After pledging against appointing
any Muslims in a presidential cabinet, many people believed Herman Cain had a problem with Islam. While he has
tried (unsuccessfully) to backtrack, many were still left with the feeling that he has a discriminatory attitude toward Muslims.
They were right.
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| Hermain Cain, there's more to the Constitution than the Second Amendment. |
Today, on
Fox News Sunday, Herman Cain said that he thinks that communities have the right to ban
places of Islamic worship:
WALLACE: But couldn’t any community then say they don’t want a mosque in our community?
CAIN: They could say that. Chris, lets go back to the fundamental issue that the people are basically saying they’re objecting to. They’re objecting to the fact Islam is both a religion and a set of laws, Sharia law. That’s the difference between any one of our other traditional religions where it’s just about religious purposes. The people in the community know best, and I happen to side with the people in Murfreesboro.
WALLACE: You’re saying any community, if they want to ban a mosque?
CAIN: Yes. They have a right to do that. That’s not discriminating based upon religion.
For context, Cain is referencing the community of Murfreesboro, Tennessee which is attempting to prevent a mosque from being built, using tactics ranging from
graffiti to litigation.
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| American Taliban hard at work, intimidating religious minorities. |
While the media will likely portray this event as a single politician speaking in a bigoted manner, this type of Islamophobia strikes at the heart of American conservatism. Last year, the leader of the American Family Association
called for the banning of all mosques. On top of that, right-wingers
came out in droves to try to get the government to ban an Islamic community center from being built in Brooklyn, New York. In fact, Rep. Peter King has tried his very best to use the government
as a tool to prevent people from building that community center.
Cain will probably back track, but let's examine this for what it is. A mainstream, relatively popular Republican presidential candidate just called for the destruction of the First Amendment on one of the most popular Sunday morning talk shows, mirroring hordes of fellow right-wingers. Let's just see how the media covers this one.
