I agree with you. This was quite funny, but when you take a step back and look at it, it’s quite depressing. I really hope that the campaign to reject this man from joining the party was only by this one group (Americans Against Hatred) and not a coalition of other people from the community. This poor guy was just trying to join a group of politically like-minded individuals and was shunned for his religion. I doubt highly that many members that voted against him took the time to hear his story. Do you think this gentleman got a chance to plead his case again? What do you think about his willingness to continue the pursuit of membership to the Republican Party? Do you think other people would be as willing to accept that kind of rejection? I know for certain that I wouldn’t…I would immediately move on to a party that accepted me, and hopefully believed in some of the same things I did.

This is almost too ridiculous to believe. The xenophobia is so profound that it’s almost incomprehensible. These two people believe in almost all the same things, have the same virtues, goals, lifestyles, the only thing that separates them is religion. They even have the same color skin, for God’s sake and my guess is that they are from the same geographic region. Some people are so closed-minded that they are just completely unwilling to accept others that are “different” in any way. It’s sickening really… Also, did the politician not realize how ironic the name of his party was? I mean, this man was rallying people against an individual because of an “assumed association.”

It is individuals like this that have given the Republican Party such a bad reputation. It’s one thing to be traditional or conservative, buts it’s something else to be a hypocrite and a bigot. This is especially true when it comes from an individual that professes to denounce hatred, while spreading that very thing throughout his community. I’m perhaps more shocked that the campaign against him was so successful. 158 to 11 is pretty impressive. I mean, clearly this man wasn’t given an opportunity to present his case. At least, I hope not. If he was able to plead his case to the voters, and was still denied entry into the party, then the problem is even worse than I had assumed.

If the slander campaign was very well orchestrated and the Muslim gentleman was not given an opportunity to present his case, then I could see why these numbers are so shocking. If some is spreading information that a terrorist wants to join the organization, then likely no one will accept him. (Regardless of how desperately they need votes) This is especially true if the information is coming from a Legitimate-sounding organization like “Americans Against Hatred.” Sounds pretty unbiased right? Think again. Though people who are unwilling to check the facts about our Muslim Republican here, are probably equally unlikely to check facts about the “Americans Against Hatred” political group.

If the Republican Party wants to continue to be relevant, they need to adapt to our new global society. They are losing minority voters and discouraging new minority members from joining their ranks by continuing this type of bigotry. I’m not saying this is a problem only for Republicans, American Society as a whole need to be more open minded and stop judging people based on incorrect preconceptions. I really dislike the fact that this problem is so large here in the United States. I just wish people would stop being dumb… This is a particularly egregious case, and I’m sure it was edited in a way to maximize the impact, but the facts still remain that this man was discriminated against because of his religion.

I completely agree with you. I think that the hardships the black and African-American community has had to endure has certainly influenced their belief system. This has resulted in faith from the church and between each other within that social group. I think that these communities help reinforce the views of the group as a whole and probably discourages new concepts (like evolution) from gaining much traction. Do you think education has anything to do with these beliefs? I argued in my post that there are other societal factors which contribute significantly to Black and African-American belief in creationism as opposed to evolution and I think lower education levels and a lower quality of education in black communities may also be to blame. Now I'm not saying that people in these communities are "stupid" or anything like that, I'm merely stating that because the education was different and the social groups who influences individuals within that community may contribute to the disparity in these numbers. What are your thoughts?

I believe that African-Americans are less inclined to believe in evolution because of the high membership of the African-Americans in churches and mosques. Because of their religious beliefs, blacks and African-Americans are probably less likely to believe in evolution and more likely to be creationists. Devout Christians, Muslims and religious people in general generally have the belief that God created everything and because of this faith, they refuse to believe in evolution.

There have also been studies done that reveal that less educated individuals are more likely to be religious and more educated individuals are more likely to be atheists. This means that people with lower education accomplishments probably believe in creationism, whereas higher educated persons believe in evolution. I know this sounds racist, but the statistics we have learned in this course show incredible differences in education between different races. It stands to reason then, than if on average Africa-Americans are less educated than other races, they will be more inclined to believe in creationism rather than evolution.

There are other factors to consider here as well. Because the black and African-American community has had many difficulties on a societal level throughout history, they have probably sought comfort in the church and found peace in their faith and in their religious community. That being said, they are likely surrounded by people that have similar views and beliefs systems, so the development of new concepts (like evolution, for example) are less likely to take hold in these groups. Through sticking together to endure hardships they have likely maintained their belief system and are therefore less likely to adopt evolution over creationism.

There are certainly exceptions to these rules, and I by no mean intend to stereotype. But generally speaking I think that these factors have contributed to the statistic Sam mentions in this lecture. There are a multitude of societal issues that create these disparities and I’m sure there a great deal that I don’t cover here. But overall I’m convinced that the greatest contributing factor is that black and African-American communities are generally more faith-based than other groups and because of this, their opinions and beliefs about evolution and creationism have been greatly influenced.

There is certainly nothing wrong with having religion and faith in your life. If anything, our society would probably be better off if more people were that way. (As long as it doesn’t get too extreme.) So the fact that Blacks and African-Americans believe in creationism more than other groups is no big deal. I could honestly care less what people believe, as long as it doesn’t negatively affect other groups. It is certainly interesting that there are such drastic disparities in the statistics between various groups of people within the same geographic region. But I believe that culture, faith, education, and history play a major role in these disparities.

Omar, you are absolutely correct and I totally agree with your point. I'm not sure this woman was being as hostile as you lead on though. She wasn't claiming that all Muslims were savages, but alluding to the fact that the people involved in Jihad are savages. Don't get me wrong, this message is very deceiving and is not in good taste. It's certainly offensive to others. But she's not out there saying to "Kill the savage Muslims!" She's merely stating that Jihad should be defeated and that she supports Israel and thinks others should as well. In my view, this certainly falls within the First Amendment. Now, had she actually tried to incite violence or some such thing then I would agree that it should not be displayed. But she has an opinion, it's offensive maybe, but not hurtful necessarily, and she should be allowed to display that on a billboard if she wants. Poor taste, yes. But within the law... What are your thoughts?

!While I do not condone the message, I certainly support her right to free speech. If the Westboro Baptist Church can legally protest at the funerals of soldiers and the funerals of children at Sandyhook Elementary, then this woman should be allowed to advertise against Jihad. If the signs said nothing about Israel, but instead only stated to “Fight against the savages, end Jihad” then this would probably not be big deal. After all, most people including Muslims believe that acts of terrorism or (Jihad) is/are committed by savages. However, this woman is making it political by saying that people should support Israel. This message clearly contains multiple fallacies and makes a great deal of assumptions. Israel is also guilty of committing savage acts against Palestine. It’s not as though they are completely innocent in all of this. Also, this message leads the reader to believe that “The Muslims” are the bad guys, and not just a small percentage of the Muslim population that commits egregious acts of violence against civilians.

Hopefully people are smart enough to see through the BS contained in these messages. And hopefully they didn’t spark any new violence. I fully respect the First Amendment, but I wish people weren’t so unaccepting and closed-minded. Honestly, they could have easily come up with a message that was less hostile and would have probably achieved greater impact in doing so. I suppose this does create a dialogue, however, so if that was their intent then perhaps their add campaign was a success. After all, the National TV coverage the signs have received have been seen by many more than they ever would have if they had just simply put up the signs in New York. Perhaps this was a genius way to get their message out to the world? Either way, I fully support their right to say it, I just wish people had a little more sense in HOW they say it.

One last comment, if Muslim groups had posted up signs supporting Palestine how do you think people would have reactied? Would it have been more or less controversial in New York City? I think there is probably a great deal of animosity left over from the 9-11 attacks towards Muslims, but I haven’t visited there in awhile so I’m not sure if that’s the case or not. What do you all think? The whole thing is pretty sad if you think about it, I wish they would have put up signs to foster peace between the two sides instead of supporting one side over the other. Clearly in the past 7 decades that method has not worked out very well. Why don’t the just put on signs that say “Stop the killing, let’s make peace for Israel and Palestine”?

I agree with what you're saying. Islam has definitely taken a log of flack for the activities of terrorists. While only a small percentage of Muslims are Fundamentalists and even fewer of those are extremists and militaristic the entire religion gets a bad name because of the overwhelming negative press coverage. This reminds me of the Christian Invaders lecture a few weeks ago. The same things that give Americans a bad image are the same types of things that give Islam a bad name. negative publicity. So what is the solution to this problem? How can we foster an environment that is conducive to peace and understanding? Everyone would benefit from such a situation. But this is certainly a paradigm shift that will take decades to fully employ. There are way too many factors contributing to the negative image that groups hold for each other. Hopefully through education, understanding, and the assimilation and exposure to various ethnic group we can overcome these negative stereotypes.

This is a great question, so thank you. While I don't necessarily subscribe to the general negative feelings toward Muslims, I understand why some people do. I have known tons of really nice Muslims and the practice of Islam in no way means that someone condones or subscribes to an ideology that embraces violence. But many people, especially Americans, fear the unknown. In some places there is little to no exposure to other cultures, and even less exposure to Muslims specifically. This certainly drives xenophobia in many parts of the nation that are less diverse. While I know that many Muslim stereotypes are completely inaccurate, I have to say that I understand why people have negative feelings toward them. I know this is a contentious statement so please allow me to explain.

While Islam is not necessarily a violent religion as a whole, there is a great deal of publicity and violence in the Muslim world. Many of the terrorists groups in the world today (though of course, not all) are fundamentalist Islamic groups that preach hatred and murder. These groups get a great deal of press and their acts of terror are broadcasted all around the world in a matter of minutes. When you have a large population that lacks exposure to Muslim groups, they will naturally see this and will slowly begin to believe that is the religion that is at fault, not that specific group within that religion.

The exact same thing is true if you flip the perspective. If you can recall Sam's lecture on "The Christian Invaders." He spoke at length about how the perception of America in the Middle-East and in predominantly Muslim countries is driven by negative press coverage, YouTube videos, etc. It drives their xenophobia just as the same thing drives xenophobia toward Muslims in America. It's truly sad that this is the case, because Islam has extremely devout, pious, devoted, and caring people all over the world. Everyone would benefit if more people took the time to understand them instead of believing everything they see on television and in the media.

Hopefully one day, people will understand Islam better, and hopefully the incidents of violence from Fundamentalist Islam group will not persist. Because as long as it does, and as long as the world must live in fear of an attack, then these stereotypes and negative connotations are likely to prevail. Every time a Muslim Terrorist picks up a carving knife and hacks a soldier on a crowded street in London, or commits some similar act of violence, then global communities fear of them is reaffirmed. It’s tragic that so few bad apples can have such a tremendous impact on the perception of the entire religion on a global scale. It’s absolutely sickening, and hopefully one day it will stop because some of the greatest people I have me have been Muslims.

Hey cbwafi, I completely agree with your views but I don't think it's fair to antagonize people for their individual beliefs. I mean, it's not hurting you or me right? So I say to heck with it. If you want to believe that Overlord Zoltar came down a few thousand years ago and put an apple in a garden with a snake and then did some human making / rib swapping clone-type stuff and that's how we all got here, then so be it. I don't care. I mean...I'm personally going to think you're an idiot, but by God (<-- Now I'm doing it) it's your choice to do so and I can't say a darn thing about it. Just don't preach it to my kids in a public school that is run by the government and my tax dollars and we'll have no beef. Ya dig?

Some scientists retain creationist ideals despite many facts and evidence that point to the contrary because that is how they were raised. Faith and religious views are taught from a very young age so it can be so engrained into ones character that it never goes away despite the level of education one reaches or the other factors that can influence one’s life. Also, there is a great deal about our universe that remains unexplained, so these scientists may still believe that there generally is a God and perhaps the evidence was just put here as a test for our faith. Don’t get me wrong, this sounds ludicrous to me, but who am I to question their beliefs?

I think this all boils down really to cultural norms and what people have been taught to believe from a really young age. Religion and God, in general, are extremely powerful concepts that are held near and dear to many people. These beliefs are often held closer than family, friends, or anything else in life. This is not a paradigm shift that is easy for anyone that has been brainwashed (though I know this could be perceived as a contentious term to describe faith) Anyway, there are some deeply held beliefs about creationism and the church (Or scientist that have faith in the church) cannot deny creationism without denying EVERYTHING else in the bible or any other holy book. Basically, if that portion is false then every other portion could be false. No one is willing to risk the destruction of the faith, and so it just perpetuates itself.

As long as creationism is not being taught in public schools, I really don’t care one way or another what people believe. I just don’t want views to be taught that are not based on solid evidence or historical facts and science. That’s like incorrectly teaching things because your “faith” tells you that’s right even when everything else points to it being wrong. Thank God we have a separation of church and state so that these things are not being taught in our public school system. Can you imagine what other developed countries would think of the United States if everyone were taught to believe something so major that has been disproved by nearly every scientific study that has taken the challenge?

That being said, I think it is very important that people are allowed to believe whatever they want and should be able to do so in peace and without ridicule. I also believe that people have a choice in who they believe and who they don’t so if you don’t like that some scientist believes in creationism, then don’t believe it. If you don’t like a scientist that talks about evolution, then don’t listen to him. That’s the bottom line, everybody just let other people do, think, say, believe whatever they want as long as they aren’t hurting anyone else.