Indianapolis, IN

Mon 24 September 2007

So, I’m thinking about Muslims in America. The Indianapolis Int’l Airport plans on building foot basins for Muslim cab drivers to wash their feet before their daily prayers. (The majority of airport cab drivers are Muslim.) I certainly don’t have a problem with this, but there’s no question that pastor of Hope Baptist Church, Dr. Jerry Hillenburg does. In fact, he titled his sermon yesterday “No Tax-funded Foot Washing Sinks: Stop Caving In To Islam.” He claims that the funding for this project is paid by taxpayers, but airport officials claim that it’s actually being paid through airport ticketing fees and rent from the tenants. Now, I was born and raised a Christian, but it’s people like him that are the reason why I don’t go to church anymore. I’m tired of Christians acting like they are so holier-than-thou, but then they don’t practice the teachings of Jesus Christ (which is the basis of the religion, isn’t it?) It seems a little two-faced and double-standardish. Many of our original colonies were founded because of religious persecution in Europe. In fact, the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 was “passed to promote religious freedom as a US foreign policy and to advocate on the behalf of the individuals viewed as persecuted in foreign countries on the account of religion.” So, basically, by standing up publicly and stating that it’s wrong to provide Muslim cab drivers with foot washing basins is in violation of a federal law. Am I correct? I mean, nowadays, just talking about terrorism in public can get you arrested, so why hasn’t he been arrested for violating the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998? Shoot, why don’t they just arrest him for being “misguided?” (Is that a law yet?) They wouldn’t even need to use the wiretaps (“legal espionage”) that they’ve deemed to “make us feel safe” (whatever). All they would’ve had to do was sit in on his sermon. But then again, maybe you’re only free if you are white, male and Christian.

: religious freedom, Muslims in America, Christians in America, International Religious Freedom Act of 1998