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Bennett and Weston: The politics of scapegoating

John Bennett, a Republican Representative in the Oklahoma State Legislature, urged people recently on his Facebook page to “be wary of the individuals who claim to be Muslim-American” because, presumably, they pose a threat to us all.
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September 19, 2014

John Bennett, a Republican Representative in the Oklahoma State Legislature,  urged people recently on his Facebook page to “be wary of the individuals who claim to be Muslim-American” because, presumably, they pose a threat to us all. Leaders of several civil rights organizations called for him to apologize. In response, Oklahoma Republican Party Chairman Dave Weston supported Bennett, telling the Associated Press, “Everything John Bennett said is legitimate and there is no need to for him to apologize. One look around the world today, and 1,400 years of history, and you can see what he says is accurate.” Weston added, “You have to acknowledge there are problems across the globe and throughout history with people who practice Islam.”

Sometimes I don’t understand how educated people can express such ignorance.

There are indeed problems across the globe and throughout history with people who practice Islam, just as there have been with people who practice Judaism and Christianity. Should we be wary of people who claim to be Jewish-American or Christian-American? 

What is it Bennett and Weston are really saying? Let us consider some logical conclusions from their thinking. 

By their logic, Judaism must be a violent and hateful religion, because people who are Jewish have recently ended well over a month of devastating bombardment of a city in which thousands of innocent people have been killed and maimed, including many women and children. Was that aggression driven by religion? Did no other factors influence engagement in that violence?  

Is Christianity a violent and hateful religion because the Russian Orthodox Church is housing, feeding and otherwise supporting Russian fighters who are slaughtering innocent civilians in Ukraine? Are there no other complicating issues, or is it all caused by some inherent Christian lust for killing? The generals in Argentina who ordered hundreds of opponents to be tossed out of airplanes were Catholic. Did they learn to be brutal from the Church? American military personnel who massacred 24 unarmed Iraqi men, women and children in Haditha, Iraq on Nov. 19, 2005, included many Protestants, as there were among the American military contractors who shot and killed innocent women and children in Nisour Square on Sept. 16, 2007, and in many other incidents documented by various agencies including the U.S. Armed Forces. Were they following Christian principles?

There is an enormous difference between the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Al Qaeda, which claim to act in the name of religion, and most of the examples above — though some Jews in Israel and some Christians among U.S. soldiers and military contractors believe that they are waging war on behalf of their religion. However, not only most Muslims, but the overwhelming mass of Muslims throughout the world condemns these terror organizations unequivocally. ISIS spokespersons can dress up to look “frum” and spew any idiotic drivel they wish, but aside from a few crazies, Muslims do not buy it. 

Bennett and Weston seem to think that Muslims support ISIS and other Al Qaeda offshoots. They should read reports from Media Matters or from many American Muslim organizations that have compiled hundreds of Muslim voices condemning terrorism practiced by fellow Muslims through statements, fatwas and actions. Even MEMRI, which cannot be condemned for being partial to Islam, has published dozens of statements from Muslim religious thinkers condemning ISIS and Al Qaeda. Most recently, Muslims have even begun a Burn ISIS Flag Challenge (as in “Ice Bucket Challenge”) as a worldwide movement.

There can be no question that the Quran includes many passages that encourage violence against people defined as enemies of God. But many more violent passages can be found in the Bible. Even in the New Testament, Jesus proclaims in Matthew 10:34, “You must not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” And Revelation is full of violent and gory language of blood, sword and massacre. Does this mean that at the heart of Christianity is a lust for blood and war? 

Indeed, many Jews, pagans and Muslims drew precisely this conclusion in the medieval period when Christian Crusaders wantonly massacred tens or hundreds of thousands of innocent people, simply because they were not Christian (or were the wrong kind of Christian). What drove them? Certainly, religion must be implicated as one of the driving forces, but was it the only or even the primary force? There can be no doubt that religion was used as a vehicle to rally the troops. But it was greed, revenge or simple rage that provided the more basic underlying motivation, and sometimes religion was used to rally support in order to fight for legitimate social, economic or political — even religious — grievances. 

We are seeing something similar occurring today in parts of the Middle East that have been assaulted and brutalized by bad leadership, both at home and abroad. 

We are all shocked by the horrific rise in violence and hatred this summer. We are understandably troubled and frustrated by the persistence and complexity of the problems in this and other regions of the world. But let us not condemn entire religious communities for our inability to resolve the problems that are driving this violence. That is called scapegoating. We should expect more of our political and religious leaders.


Rabbi Reuven Firestone is professor of medieval Judaism and Islam at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles and a senior fellow of the Center for Religion and Civic Culture at USC.

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