Unless you're Muslim, that is.

The TLC reality show “All-American Muslim” premiered last month and chronicles the lives of five families from Dearborn, Michigan, a Detroit suburb with a large Muslim and Arab-American population. Chances are you might not have heard of the show if it weren’t for Lowe’s Home Improvement, which pulled its ads from the show “after a conservative group known as the Florida Family Association complained, saying the program was ‘propaganda that riskily hides the Islamic agenda’s clear and present danger to American liberties and traditional values,’” the AP reports.

***Spoiler alert: The Dad in one of the five families profiled in the show is a cop. THERE’S A TERRORIST ON THE INSIDE, YOU GUYS! The only reason he’s giving you a speeding ticket is because he’s trying to DESTROY YOUR WAY OF LIFE!***

Anyway…

Response to Lowe’s decision to stop advertising during the program has been mixed. California Senator Ted Lieu called the decision “un-American” and “naked religious bigotry.” Lieu told The Associated Press “he would also consider legislative action if Lowe’s doesn’t apologize to Muslims and reinstate its ads.”

Meanwhile, average Americans have posted appreciative sentiments on Lowe’s Facebook page like, “Congratulations to Lowe’s for having the guts to stick up for traditional Americans!” (Visit BuzzFeed for more pro-Lowe’s comments made by less articulate folks.)

So in light of the split reaction this ad controversy created, where does Lowe’s stand now? Continue reading »

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Mosque visit raises questions about prayer in school

A field trip taken by students at a public middle school in Wellesley, Mass., to the Islamic Society of Boston Community Center has touched off a heated controversy after a mother who was chaperoning the trip released video footage of some of the six-graders participating in midday prayers at the center’s mosque. (The footage was released via the group Americans for Peace and Tolerance, which, according to the Boston Globe, has been critical of the Islamic center and mosque, New England’s largest, in the past.)

Several organizations have decried the trip for blurring the line between church and state, prompting Wellesley’s school superintendent, Bella Wong, to apologize to parents, saying, “It was not the intent for students to be able to participate in any of the religious practices. The fact that any students were allowed to do so in this case was an error.”

The center insists that the students were not coerced into participating in the prayers, but rather did so of their own volition. And several of the students’ parents have voiced support for the trip as a worthy educational experience. The students had visited the mosque as part of a social studies course, “Enduring Beliefs in the World Today,’’ in which they study not just Islam, but also Judaism, Hinduism and Christianity; they had already visited a synagogue, went to a gospel-music performance and met with representatives of the Hindu faith.

Setting aside the obvious issues about the Islamaphobia currently raging through our nation, the controversy does raise interesting questions about whether children should learn about religion in public school and how to do so while maintaining the separation between church and state. Continue reading »

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The destruction of the World Trade Center and other attacks of September 11, 2001 have got to be some of the most horrendous acts of senseless violence ever to take place in the United States.  I don’t think anyone in their right mind would paint those cowardly acts as honorable or noble.  And yet, some high school students in Michigan — identified as Arab-Americans, no less — have been accused of doing just that.

Continue reading »

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Want to know if the latest incarnation of Barbie has a figure as impossible as her forebears? You’ll have to check under the burqa.

Barbie has been covered head to toe in bright colors with just a bit of white mesh where her face should be as part of an auction meant to help Sotheby’s raise money for Save the Children. Continue reading »

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An evangelical Florida church has been linked to a series of kids being sent home from school for wearing shirts that violate the dress code. On the back, the shirts read “Islam is Of the Devil.” Continue reading »

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