Rep. Virgil Goode's Letter on Muslims

Rep. Virgil Goode's Letter

on Muslims

This is the text of the letter with our comments in brackets.

"When i raise my hand to take the oath on Swearing in Day, I will have the Bible in my other hand. [ All religions are divisive and therefore objectionable to us. Some religions are more divisive than others, Islam much more so than Rep. Goode's Baptist strain of protestantism.]

"I do not subscribe to using the Koran in any way." [Neither do we but others do and should have the right to as long as it's not used for violent or treasonous reasons.]

"The Muslim Representative from Minnesota [Perhaps it was unintentional but this sounds depersonalizing. Rep.-elect Ellison should have been referred to by name.] was elected by the voters of that district and if American citizens don't wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran." [This is an ill-thought and ill-written sentence. There is no substantive link between Rep. Goode's position and the election of more Muslims to office. Rep.-elect Ellison is not an immigrant. His election had nothing to do with immigration policy. More Muslims will not be elected to office because of justifiable voter disapproval of Islam's totalitarian philosophy, regardless of when they came to the U.S. "Demanding the use of the Koran" is unclear. American people have and should have the right to READ the Koran. There is not and should not be any law prohibiting the "use" of the Koran in a Swearing in ceremony. There are laws against using any book, the Koran, Mein Kamph, The Communist Manifesto, for violent or treasonous ends.]

"We need to stop illegal immigration totally [beside the point, see above] and reduce legal immigration [beside the point but disagree] and end the diversity visas policy pushed hard by President Clinton [Don't know if this is wholly or partly true] and allowing many persons from the Middle East to come to this country." [Perhaps unintentional again but as stated Rep. Goode would therefore be in favor of blocking Christian or Jewish emigrants from the Middle East. This page totally supports banning Muslims from immigrating to the United States because Islam, as it is preached and practiced today in the Islamic world, is warring against the United States. We would also end student visas and send home those who are here as visiting students. There is no or not sufficient evidence that American Muslims as a group preach or practice their faith in a way that makes them at war with America. Quite the contrary. If there is any model for a Muslim Reformation, for a non-violent Islam, it is in the way that it is preached and practiced in America. If individuals do advocate violence they should be prosecuted under law.]

"I fear that in the next century we will have many more Muslims in the United States if we do not adopt the strict immigration policies that I believe are necessary [ We do not share this fear. We support banning the emigration of Muslims from the Islamic world] to preserve the values and beliefs traditional to the United states of America and to prevent our resources from being swamped." [ Nonsense, nativistic nonsense.]

"The Ten Commandments and "In God We Trust are on the wall in my office. [All religions divide]. A Muslim student came by the office and asked why I did not have anything on my wall about the Koran. My response was clear, "As long as i have the honor of representing the citizens of the 5th District of Virginia in the United States House of Representatives, The Koran is not going to be on the wall of my office. [The story sounds apocryphal but if true that is no way to treat a young visitor to a congressman's office. As stated here previously we should not be critical of our fellow Americans on this issue. As we would do with an adult we should ask them for their views and why they hold them and give them our thoughts. This is all the more true for young people.] Than you again for your email and thoughts."

We must not hate. This is Public Occurrences.