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02/19/11 - A Reader Is Dubious About Allen West

Re: A Washington State Reader On Islam 101 In The Schools

From: A Reader [Email him]

Regarding the article on "Islam 101" in Washington Schools what I find disconcerting is that people who write about the Middle East almost always mix nationality and religion.

Not all Arabs are Muslims, so what is written in the article does not apply to Christian Arabs.  They have very little power, so they do not make the laws as they are minorities with very little say.

So really the article should be referring to Muslims—not others in the region, who by the way, as far as Judaism and Christianity goes, were a presence before Islam came on the scene.

James Fulford writes: We're aware of the existence (and plight) of Christian Arabs—see The Martyr of Mosul, by Pat Buchanan. What caused the reference to Arab, rather than Muslim culture was that the MSM story our reader was making fun of was titled  Mansfield ISD will re-tool Arabic culture curriculum, WFAA.com, February 7, 2011. I suppose it's as questionable, under the First Amendment, to have a Muslim culture curriculum in a school system as it is to have a Christmas Tree,  whereas an Arab culture curriculum is just more multiculturalism.

However, realistically, Arab culture, despite Danny Thomas and Coptic Christians, is Muslim culture. The Arab states are theocracies, and Christian culture is banned by law. We frequently refer to America as a Christian nation, which seems to upset people. It's much more true that Arab countries are Muslim nations, so most of the time we will probably not make this distinction.