The culture wars are alive and well. In spite of reams of articles and books attempting to argue otherwise, reality creeps in to show us how divided as a nation we remain. The newness of this culture war is reflected by a complete divide between those who accept the values of America and those who do not. Recent studies have further shown that as students graduate from high school there acceptance of the First Amendment and tolerance is extremely low. What is threatening to our national values is that these same students, interviewed after completion of college, further reduce their tolerance in their support of free speech and freedom of conscience.
Yesterday was Chick-fil-A appreciation day. Throughout the United States hundred of thousands of supporters came out to support the argument against gay marriage rights of the CEO of Chick-fil-A. What he essentially said is that there is no place in America for marriage between the same gender. It is an oxymoron. This cultural division is not only reflected in this singular event; but also in all the opinion polls. In addition, wherever it has been voted on, the majority of Americans have rejected "gay marriage." What is important to understand is that Chick-fil-A's CEO and the majority of Americans reject marriage between people of the same gender; but, most of them DO NOT reject the extension of civil rights to gays.
BUT, what if the CEO of Chick-fil-A was a practicing Muslim? First, he would have to agree with everything that the Christian CEO of Chick-fil-A said about "gay marriage" as being an affront to G-d. But in Islam it is more than that. To be an affront to G-d is a blasphemy that requires the punishment of death. For Islam, under Sharia Law, the only answer to being gay is death. The issue of "gay marriage" does not even arise in Islam because it lacks any basis in reality. You cannot have a religious acceptance of what does not exist.
For Muslims, the solution to the problem of "gayness" is the end of any civil rights, i.e. First Amendment rights, to those tainted individuals. Christians can say, in the worst case, "hate the sin; but, love the sinner." There is not comparable concept in Islam. In Islam, as is practiced by law in ALL Islamic countries, to be gay is to be dead, either by law or by family -- the religion does not care. This is a far cry from debating the issue of how is marriage to be defined.
The sole "evil" that Chick-fil-A is accused of is not having a gay acceptable definition of marriage. Chick-fil-A's understanding of marriage is supported by over half of all Americans -- nothing strange about it. But, all Muslim CEO's belief must be that gays must be eradicated. (From a theological point of view, there is probably some difference about how gays would be treated if one is a Muslim gay or an infidel gay.) Nonetheless, the perspective of a Muslim CEO concerning gays remains death or castration.
The Shariah Law of Islam is not the central point. The significance is the selective treatment by politicians in the United States of Christians as opposed to Muslims. This hypocrisy is illustrated remarkably well by the mayors of Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, etc. The liberal Democrats continues their hypocritical rejection of all things Christian and a love affair with all things Muslim.
If one is going to have an issue with what a Christian head of a corporation believes and makes known publicly, then there is no basis whatsoever for allowing any business to be carried on by a Muslim who has any religious belief and practices. When the Mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, said "the values of Chick-fil-A's CEO are not Chicago's values," what does he say about all the Muslims running businesses and corporations in Chicago whose religion calls and demands the denial of all civil rights to gays? Are these Chicago's values? To be consistent, the Mayors and the Democratic Party needs to reject all practicing Muslims. Or alternatively, have Muslims give up Sharia Law as being inherently un-American.
The liberal Democrats love affair with Islam will continue to America's detriment. Christianity will continue to be denied and demonized by these same liberals. The fight for factual honesty and the end of hypocrisy must be joined and fought by all who believe in the legitimacy of the First Amendment to the American Constitution.
