Muslim Congressman: Islam in America Must Not Retreat

  Mark Tapson Bio ↓

In a May 26 address before the Islamic Circle of North America/Muslim American Society (ICNA/MSA), both Muslim Brotherhood front groups, André Carson commiserated with his audience over how difficult things have been for them since the World Trade Center attacks at the hands of al Qaeda jihadists: “9/11 was tough on Muslims.”

Carson is America’s race-baiting, confirmed socialist and second Muslim Congressman (Keith Ellison is the first), who had a lot of interesting things to say at this event. In video clips surfacing on the internet, Carson made the above comment as well as this eyebrow-raising pronouncement, to the applause of his Muslim-American audience:

America will never tap into educational innovation and ingenuity without looking at the model that we have in our madrassas, in our schools, where innovation is encouraged, where the foundation is the Koran. And that model that we are pushing in some of our schools meets the multiple needs of students… America must understand that she needs Muslims.

It’s unclear how the rote memorization of the Koran constitutes “educational innovation and ingenuity,” or how madrassas are “meeting the needs” of Muslim students abroad; in places like Pakistan where they abound, they don’t seem to be producing a wealth of world-class scholars or highly-trained professionals, but they do seem to produce a virulent hatred of things un-Islamic.
Last week a mentally retarded man in Pakistan was pulled from police custody by a mob described as “hysterical” and burned to death over allegations that he had burned a Koran. A BBC reporter notes that “the region in question is home to many madrassas, religious schools.” If this sort of violent, irrational fanaticism is representative of their enlightening educational paradigm, then perhaps Congressman Carson needs to rethink his recommendation.
Unsurprisingly, only conservative websites picked up on his “madrassas” comment; it was completely ignored by the mainstream media. But imagine instead if a Baptist Congressman addressing the Southern Baptist Convention suggested that schools in America should be modeled after seminaries, and that Bible memorization and Baptist religious instruction should be the focus of education. Imagine the uproar from the Christian-hating left and their media enablers. Imagine the cries of “separation of church and state!” Imagine the fear-mongering among the fact-challenged bigots writing for Huffington Post and Slate about the dreaded Christian Right.
But let a Muslim Congressman claim that our educational system should be modeled on Koranic schools, and there is deafening silence from the MSM and the atheistic left.
As the Weasel Zippers website notes, Carson did respond to conservative outrage over his speech by trying to “walk back” his comment with this update on the Huffington Post:

My remarks at ICNA call attention to the fact that faith-based schools throughout this country have excelled because of innovative instructional methods and a willingness to engage different learning styles… While I do not believe that any particular faith should be the foundation of our public schools, it is important that we take note of the instructional tools these schools utilize to empower their young people. Christian, Jewish, and Islamic schools have experienced notable success by casting off a one-size-fits-all approach to education, and this is a model we must replicate…

Nice try at interfaith inclusion. Except that’s not what he said. He didn’t originally refer to “faith-based schools” in general, but to madrassas. He also didn’t refer to schools with a “Judeo-Christian” emphasis, but to those “where the foundation is the Koran.” He didn’t say America needs Christians and Jews, but Muslims.

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