Mirror Sites:
CSUDH - Habermas - UWP

California State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Soka University Japan - Transcend Art and Peace
Created: February 9, 2002
Latest Update: February 9, 2002
jeannecurran@habermas.org

Out-of-Awareness Intolerance

Copyright: Jeanne Curran and Susan R. Takata and Individaul Authors, February 2002.
"Fair use" encouraged.

This essay is based on an e-mail jeanne received from Students for International Peace and Justice on Saturday, February 9, 2002, reflecting their concern over a pejorative statement attributed to Attorney General Ashcroft.

• The Press Release:

  • ADC Denounces Ashcroft's Anti-Islamic Statements

• E-Mail from Students for International Peace and Justice:

  Subject: PRESS RELEASE: CALL FOR IMMEDIATE ASHCROFT'S RESIGNATION
  Arab American Anti-Discrimination League Press Release

  ADC Denounces Ashcroft's Anti-Islamic Statements
  Contact: Hussein Ibish -- (202) -438-7297

  "Washington, DC, Feb. 8 ­The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), the largest Arab-American civil rights organization, called on President George W. Bush to distance himself from anti-Islamic statements attributed to Attorney General Ashcroft and demanded the latter's immediate resignation.

  "ADC President Ziad J. Asali and Vice President Khalil E. Jahshan, wrote President Bush to express Arab-American condemnation of the Ashcroft statement which they described as 'inflammatory, fanatical and inexcusable, particularly coming from the Attorney General of the United States.'

  "In an article by Cal Thomas in Crosswalks.com News Channel, Ashcroft is quoted as saying that 'Islam is a religion in which God requires you to send your son to die for him. Christianity is a faith in which God sends his son to die for you.'

  "Asali and Jahshan emphasized to President Bush that the statement attributed to Ashcroft negates the goodwill sought by the President throughout the past five months and added that the statement "contradicts your personal position and that of your Administration regarding Islam as a religion. An irresponsible and bigoted statement of this sort will undoubtedly derail your tireless efforts in emphasizing that the war against terrorism is not one against Islam or Muslims."

  SEND YOUR COMMENTS TO

  president@whitehouse.gov vice.president@whitehouse.gov
  Secretary@state.gov

• Drawing information for arguments from this material:

  1. Check the veracity and reliability of the information.

     I couldn't locate "Crosswalks.com News Channel . . . " and the article by Cal Thomas on the Internet. But the veracity of the information was supported by the actual Arab American Anti Defamation Committe Press Release, which was posted on the Web.

  2. Whose perspective does the information represent?

     The e-mail was sent by Students for International Peace and Justice. A Yahoo search will give their URL as http://www.sipj911.com/. Link to About on their site, and you will find: "Develop an educational plan to eliminate ignorance and gain an appreciation of all people regardless of race, religion, or gender." This gives us a sense that these are young people concerned with issues of discrimination. A quick link over to Events reveals an October conference, boasting several Middle Eastern names. By following one of those names, Faiz Shakir, of Harvard University, through Yahoo, I found: Zaytuna Institute.

     

     Now I am beginning to develop a better sense of the perspective of Students for International Peace and Justice. I follow a link on the Zaytuna Institute Site to About. The detailed description of Zaytuna Institute and its mission explains the relationship between the search for peace and the Islamic connection.

     Reference to William A Scott's Values and Organizations.