak on Thursday's NBC Nightly News of ignoring the militant atheism and liberalism of the North Carolina man accused of killing three Muslim-Americans. While none of the three networks have alluded to Craig Stepehn Hicks’s liberal beliefs, what differed from each of the past two network news cycles was that CBS dropped any mention of Hicks’s atheism after correspondent Vicente Arenas had included it in reports on Wednesday’s CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley and Thursday’s CBS This Morning.

CBS This Morning Blames Cancellation of Muslim Prayer Event at Duke on Franklin Graham
By Curtis Houck | January 16, 2015 | 12:57 PM EST

On Friday, CBS This Morning reported on news that Duke University had cancelled plans to have a Muslim call-to-prayer projected from the school’s famous bell tower at the Duke Chapel and, while Duke suggested that there were “several factors” that led to the decision, the segment prominently tied it to Rev. Franklin Graham and subsequent threats against them.

CBS News correspondent Julianna Goldman fretted that the cancellation came as “students, faculty, and administrators spent months working on a new way to make campus feel more inclusive for its 700 Muslims.”

Muslim Journalist Blames Fox News for 'Unfair Burden on Islam' to Denounce Terrorism
By Matthew Balan | January 12, 2015 | 5:37 PM EST

Ahmed Shihab-Eldin attacked Fox News and others on Monday's @ This Hour on CNN for placing "an unfair burden on Islam," particularly in the wake of Islamist terrorist attacks. Shihab-Eldin asserted that those calling on Muslims to condemn terrorism are "not aware of Google; or not paying attention; or perhaps, watching too much Fox News, where hosts constantly are...driving this point home – this us versus them...this point home that Muslims aren't speaking out....I think it's regrettable, and I think, arguably, bigoted."

NYT's Cohen: Islamic Terror Won't Be Solved Until Moderates Speak Out
By Matthew Balan | January 12, 2015 | 1:09 PM EST

On Friday's CNN Tonight, New York Times columnist Roger Cohen contended that moderate Muslims were partially to blame to the ongoing threat of Islamist terrorism. Host Don Lemon spotlighted a Tweet from Rupert Murdoch, where the media magnate wrote, "Maybe most Muslims peaceful, but until they recognize and destroy their growing jihadist cancer, they must be held responsible." Cohen replied, "I do hold Muslims responsible to this degree: I don't think that we can solve this problem, Don, until moderate Muslims really speak out."

Radical Islam: Zbigniew Brzezinski Advocates Appeasement
By Mark Finkelstein | January 9, 2015 | 8:27 AM EST

Zbigniew Brzezinski, the man who advised President Obama to shoot down Israeli planes, now argues for the appeasement of radical Islam.

Appearing on today's Morning Joe, Jimmy Carter's former national security adviser criticized some of the satire directed at Islam as "unnecessarily nasty" and "extraordinarily provocative."  He said that it was very important "to avoid becoming the number one enemy of the fanatics." Brzezinski argued that we must not be engaged "in anything that appears to be a struggle against Islam," and he criticized President George W. Bush for speaking of a war against "jihadist terror." According to Brzezinksi, "jihadist terror to Islam, to Muslims, means just war."