The Unmentionables

Forcing Islam on the Public

From The Detroit Free Press, April 21, 2004

"The Hamtramck City Council gave initial approval Tuesday night to allowing mosques in the city to broadcast the Muslim call to prayer over loudspeakers.

"Supporters said the issue is religious freedom and an Islamic tradition. They cited the city's church bells, which ring at least every hour, as comparable."

I must admit I'm not sure why the churches ring their bells every hour, unless it's to tell time. Maybe it's time to stop that practice and remove the Islamists' raison d'etre.

"In the end, the vote on the five-member council was unanimous.

"I have no doubt that no matter how we vote, this will be an issue for the courts," said Councilman Scott Klein. The final vote will be at the council's 7 p.m. meeting next Tuesday. The measure would take effect May 26."

[…]

"Masud Khan, 48, of the Al-Islah Islamic Center, which first asked the council for the amendment to the noise ordinance in January, said it took courage to approve the plan.

"I'm very happy," he said. "Allah is great. God is good. We really appreciate their effort.

"Hamtramck is going to be a pioneer city for the whole United States."

And that's their plan.

I personally cannot imagine the trauma experienced by those Americans who are forced to listen to the nasal sing-song of a Muslim voice five times a day; that nerve-scraping, whining voice that can only remind them of the whine of the airplane engines those nineteen Muslims  used as flying bombs to murder thousands of their fellow American.

Others, however, seem to eagerly support the Muslims--others who do not live in Hamtramck, that is… It's so  easy to be generous with other citizens' rights, isn't it?

"Congratulations are due the Hamtramck City Council and that city's Islamic population. It's wonderful that the Islamic call to worship will be permitted to be broadcast. As a Jewish person, I can very well appreciate living as a minority religion within a sometimes overbearing and intolerant Christian population.

"I was angered after hearing the ill-conceived arguments of Christian Hamtramck citizens at the City Council meeting. I would like to know what exactly threatens these Christians by hearing the Islamic call to worship.

"This country does not belong to the Christians any more than it belongs to those who profess other religions or no religion at all. There are many parts of the world in which one religion is strictly enforced at the expense of others. May this not happen in America.

"Frank V. Castronova Ferndale "

There is much written in Hebrew scripture regarding fools--specifically in the book of Proverbs--but Mr. Castronova is a Fool of the first water. If he truly thinks it so "wonderful" to hear the Islamic call to worship five times a day, and finds a Christian population so intolerant, perhaps he should move to a more tolerant society--like Saudi Arabia, perhaps. Or Syria or Jordan or Pakistan. He could hear all the calls to worship he desires and never, ever be forced to endure another overbearing Christian. Of course, he might never be able to worship in a Jewish synagogue again since many of those countries either legally bar or actively discourage non-Muslim houses or worship. Then again, as a "Jewish person" he might not be able to stay alive !

More on this from the Detroit News:

"The Rev. Stanley Ulman lives in a home and is the pastor of the Catholic church, St. Ladislaus, across the street from al-Islah Islamic Center. He thinks the discussion about the prayer calls moved from noise to religion because some community members don’t want to see their neighborhood change.

“I sense a strong bias and an anger,” Ulman said. “There is this feeling they’re going to lose something in this deal, their identity, their place in the city of the Polish Catholic community. There is a sense that they may want to leave or have to leave or be forced to leave or they won’t feel comfortable being here. It’s a change they don’t want to see happen. But I think it’s an inevitable change.”

"Ulman was building relationships with some of the imams in Hamtramck but will soon be leaving his parish after 25 years because he has been reassigned to a Rochester Hills church. He hopes others in the community will not choose to leave because of their discomfort. “That’s a pattern. When people don’t feel comfortable with people moving in, they leave,” Ulman said. “The only way to counteract that is to dialogue, and the only way to incorporate the newcomer is to make them feel welcome.”

"[City Council President Karen] Majewski, a historian of immigration and former executive director of the Polish-American Historic Association, said Polish residents of Hamtramck today should remember that a century ago, they were the immigrants whom Americans feared.

“At the turn of the (20th) century, there was a great fear that the U.S. wasn’t going to be Anglo-Saxon Protestant anymore,” Majewski said. “They felt the whole fabric of the U.S. was being destroyed” by Eastern Europeans who were Catholic.

“They feared we were losing the America that our forefathers had created. In a sense, they were right — America became much more diverse.”

The big difference is the Polish immigrants were/are Christians. And they didn't inflict their religious rites on the entire community by force of law.

As I said before moderate Muslims would (hopefully) not blow up their non-Islamic neighbors. But I have no doubt they firmly believe we would all be better off if the whole of the United States joined the cult of Islam (scroll down) and not at all adverse to "encouraging" non-Muslims to leave.

There is  a way for those people who live closest to the offensive broadcasts to fight back, though. Get a boom box with lots of power. Then get a tape or CD of Kate Smith's recording of "God Bless America." Add the Boston Pops rendition of "Stars and Stripes Forever" if you wish. Put the boom box in an open window facing out in the direction of the Islamists' recording. Now, every time they start that wailing call, crank up the ole' box as loud as it will go and let Katie rip. Work out a system within each neighborhood and have someone covering every minute those Muslim voices invade your air space. If you want to be totally politically incorrect, find a recording (if you can) of "Onward Christian Soldiers" and really  drive them nuts!

I don't know if it will have any immediate effect. I do  know it works to shut up the neighbor when he plays his hip hop CDs at window-rattling volume. Of course you might have to pay some fines for violating the noise ordinance, but that's part of the price for (relatively) peaceful civil disobedience.