Does Muslim Family Booted From Plane Strengthen Case for Religious Literacy?
By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country
The top story on cnn.com right now is "Muslim family booted from plane."
It's a reminder of the degree to which we're still living in the shadow of Sept. 11, 2001, and of the huge role religion plays in that mode of existence.
The family, which raised suspicions of other passengers when they started discussing plane safety, was cleared by the FBI, but not before being escorted off the plane. CNN sets the scene:
...[W]hile the plane was still at the gate, an FBI agent boarded the plane and asked [Atif] Irfan and his wife to leave the plane. The rest of the family was removed 15 or 20 minutes later, along with a family friend, Abdul Aziz, a Library of Congress attorney and family friend who was coincidentally taking the same flight and had been seen talking to the family.
...Irfan said he believes his family is owed an apology.
"Really, at the end of the day, we're not out here looking for money. I'm an attorney. I know how the court system works. We're basically looking for someone to say...'We're apologizing for treating you as second-class citizens.'"
Was this an overreaction by the family's fellow passengers, by the federal marshals who alerted security, or by the FBI agents who forced the family off the plane. Or was it all entirely reasonable, given the circumstances? I recently read religion scholar Stephen Prothero's book, Religious Literacy, which argues that Americans' ignorance of religion is dangerous in an age in which grasping religion, including Islam, is essential to understanding the world around us. In the case of the Muslim family booted off the plane, would it have made a difference if the passengers were more familiar with Islam? Or should they have been suspicious either way?
- Read more about Islam.
- Read more by Dan Gilgoff.
Tags: CNN | airlines | religion | Islam | travel
Tools: 
Share
|
| Comments (16) | Print
Reader Comments
Uneducated? You sure about that?
Dan, your article begins by asking if the Muslims getting booted from the plan is a call for literacy. Then, you end the article askiung if it would have made a difference if the people doing the booting were more familiar with Islam. If you are going to assume that people are nervous around Muslims because they do not know them very well, then at least acknowledge the facts that make people nervous to begin with. Islam is a faith whose leaders unilaterally and consistently call for world domination through whatever means necessary. Muslim countries execute people for sodomy. How do you think they stand on gay marriage? You need only look at the Muslim movement in Europe to find Imams preaching "death to the West," and "death to America." Islam openly degrades Jews and asks for their extinction. Islam punishes its women if they are raped. They arrange marriages with child brides and defends the practice to the western world (just Google Saudi Arabia defends child marriage.) Muslims in Denmark have taken teaching positions and forced children to segregate. Even Danish girls are now seen wearing headscarves. Honor killings are a way of life to the Muslims and the crimes are spilling onto the streets of our western neighbors who refuse to condemn the practice out of fear of reprisal. Muslims are taking conscious advantage of European tolerances and breeding as quickly as they can to spread their religion. France has its first Muslim cabinet member now in office. You can bet policies will soften the approach for more Muslim immigration. I don't see how it can get much softer. In Demnark, 5% of the population is Muslim, yet consume over 40% of the welfare.
So, what about the Muslim family in the plane. Do you suppose the authorities are familiar with the name Fortuyn? Ask your readers to educated themselves and Google "Fortuyn Murder." Maybe they will be inspired to research a little deeper and consider that these Muslims were removed not because of ignorance, but because they were more enlightened than your average American.
America does this because Americans are Nazis.
Germans did this to the Jews just before they put them all in concentration camps.
How long do you think it would take for Americans to exterminate all Muslims?
AirTran did Nothing wrong.
Aviation is a much different place since 9/11, and a much different place to work. I don't care who you are, I've removed white passengers for the exact same thing. Its everyone responsibility these days to be cognizant of what's going on, because you never know who will try something next. The airline acted in complete compliance with the TSA and FAA (government agencies) So if you have a problem with the way things went down talk to your government not AirTran Airways. Everyone who says the airline is in the wrong are the same idiots who would complain that they and the TSA,FAA dropped the ball if something did happen. They deserve a refund, but NO apology, next time watch you mouth.
advertisement
