cnn gets a piece of my mind…

The following is a letter I wrote to CNN’s Anderson Cooper in March of this year.  While my opinions have twice been aired on The Cafferty File (Thanks, Jack),  this scathing opinion-piece never saw the light of day on the AC360 broadcast… So I’d like to share it with you, my much smaller (but undoubtedly smarter) audience…

Anderson,

During the last week, a traditional Somalian robe, an ill-timed Louis Farrakhan endorsement and an Middle Eastern middle name were all employed (not by Neo-Cons, but by supposed ‘Democratic’ competitors) as “fear bomb” tactics by Obama’s opposition, calling into question the Chicago Senator’s religious affiliations.

Obama supporters, staffers and the media were quick to reassure the American public that Barrack Hussein Obama  was indeed, a Christian.  A large question, however, remains unanswered:

Why is his faith-system a factor at all?  Should it matter if he was Muslim?  Are Americans so steeped in a culture of fear, they’ve forgotten that their very country was founded on the shoulders of brave men who wanted nothing more than the right to exercise their own religious rights and freedoms?  Islam does NOT equal terrorism.  It is, in fact, a beautiful, peaceful religion.  According to the Koran, (and I quote a local Muslim cleric) “the entire concept of ‘Jihad’ is defined as an internal struggle, or war, against the wickedness within one’s self.”  The sactioning of terrorism and suicide-bombings is a self-serving manipulation of Koranical scripture… the work of extremists and fundamentalist groups that have about as much connection to conventional Islam as Warren Jeffs has to Mitt Romney.  And no one had a problem with his Mormonism…

The onus lies with the media to re-educate the American people.  I’m afraid the good folks of The United States are so busy congratulating themselves for being progressive enough to have two visible minorities in their democratic primary race, they’ve overlooked the fact that they are a country still inclined to gross religious bigotry and generalization. 

Black president, female president, 110 year-old war hero president, it doesn’t matter.  Until America realizes that “In God We Trust” is a suggestion, not a prerequisite, the country will always be bound by its own ignorance.

(Dylan Petley is a Canadian freelance writer.  He is not a Christian nor a Muslim, not that it matters.)