Muslims

Pew: Americans Say Wars In Iraq, Afghanistan Haven't Made U.S. Safer

Kyle Leighton | September 2, 2011, 6:20AM

The view of Ground Zero from a nearby building

On the eve of the ten year anniversary of 9/11, the Pew Research Center has released new data on Americans' reaction to the attacks, and the foreign and national security policies pursued in the post 9/11 era. They show a country with views that have evolved on the relationship between civil liberties and the tools given to government to fight terrorism, and a disbelief that the continuing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan helped to lessen the chance there will be another terrorist attack on the United States.

The Pew survey showed a large shift in the number of Americans who are willing to see some of their civil liberties go out the window in the name of fighting terrorism. Directly after 9/11, Americans were willing to make the deal, as 55 percent thought it was necessary, against 35 percent who felt the opposite. Now, only 40 percent felt that giving up some civil liberties is necessary to curb terrorism, with 54 percent against.

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Herman Cain

Cain't Win: Herman Cain Takes Weeklong Beating From Conservatives After Apologizing To Muslims

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 8, 2011, 5:55AM

GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain

How important is warning about encroaching sharia to the modern conservative electorate? Judging by attacks Tea Party favorite Herman Cain has suffered since reaching out to American Muslims, pretty darn important.

Since shifting gears from his role as the campaign's pied-piper of sharia to the guy who may actually preach at a mosque someday soon, Cain has suffered the slings and arrows of his supporters and prominent voices on the anti-sharia right. He's also been lauded by some supporters, but it seems clear that, in aggregate, the new more tolerant Cain has not gone over well.

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Chris Christie

CAIR: Thanks For Defending Muslims, Chris Christie!

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 5, 2011, 5:58PM

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie just picked up an unlikely ally for a prominent Republican politician these days: the Council on American-Islamic Relation, better known as CAIR.

The group's Garden State branch sent a shout-out to Christie after a video made the rounds showing the governor defending one of his nominees for the state bench against allegation that his Muslim faith meant he'd bring sharia into the legal system.

"Governor Christie's praise highlights the commitment of American Muslims to building a better society," CAIR-NJ Executive Director James Yee said in a statement. "We hope the governor's comments will help stem the rising tide of Islamophobia in our society and help unify our nation."

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Muslims

Gallup Report: Muslim Americans See Hope In Their Economic Future

Kyle Leighton | August 2, 2011, 10:25AM

According to a new study by Gallup, there is one religious group of Americans who are more likely to believe that they will get closer to the best possible life for themselves in the next five years. This same group is also second most likely to consider themselves "thriving," while second least likely to consider themselves "struggling," and far and away more apt say that their standard of living is increasing. It's also the same group of which nearly one in two report experiencing either racial or religious discrimination.

It is an improving time to be a Muslim American, according to the numbers.

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Herman Cain

Herman Cain Apologizes To Muslims

Evan McMorris-Santoro | July 27, 2011, 6:13PM

GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain

Herman Cain had his much-ballyhooed meeting with Muslims Wednesday, and he emerged, he said in a campaign statement "humble and contrite for any statements I have made that might have caused offense to Muslim Americans and their friends."

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Herman Cain

For Once, Herman Cain Doesn't Answer Questions About Muslims

Evan McMorris-Santoro | July 27, 2011, 4:03PM

Presidential candidate Herman Cain (R)

The Herman Cain campaign has a Muslim problem: Try as it might to promote the candidate's business acumen and fiscal credentials, Cain's interest in Islam keeps getting in the way.

That may be changing.

Cain dropped by Capitol Hill today to speak at a tea party rally on behalf of the Republican Cut, Cap and Balance plan. As Politico reports, he was denied his scheduled speaking slot on stage. But the generally affable Cain wandered around for half an hour or so, taking questions from reporters on all manner of topics -- except his upcoming meeting with Muslim leaders.

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Herman Cain

Herman Cain Reaches Out To American Muslims

Evan McMorris-Santoro | July 26, 2011, 5:41PM

After establishing himself as the Republican presidential candidate most overtly critical of Muslims in America, Herman Cain taking steps to reach out to the community.

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Herman Cain

Herman Cain: American Communities Have The Right To Ban Mosques

Evan McMorris-Santoro | July 17, 2011, 10:07AM

Presidential candidate Herman Cain (R)

On Fox News Sunday this morning, Herman Cain calmly and succinctly took one of the hardest lines against Muslims in modern mainstream politics.

Islam is not a religion like other religions, he said, and Americans have the right to keep it out of their communities if they wish.

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Herman Cain

Herman Cain Walks Back His Rhetoric About Muslims

Evan McMorris-Santoro | June 18, 2011, 8:04PM

GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain

MINNEAPOLIS -- On the one hand, Herman Cain is prepared to tell anyone who asks that he'll take "extra precautions" to assure that a potential Muslim appointee is not, in fact, bent on the destruction of the United States.

On the other hand, he doesn't mean that at all.

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Islam

Democrat Delivers Emotional Speech On Prison Reform At Islam Hearing [VIDEO]

Benjy Sarlin | June 16, 2011, 5:45AM

Rep. Peter King (R-NY)

Brushing aside protests from religious and civic leaders, Rep. Peter King (R-NY) held another Homeland Security Committee hearing on Wednesday investigating Islamic radicalization in America, this one focused on terrorist recruitment in prisons. Like past entrants in his radicalization series, Tuesday's event featured plenty of contentious words from committee Democrats, including a dramatic and emotional speech from a Detroit Democrat recalling his own friends' experience in prison.

Rep. Hansen Clarke (D-MI) used his question period to deliver an impassioned address about the broader problem of prison reform, at times holding back tears as he discussed how the issue impacted his own life.

"We talk about political correctness, you know what pisses me off? I'm a damned member of Congress here and my friends have rotted in prison and those that have gotten out, they've never been the same again," he said. "Some of you who are Tea Party members, this is the waste we got to stop. We're spending too much money incarcerating young men, young black men, whose lives can be saved. It's not about Islam, it's abut the sentencing policy, it's about this prison system. We got to change that."

He added that based on his own discussions with prisoners who converted to Islam, inmates did so largely to gain protection from dangerous gangs and to make a clean break from their criminal past, not to engage in any kind of radical behavior.

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Muslims

Pilot Refuses To Fly With Muslim Men On Board

Evan McMorris-Santoro | May 6, 2011, 6:43PM

Updated with video and a response from ASA below:

Two Muslim men were removed from a Delta commuter flight operated by Atlantic Southeast Airlines Friday after the pilot refused to fly with them on board.

Masudur Rahman, an Arabic-language instructor at the University of Memphis and Mohamed Zaghloul, a religious leader in the Islamic Association of Greater Memphis told the AP they were removed from a flight leaving Memphis International Airport, heading for Charlotte, after the pilot refused to takeoff.

According to Charlotte-area station WBTV, the men have "retained counsel and the US attorney's office has already been contacted about the incident."

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Osama Bin Laden

TX Teacher Suspended After Telling Muslim Student 'I Bet You're Grieving'

Evan McMorris-Santoro | May 4, 2011, 10:58AM

A Texas high school teacher has been placed on administrative leave following an incident where he allegedly told a 9th grade Muslim girl in his algebra class "I bet that you're grieving" on Monday following the death of Osama bin Laden.

According to one parent at Clear Brook High School in Houston who spoke about the incident to a local ABC affiliate, the teacher also said, "I heard about your uncle's death."

The parent said the student "understood that he was referring about Osama bin Laden being killed and was racially profiling her."

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Osama Bin Laden

Oregon Muslims Cancel Bin Laden Death Rally After Maine Vandalism

Evan McMorris-Santoro | May 3, 2011, 3:55PM

A group of men gather in prayer during the first day of Ramadan at the Masjid An-Noor Mosque.

In Portland, Oregon, Muslims planned to hold a downtown rally Monday to celebrate the death of terrorist leader Osama bin Laden and "call for unity and peace." But they called it off after concerns over reprisals.

It's at least the second small incident since bin Laden was killed that suggests not everyone is ready to move on now that the villain behind the attacks of 9/11 is finally no longer with us. Yesterday, police in Portland, Maine opened up a hate crime investigation after a mosque there was spray-painted with the phrase "Osama today, Islam tomorow [sic]."

In Oregon, there wasn't a direct threat like there was in Maine. But organizers of the unity rally were fearful enough that something bad might go down at the rally that they canceled it.

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Herman Cain

Herman Cain: Many American Muslims 'Not Dedicated' To U.S., Constitution

Jon Terbush | March 29, 2011, 4:11PM

If Herman Cain becomes President, he will only consider appointing Muslims to federal positions if he can be extra-sure that they will uphold the Constitution and not sneak Sharia law into the government.

In an interview with Fox News' Neil Cavuto on Monday, Cain sought to clarify remarks he made over the weekend to a Think Progress reporter, when he said that he would not appoint any Muslims to his cabinet or federal judgeships were he President. In defending that statement, Cain said that his concern is not with Muslims per se, but with Sharia law, and that he would need a "commitment" from prospective Muslim appointees that they would remain loyal to the Constitution before he would consider giving them a job.

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2012

Herman Cain: I Would Appoint Zero Muslims To My Administration

Jon Terbush | March 28, 2011, 5:12PM

Herman Cain

Former pizza tycoon turned talk-radio host turned presidential candidate Herman Cain said over the weekend that the Muslim faith "does not belong in our government," and that were he President, he would not appoint a Muslim to his cabinet or to a federal court.

Cain's comments came at the Conservative Principles Conference in Iowa on Saturday in response to a question from a Think Progress reporter who asked directly if Cain would "be comfortable" appointing a Muslim to a federal position were he President.

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Mosques

Poll: Nearly 70% Say They'd Be 'Okay' With Mosque In Their Neighborhood

Jon Terbush | March 24, 2011, 3:29PM

A group of men gather in prayer during the first day of Ramadan at the Masjid An-Noor Mosque.

Almost seven in ten American adults say they'd be fine with a mosque in their community, according to a CNN poll.

That finding comes just weeks after another poll found that barely half of Americans believed Muslims in the U.S. supported America, and after Rep. Peter King (R-NY) held controversial hearings into the radicalization of American Muslims. Meanwhile, several states, including Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia have considered bills to ban Sharia Law.

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Muslims

Gallup Poll: Barely Half Of Americans Think American Muslims Support the U.S.

Jon Terbush | March 10, 2011, 2:27PM

Protesters against a proposed community center and mosque near ground zero called Cordoba House.

Not only are Muslims being viewed with a skeptical eye in Congress, but adults nationwide appear to be wary of fellow Americans who are Muslim, according to a new Gallup poll.

The results offer a surprising view of just how suspicious Americans are of not only Islam in general, but of Muslims living within the United States. The poll was released the same day that House hearings on the radicalization of American Muslims, led by Rep. Peter King (R-NY) got off to a highly emotional start.

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Islam

Only Majority Of Conservatives And Tea Partiers Think Muslims More Prone To Violence

Jon Terbush | March 10, 2011, 11:45AM

As Rep. Peter King's (R-NY) hearings on the radicalization of American muslims get underway, a new Pew poll of American adults finds that conservatives and Tea Party sympathizers are the only two political demographics of which a majority believe Islam, more so than any other religion, encourages violence.

Overall, Americans are split fairly evenly on the question. Yet the stark ideological divide reveals how sharply the issue breaks down along party lines, with far more people on the right -- and particularly to the far right -- viewing Islam as a violent religion.

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Peter King

White House Promotes Engagement Strategy Ahead Of 'Muslim Radicalization' Hearings

Eric Lach | March 8, 2011, 4:34PM

President Barack Obama

The White House says its finalizing a strategy to combat violent extremism in America, and is speaking publicly about it just a few days before Rep. Peter King (R-NY) holds hearings on "Muslim radicalization." (On Sunday, in a move The New York Times called "no accident," White House Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough gave a speech at a Muslim center in Virginia, laying out the administration's efforts.)

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Gretchen Carlson

Fox's Carlson To Muslim Cleric: Have You Committed Acts Of Terrorism? (VIDEO)

Andrew Jones | February 22, 2011, 12:48PM

Memo to any Muslim cleric being interviewed by Gretchen Carlson: Prepare to be asked if you are associated with terrorism.

On Fox and Friends this morning, the co-host had a contentious interview with Anjem Choudary, the head of the controversial UK-based Islamic group Al-Muhajiroun, who is planning a March 3 protest outside the White House to call for the establishment of Sharia law in America. And it reached a boiling point when Carlson asked Choudary if, given his background, he would even qualify for entry into the United States.

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Phillip Dennis

Texas Tea Party Leader On Obama's Faith: 'I Don't Know!' (VIDEO)

Andrew Jones | February 10, 2011, 8:49AM

Dallas Tea Party Leader Phillip Dennis

Dallas Tea Party leader Phillip Dennis became the latest conservative figure to express doubts about whether President Obama is a Christian or a Muslim on Hardball yesterday.

"Is Barack Obama a Muslim?" asked host Chris Matthews.

Dennis' answer: "I don't know."

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Values Voter Summit

Gingrich Calls For Federal Ban On Shariah Law In US

Evan McMorris-Santoro | September 18, 2010, 12:05PM

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA)

The second morning of speeches at the Values Voter Summit here in DC was dominated by a man who is swiftly becoming the nation's spokesperson for Islamophobia -- former House speaker Newt Gingrich. Fresh off the release of his Islam-focused film "America At Risk," Gingrich told the crowd at VVS that it's time to take federal action to prevent Shariah Law from infiltrating courtrooms in the US.

"We should have a federal law that says sharia law cannot be recognized by any court in the United States," Gingrich said to a standing ovation from the audience. The law will let judges know, Gingrich said, that "no judge will remain in office that tried to use sharia law."

[TPM SLIDESHOW: Morals, Morals, Morals! Conservatives Gather For Values Voter Summit]

Gingrich made a not-so-subtle reference to the right wing meme about freshly-minted Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan which claims that Kagan is "sympathetic" to Shariah and -- as some suggested during her confirmation hearings -- might allow it to be recognized as law in the United States.

But beyond the Kagan hit, Gingrich's anti-Shariah talk inserted him directly into the most extreme end of the Islamophobic push-back against mosque projects all over the country.

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Barack Obama

Barbour: There's 'Not Much Known' About Obama's Childhood And College Years

Christina Bellantoni | September 8, 2010, 11:41AM

President Barack Obama and Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS)

Now you know what to get Haley Barbour for Christmas -- a copy of President Obama's 1995 memoir.

Barbour, the Republican governor of Mississippi flirting with a presidential bid in 2012, told reporters today that Americans know less about President Obama than "any other president in history."

Reporters at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor this morning asked Barbour why so many voters wrongly think Obama is Muslim. Barbour said it's surely no "vast right-wing conspiracy," and that he has no reason to doubt Obama's Christian faith or his citizenship.

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'Ground Zero Mosque'

Grand Old Islamophobes? Polls Show Widespread Republican Concerns Over Muslims -- And Obama

Evan McMorris-Santoro | September 1, 2010, 8:48AM

In a series of respected national polls this summer, great swaths of Republicans -- often encompassing the majority -- have shown themselves to be deeply worried about the prospect of Muslims gaining power in the U.S. and of President Obama's perceived connections to the faith. This isn't a fringy extreme or small but vocal minority. It's huge portions of the party that just recently was defending its use of the filibuster by pointing out all the Democrats who blocked Civil Rights legislation in the 1960s and pooh-poohed the idea of racial insensitivity among tea partiers. And now, lots and lots of Republicans across the nation are on the leading edge of an anti-Muslim paranoia that some U.S. allies abroad believe will harm American relations with the moderate Muslim world.

Meet the new Republican establishment: worried about Muslims, and worried even more that Obama might be one of them.

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Cordoba House

Poll: Less Than A Quarter Of Americans Have 'Favorable' View Of Islam

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 26, 2010, 10:47AM

The Islamic Circle of North America-NY hosts a rally.

Proponents of the Cordoba House project planned for Lower Manhattan have said that one of the project's goals is to build a mutual understanding between American Islam and the non-Muslim American majority. A new national poll shows there's a long way to go before that vision is a reality.

The survey of 1,082 adults conducted this week by CBS found just 24% of respondents had a "favorable" view of Islam. Nearly 40% said they had an "unfavorable" view of the second-largest religion on the planet, while 37% said they don't have an opinion on the faith.

Not surprisingly, those numbers translated into very little support for the Cordoba House project. Just 22% of all respondents said it was "appropriate" for the Muslim cultural center to be built near Ground Zero, while 71% said it was "inappropriate."

Among the plurality who hold an unfavorable opinion of Islam, support for the project was almost nonexistent. Nine percent said it was appropriate for Cordoba House to be built, while 88% said it was inappropriate. Those holding a favorable view of Islam split on Cordoba -- 50% said building it was appropriate, while 42% said it was inappropriate.

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'Ground Zero Mosque'

Anti-Mosque Movement Draws Support From Controversial European Politician

Brian Beutler | August 20, 2010, 6:00PM

A mosque in Detroit (protesters decrying a planned Islamic community center and mosque near ground zero in New York inset).

Pamela Geller, the woman who arguably touched off the weeks-long fight over the Cordoba House, is organizing a September 11 protest to stop the project, and she's invited some of America's most high-profile conservatives to attend. But she's also enlisting the help of one of the most controversial anti-Muslim politicians in Europe.

Joining Geller and Andrew Breitbart, among others, will be Dutch politician Geert Wilders, the controversial anti-Muslim leader of the right wing Freedom Party in the Netherlands.

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Barack Obama

Poll: Number Of Americans Who Think Obama Is A Muslim Nearly Doubles

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 19, 2010, 9:07AM

President Barack Obama

The number of Americans who say President Obama is a Muslim has nearly doubled since March 2009, according to a new poll from Pew out today. The poll finds that 18% of Americans say the president -- who, it should be said for the record, is a practicing Christian -- is a Muslim. That's up from 11% who said the same thing in March of last year.

At the same time, a new poll from Time magazine shows a widespread distrust of Islam among Americans, and an overwhelming opposition to the Cordoba House project in Manhattan. The Time poll also found that 24% of Americans say Obama is a Muslim.

No group is more convinced of the president's Muslim faith than conservative Republicans. The Pew poll found 34% of them say Obama is a Muslim, which is an increase from 18% in the March 2009 survey. The number is not that much different from Republicans overall -- 31% of all Republicans surveyed by Pew said Obama practices Islam, and 24% of "moderate and liberal" members of the GOP said the same thing.

But the mistaken view of Obama's faith is up among Democrats, too. Ten percent of Democrats surveyed said Obama is a Muslim, up from 7% in March 2009. The breakdown of those numbers: 12 percent of "conservative and moderate" Democrats say Obama is Muslim (up from 9% last year) and 6% of liberal Democrats do (up from 5%).

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'Ground Zero Mosque'

GOP Muslims Fear Failure Of Bush Outreach Efforts After Anti-Mosque Furor

Brian Beutler | August 18, 2010, 11:10AM

Fmr. President George W. Bush (R)

After winning nearly 80 percent of the Muslim vote in 2000, George Bush bled much of it away in the post 9/11 era. The war in Iraq, the PATRIOT Act, detainment and other policies drove at least half of that support to John Kerry and third party candidates in 2004. But all the while, several influential Muslim Republicans, both inside the administration and out, were working hard to staunch the bleeding and build a donor base among wealthy members of the Muslim community.

Today, several of them say that their efforts are being undermined, if not completely destroyed, by Republicans stoking anti-Muslim sentiment by opposing the construction of the Cordoba House -- now known infamously and inaccurately as the "Ground Zero Mosque".

"We've been working hard, some Muslim Americans, some non-Muslims, to keep the Muslim American community and other minorities on the party side, to keep relationships going," says David Ramadan, a Vice Chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia. "All of that is threatened to be thrown down the drain."

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'Ground Zero Mosque'

Rubio: 'Ground Zero Mosque' Controversy Won't Hurt U.S.-Muslim Relations

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 17, 2010, 4:23PM

Senate candidate Marco Rubio (R-FL)

Marco Rubio says that Muslims in other nations should look fondly on the United States as a bastion of religious tolerance following the Cordoba House flap. Rubio, the Florida Republican running against Independent Gov. Charlie Crist in a tight Senate race, has joined the chorus of politicians publicly opposing the proposed lower Manhattan Islamic cultural center on the grounds that building it would be "opening wounds" from 9/11.

On a conference call with reporters this afternoon, I asked Rubio how he thought views like his would play among moderate Muslims across the globe. (At an event I attended earlier today, some religious leaders suggested that the tough rhetoric opposing the project could have a negative effect on the way Muslims view the United States.)

"I would point out to Muslims all over the world that America is one of the few countries on earth where every faith is represented," Rubio said. "We have a long and cherished tradition of religious liberties and freedom, and none of that is being questioned in my mind."

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Harry Reid

Reid's Opposition To The 'Ground Zero Mosque' Surprises Dems -- And Leaves Them Vulnerable

Brian Beutler | August 16, 2010, 8:29PM

Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV)

Just before noon today, Sharron Angle pressed Harry Reid to pick a side: "As the Majority Leader, Harry Reid is usually President Obama's mouthpiece in the U.S. Senate, and yet he remains silent on this issue," read a statement from her communications director, Jarrod Agen. "Reid has a responsibility to stand up and say no to the mosque at Ground Zero or once again side with President Obama."

By about 3 p.m., he made his decision: he would publicly break from Obama -- a move that would come as a surprise to many in his party.

"The First Amendment protects freedom of religion," spokesman Jim Manley said in a statement. "Sen. Reid respects that but thinks that the mosque should be built some place else."

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Muslims

How New York's 'Ground Zero Mosque' Fell Into Florida's Political Spotlight

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 16, 2010, 4:29PM

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)

According to Google, the proposed Islamic community center in lower Manhattan is 1,275 miles away from downtown Miami, Florida. But that doesn't mean the proposed Cordoba House that's likely to be constructed blocks away from the former site of the Twin Towers hasn't become a big issue in Florida politics.

Republican Senate candidate Marco Rubio -- already an ardent supporter of all things conservative (if you don't count his against-it-before-I-was-kind-of-for-it stance on Arizona's immigration law) -- is taking a firm stand with the rest of his party by vocally opposing the Cordoba House project.

"It is divisive and disrespectful to build a mosque next to the site where 3,000 innocent people were murdered at the hands of Islamic extremism," Rubio said in a statement Saturday.

Both men running for the GOP's gubernatorial nomination say basically the same thing. Attorney General Bill McCollum says he'd be OK with a Muslim construction project "farther away" from the Ground Zero site and former hospital exec Rick Scott is already running a TV ad attacking "Obama's Mosque."

So that's that. Anti-mosque Republicans can stand by their men in the Sunshine State.

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Ground Zero Mosque

How Republicans Might Drag The 'Ground Zero Mosque' Fight Into The Fall

Brian Beutler | August 16, 2010, 2:52PM

Sen. Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and President Barack Obama

From Terri Schiavo to "death panels," Congressional recesses have long bred political controversies. But while some (like Schiavo) fizzle, others, (like "death panels") have a lasting impact on policy and politics. An open question for now is whether the row over the so-called "Ground Zero Mosque" will be with us past August.

Republicans and conservative activists have made no secret of the fact that they want the issue to have legs, but that gets trickier when politicians return to Washington to actually govern. One option Republicans will have to pressure Democrats on the issue will be to force Democrats to vote on the question of whether they support the cultural center and mosque.

"There are no plans to do that at this point," says a top Republican House aide. "It's a month away, and I'd guess any chances we get to message...will be focused on jobs."

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New York City

Muslim Rights Advocate: Why Aren't NY Dems Speaking Up For Us?

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 5, 2010, 4:55PM

A Muslim civil rights advocate says it's "concerning" that more prominent New York Democrats aren't speaking up in the debate over new mosque projects in New York City. Ibrahim Ramey, civil rights director for the Muslim American Society in Washington, told me today that it surprises him how few Democratic politicians have spoken up as angry right-wing protesters have taken on mosque projects in Staten Island, Brooklyn and, of course, lower Manhattan.

"It's been very, very disappointing really," Ramey said. "To the extent that we're not hearing from prominent Democrats, it really is a concerning thing. Concerning for Muslims and for the nation as a whole."

Check out TPM's roundup on what New York Dems have said -- and haven't said -- about the issue here.

Ramey said for him, it's not about the politics. He just expects more politicians to offer the no-holds-barred statements in support of Muslim rights that he said New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg did in his recent speech endorsing the so-called Ground Zero mosque project.

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Muslims

Tennessee Lt. Gov: Religious Freedom May Not Count For Muslims (VIDEO)

Evan McMorris-Santoro | July 26, 2010, 11:20AM

TN Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey

Tennessee Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, currently running third in the state's Republican gubernatorial primary race, says he's not sure if Constitutional guarantees of freedom of religion apply to the followers of the world's second-largest faith, Islam.

At a recent event in Hamilton County, Ramsey was asked by a man in the audience about the "threat that's invading our country from the Muslims." Ramsey proclaimed his support for the Constitution and the whole "Congress shall make no law" thing when it comes to religion. But he also said that Islam, arguably, is less a faith than it is a "cult."

"Now, you could even argue whether being a Muslim is actually a religion, or is it a nationality, way of life, cult whatever you want to call it," Ramsey said. "Now certainly we do protect our religions, but at the same time this is something we are going to have to face."

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NASA

GOP Rep: Don't Believe White House -- NASA Was Always Planning Muslim Outreach

Evan McMorris-Santoro | July 15, 2010, 3:15PM

A NASA space shuttle launch; Muslims inset.

The flap over NASA administrator Charles Bolden's call for the space agency to reach out to Muslim nations in a recent interview with Al Jazeera is alive and well in the conservative media, despite having faded from mainstream headlines following the White House press secretary's dismissal Monday of the comment as a misstatement.

FoxNews.com reports that Rep. Pete Olson (R-TX) -- ranking member on the committee that oversees NASA's budgeting in the House -- says that Bolden told him personally in June that President Obama asked him to find ways to use NASA's international partnerships to reach out to the Muslim world, before the controversial Al Jazeera interview.

Fox reported that Olson had said that "Bolden described the outreach program as part of the administration's space plan during a conversation they had."

"He confirmed it to me," Olson told the site. NASA did not respond to a request for comment on Olson's statements.

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