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{"id":2924,"date":"2011-06-21T21:15:33","date_gmt":"2011-06-22T01:15:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kathyschiffer.com\/?p=2924"},"modified":"2015-01-23T19:16:09","modified_gmt":"2015-01-24T00:16:09","slug":"flailing-fists-of-fiery-faith-angry-words-at-dearborns-arab-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kathyschiffer\/2011\/06\/flailing-fists-of-fiery-faith-angry-words-at-dearborns-arab-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"Flailing Fists of Fiery Faith: Angry Words at Dearborn\u2019s Arab Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u201cAnd they\u2019ll know you are Christians by your love, by your love\u2026.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Easy to sing.\u00a0 Not so easy to remember, when you\u2019re facing off with someone from the Other Side.\u00a0 Y\u2019know what I mean?<\/p>\n

Dearborn, Michigan<\/strong> has the distinction of having the highest population of Muslims per capita of any city in the United\u00a0States.\u00a0 Approximately 30% of Dearborn residents are Arab-American.<\/p>\n

So it\u2019s no surprise, then, that Dearborn would host the annual Arab International Festival, the largest outdoor gathering of Arab-Americans in the country.\u00a0 For Arab-Americans, it\u2019s like the State Fair\u2014an opportunity to gather with friends, to shop, to listen to Arabic music and enjoy Arabic foods.<\/p>\n

In recent years some Christian groups have seized the unique opportunity to proselytize, handing out Christian tracts and inviting festivalgoers to learn more about the Christian faith.\u00a0 Josh McDowell is there signing his books, printed both in English and in Arabic.<\/p>\n

This being America, a free country, that seems fair enough\u2014as long as the exchange remains civil and no one oversteps their bounds\u00a0and gets too \u201cpushy\u201d with their philosophical opponents.<\/p>\n

Last weekend, however, the rhetoric escalated and the Arab-Americans\u2014the \u201cgood guys\u201d in this situation\u2014were verbally attacked by two different \u201cChristian\u201d groups.<\/p>\n

On Friday, June 17, Qur\u2019an-burning Pastor Terry Jones (protected by a bulletproof vest) and his group of \u201cBible-believers\u201d held a rally in Dearborn.\u00a0 Jones has spoken and written about \u201cthree evils\u201d in America:\u00a0 homosexuality, abortion and Islam.\u00a0 One Jones supporter, Rabbi Nachum Shifren of California, derided \u201cMuslims and black people\u201d from the steps of the Dearborn\u00a0City Hall.\u00a0 Public sentiment\u2014from Muslims, African-Americans and other Christian groups\u2014prevented Jones and his entourage from parading to the festival, but not before his hateful rhetoric caused at least one young girl to cry.\u00a0 Her emotional response to Jones\u2019 vitriol reached millions via YouTube.<\/p>\n

And on Saturday, although Jones abandoned his plans to attend the festival, another group calling themselves \u201cChristian missionaries\u201d made their presence felt.\u00a0 This was no prayer vigil, though.\u00a0 The group shouted epithets and insults through a bullhorn, attacking Arabs, Muslims and Islam.\u00a0 They waved a sign calling Mohammed a \u201cpervert.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cChristian missionaries\u201d insulted Catholic Christians, too.\u00a0 This photo<\/a> by Haroon Mihtar shows them holding up a large sign calling Catholics \u201cidolaters, Bible rejecters, and worshippers of a wafer god.\u201d\u00a0 They add, \u201cNo Catholics go to heaven.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The story of civilization has too often been scarred by discrimination.\u00a0 I think about the Pilgrims who traveled great distances to an unknown land to escape religious persecution\u2014only to inflict their own brand of prejudice and intolerance on the Irish and the Catholics.\u00a0 And the Africans\u2014my goodness, the Africans!<\/p>\n

Not that I\u2019m so darned holy\u2014but I\u2019m pretty sure the spit-in-your-face evangelization of the \u201cChristian missionaries\u201d was not what Jesus had in mind in Mark 12:31, when he admonished his followers to \u201clove your neighbor as yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"