I mean, Radio Jihad. Dot Org.

A couple of weeks ago I received an email from one Alan K. of Radio Jihad. It was obnoxiously formatted with gleeful HTML bolding and italicizing and coloring. And centered. Centering is so gross. And it had links that actually said "click here." Here are some juicy bits:

On this show we discuss the exclusionary constitution of the **Islamic Community of Tampa** Islamic Community of Tampa
**with ties to terrorist Sami al-Arian**
Follows Islamic Law over US Constitution
(813) 555-5555

[I'm not actually going to post this community's number so some random person can come along, read this, and pick up their phone and harass them for no reason. I found their site lovely, and their constitution positive.]

The Preamble of the ICT states:
…declare establishment of the Islamic Community of Tampa, Inc., with the
Qur'an (the book of Allah, all praises to him)
and the Sunnah (the tradition) of Prophet
Mohammad (p.b.u.h) **as our source of
primary guidance.**
**As a non-Muslim you are excluded from joining their community - what
bigotry** God Bless the Troops and God Bless America!
America Akbar

LOL!

It occurred to me that this Alan K. of RadioJihad.org is in fact one of the men who talked nonsense at me for almost an hour at the Palin book signing a few weeks ago, which I also wrote about. He was a bit self-important with his "press" lanyard without ever once admitting who he was a "reporter" for. I spent the majority of the conversation dismissing him as pitifully ignorant and talking to the more intelligent if misguided man on his right about the economy. Out of nowhere Alan K. said, exact quote, "We are living in the muslim part of the world."

I truly thought he misspoke, and would readily correct himself to some similar if not totally outrageous one-liner. I repeated the statement quizzically. "Wait. You're saying we. live. in the. Muslim part of the world?"

"Well yeah. We're livin' in the muslim parta the world."

"We. Live. In the Muslim part of the WORLD?"

"They're comin' over in droves. You oughta think about what they done over in Europe."

First of all, isn't this intense focus on Islam a few years out of date? I thought other, more relevant issues came along. Islamophobia is so '05. (Except in Switzerland.) My guess is this guy has never been to Europe, never studied world history, current events, religion, or international affairs. Ah yes. That filthy infestation of Muslims. Nevermind his only sources of information are sensationalist reports on racist events, media coverage, and christian fundamentalist propaganda.

So, the Muslims of a particular region get together to form a community, establish the founding purpose of their community is to follow their Book, and what? What has that to do with the US constitution, (other than the fact that they are free to do exactly that)? If this community chooses their religious leaders as arbiters in community affairs so what? What about this says 'we reject the laws of the country we have chosen to reside in, and intend to break them'?

Idiocy!

I am really only interested in the fact that I actually met this crazy, and now he's sending me emails.

To be honest, I'm atheist, and as such am more inclined to study religion in social, political, and economic contexts. I am not really interested in EXPLAINING how the majority of modern muslims actually approach Islam. Instead, I will let him make himself the fool. On his website's main page, the show description for 18.12.09 says:

Can Muslims make good Americans? The answer is NO and here is why.

And he links to a site that quotes the reasoning then argues rather eloquently against it.

Source Citation FAIL.

LULZ

EDIT: I was mistaken. Of the two men who talked at me at the Palin signing, Alan K. was in fact the "more intelligent if misguided" man to the right. To be fair, the factually incorrect statement, "We are living in the Muslim part of the World," was uttered by a lanyard-wearing Randy something-or-other, also with RadioJihad.org. Despite disagreeing with pretty much all of his beliefs and values, I must admit that Alan K. does clearly know how to read, write, and speak.