An imam who offered a prayer at the beginning of the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo (FWSSR) last week will not be doing so again after attendees lit up the event’s Facebook page with anti-Islamic statements, The Dallas Morning News reports. Last Sunday, Moujahed Bakhach of the Islamic Association of Tarrant County was one of numerous religious leaders from the Fort Worth area to offer a prayer for the safety of all the participants — human and cattle alike — at the event. He was scheduled to offer a similar prayer on February 2nd, but decided otherwise after an anti-Muslim social media firestorm erupted on the event’s Facebook page.
There have been a few instances of rampant, ugly bigotry and religious intolerance in Texas over the past week or so. Someone not familiar with the Lone Star State might begin to wonder if these sad incidents aren’t indicative of a much larger problem…and they might have a point. Yes, the majority of Texans are good, decent, tolerant sorts…but why aren’t more of them making it loud and clear that they don’t stand with the haters and the bigots?
The problem, of course, is that the people incensed over the idea of an imam offering a prayer understand little about Islam…and evidently even less about the Christianity they claim as their own. The Jesus Christ they profess to revere preached tolerance and inclusiveness, not hatred and division. He didn’t teach that believing different makes one “less than,” and therefore worthy of exclusion or- even worse- destruction.
Islam is every bit as much about peaceful coexistence as Christianity is. The problem- as it is with Christianity- are the zealots who choose to interpret their religion as allowing them to destroy those who don’t believe as they do. They define those who don’t share their beliefs as “infidels” and “less than,” subhumans barely worthy of recognition and certainly unworthy of the rights and benefits that accrue to those who believe “correctly.”
The latest display of Lone Star Haters Syndrome is as awful as it is hateful and self-righteous, and it demonstrates once again that there’s a disturbing current of virulent bigotry extant in Texas. That the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo even felt it necessary to issue this statement is a very sad and disturbing commentary on the idiocracy that Texas has become.
We would like to take this opportunity to separate fact from fiction:
There was never a Muslim prayer - or a prayer of any specific religion at the Stock Show this year.
Because the Stock Show is an annual community event that attracts many visitors from around the world, country and state each year, last spring, we established a faith-based committee consisting of a wide range of local clergy. We based our decision on and selected our participants from the Mayor’s Faith Cabinet Directory. We invited each participant to provide a one-minute prayer to include the safety of the contestants, animals and participants, the military men and women and world peace. Committee members include: a Cowboy Church pastor, a Catholic priest, TCU Brite Divinity School students, a member of the Clergy and Police Alliance, Christ Chapel Bible Church clergy, a Baptist minister, a Rabbi and an Imam. Last Sunday evening the Imam provided a very appropriate blessing as outlined above.
In addition to the daily pre-rodeo prayers, we hold Cowboy Church each Sunday as we have for decades.
Texas doesn’t belong to Christians…though I suspect the hyper-religious zealots of the Texas Republican Party would certainly take issue with that. There are many who believe Texas to literally be God’s Country and the property of White Christians, and those who don’t believe that don’t belong and are welcome to leave. What they fail to realize is that Texas is actually a very diverse place, particularly in the major metropolitan areas. White Christians may have rigged the game in a way that allows them to control political power, but it won’t be long before having White skin will make one a minority in Texas.
Won’t THAT be fun, eh??
The real problem is that the haters have no real problem with zealotry- as long it’s THEIR zealotry. They (incorrectly) deride Islam as a terrorist religion dedicated to destroying America while conveniently ignoring Christianity’s own blood-soaked history. They refuse to acknowledge the truth that far more American lives have been lost to CHRISTIAN terrorists in this country since 9.11 than to Muslims. Of course, employing violence in the “service’ of one’s “faith” isn’t an issue if it’s done by a Christian…because they’re simply protecting the faith. Muslims doing the same thing are terrorists, because as any good, God-fearing patriot will tell you, White Christians by definition can’t be terrorists.
This story is as sad as it is pointless, because the haters have chose to ignore the imam’s message of peace and focused instead on his religion and skin color. If anything, the Islam of the imam is far more about peace than the Christianity of the bigots…not that those who hate in the name of Jesus Christ would ever own that reality.
Texans deserve better…and perhaps if they spoke out against the haters and the bigots they might get it. Until that happens, this sort of ugliness will only become worse and more frequent in the Lone Star State.
