Prince Charles to Argue Islam’s Merits in U.S.
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James Joyner | Sunday, October 30, 2005 |
Prince Charles is coming to the United States this week to argue that Islam is better than we think.
Prince Charles to plead Islam’s cause to Bush (Telegraph)
The Prince of Wales will try to persuade George W Bush and Americans of the merits of Islam this week because he thinks the United States has been too intolerant of the religion since September 11. The Prince, who leaves on Tuesday for an eight-day tour of the US, has voiced private concerns over America’s “confrontational” approach to Muslim countries and its failure to appreciate Islam’s strengths.
The Prince raised his concerns when he met senior Muslims in London in November 2001. The gathering took place just two months after the attacks on New York and Washington. “I find the language and rhetoric coming from America too confrontational,” the Prince said, according to one leader at the meeting.
It is understood that Prince Charles did not - and does not - believe that the actions of 19 hijackers should tarnish the reputation of hundreds of millions of law-abiding Muslims around the world.
[...]
Prince Charles, who is about to embark on his first official foreign tour since his marriage to the Duchess of Cornwall, wants Americans - including Mr Bush - to share his fondness for Islam. He has agreed to attend a seminar on religions at Georgetown University, Washington, on Thursday: the only event where he will not be accompanied by the Duchess.
[...]
Prince Charles has done more than any other member of the Royal Family in history to understand Islam. He said in 1994 that when he became Supreme Governor of the Church of England, he would rather be “defender of faiths” than “defender of the faith”. A year earlier Prince Charles made a speech, acclaimed throughout the Arab world, on relations between Islam and the West. He urged the West to overcome its “unthinkable prejudices” about Islam and its customs and laws. He spoke warmly of the West’s debt to the culture of Islam and distanced moderate Muslims from misguided militants. “Extremism is no more the monopoly of Islam than it is the monopoly of other religions, including Christianity,” he said.
It seems to me that President Bush has gone beyond the bounds of rationality in asserting that Islam had no part in the 9/11 attacks and that, despite millions of Muslims rooting for Osama bin Laden and his ilk, it is a Religion of PeaceTM.
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia.
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Oh Yeah, we sure need to know more about islam.
We need to know about killing innocent people
We need to know about beheadings,
We need to know about the mistreatment of women.
we need to know why very little condemnation of terrorism.
We need to know about killing yourself in the name of islam.
Oh, yeah girly boy, we need to know all about islam.
I can never seem to understand where the Islam-bashing is coming from.
Christianity has more blood on its hands than Islam, by a long shot.
While "millions of Muslims" may casually root for Osama, it's for his opposition to America (and his sagacity in continuing to avoid capture). Not many Muslims subscribe to his worldview.
I do think that the conservative nature of Islam has been a retarding influence on many Islamic nations' progress. However, they might retort that Western "progress" is dubious---cruise missiles and internet porn. This is not a terribly easy argument to win, because it goes to values that are not really debatable. But I would expect American conservatives to have at least some understanding of that position.
Prince Charles is being quite savvy in his effort to provide positive images of a Western leader defending Islam, tho I do wonder whether it might backfire (any Muslim endorsed by the infidels must be a bad Muslim, etc.).
And one of the very few things to impress me about George W. Bush has been his mostly positive attitude towards Muslims. Even his "crusade" blooper was, I think, an honest failure to think how that would sound to Muslims.
Unless they own an oilfield, GWB won't ever care about Muslims. Heck, he barely cares about us here in the US unless we're rich.
Prince Charles' timing might be a little off, after those Christian schoolgirls were beheaded walking home from school in Indonesia.
Way to show the world that this is not a war against Islam there James.
(Geez you guys are your own worst enemy. Even if you believed that (sad), it sure as heck would do you no good to dispose of the notion that we fight terrorism and not Islam.)
To bad The Tower is now just a museum.
The arguments are good ones. Radical Islamic terrorist kill lots of people. People breathe out CO2. CO2 is the main polluter causing global warming. Less people breathing out CO2 will help the planet. Radical Islam is good for America.
Sorry I was in my liberalspeak mind for a minute there!
Much more useful than DL's ranting is the discussion in this Dan Drezner post.
2d-generation European Muslims are growing up with high expectations that collide with socioeconomic barriers, and one result is susceptibility to radical Islam.
Just what we need. A blueblood with the intellect of a gerbil lecturing us on things we know more about than he does. Note: there are between 3 million and 5 million Muslims in the US. That's at least twice as many as in the UK. Many of them are prosperous and happy and if they're not they can go somewhere else. About a quarter of the people in the United States have an unfavorable opinion of Muslims. Compare that with a whopping 51% of the Dutch. Why doesn't he go lecture over there?
Now, now folks...Charles was under the thumb of the Queen and Diana for so long that he may think Islamic nutcases suppressing women is a good thing.
And if innocents in Iraq are killed by US military action that is, what, different? Too darn bad? An unfourtunate necessity?
How about the MILLIONS, yes millions who died in the Vietnam war? Exactly what business did we have in that country.
So what is the message here? Killing is OK when we do it, bad when they do.
Killing is killing.
And if innocents in Iraq are killed by US military action that is, what, different? Too darn bad? An unfourtunate necessity?
How about the MILLIONS, yes millions who died in the Vietnam war? Exactly what business did we have in that country.
So what is the message here? Killing is OK when we do it, bad when they do.
Killing is killing.
Anjin-san, I'll reply when I cool off.
ANJIN SAN
STUFF IT.
To Dave Schuler- well said and ditto!
By the way it is believed he secretly converted to Islam in mid 90's so his stance is par for the course. Check this link for more infor
http://www.meforum.org/article/356
You know herb, if someone as simple as you approved of my posts I would really start to worry.
No wonder you guys love Bush, he is so much brighter then you are.
When did Prince Charles convert?
ANJIN SAN:
STUFF IT AGAIN,
to learn more about islam go to
There you could dig and learn more about what a real islam is!!!
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