An interesting bit of scholarship by Denise Spellberg shows that Thomas Jefferson made every effort to include Muslims in the society of religious pluralism we were building in America:
Our Founding Fathers included Islam – Salon.com via Andrew Sullivan.
Oddly enough, this was foretold by an idiotic comment on Amazon.
“Oh dear, Martha — them Muslims are going to build a mosque, and before you know it, we’ll be living under sharia law!”
So how are we journalists correcting this misconception? Oh, we’re not. We’re just not. Here’s the depressing evidence:
Meanwhile, looking at IRS disclosure forms, he found that over time, fringe groups increasingly shared board members and personal ties with mainstream conservative groups like the American Enterprise Institute as their views were mainstreamed by the media.
This statement from the “conservative group” in question speaks volumes:
“The show profiles only Muslims that appear to be ordinary folks while excluding many Islamic believers whose agenda poses a clear and present danger to the liberties and traditional values that the majority of Americans cherish.”
So should a show on Christians include something on Timothy McVeigh? Should shows with fat people include statistics on the number of people who run up America’s health-care costs? Should American Idol have a disclaimer warning viewers that many of the participants are incredibly stupid?
This comment, however, I can’t judge: “Mostly, I just thought the show sucked.”
Another company pulls advertising from TLC’s ‘All-American Muslim’ | The Cutline – Yahoo! News.
Mostly Modern Media 