Is inflaming anti-Muslim sentiment worse than beheading your estranged wife?
A coalition of eight family and women’s groups are calling on the National Organization for Women to retract comments by its New York president linking the death of Aasiya Z. Hassan to a Muslim “honor killing.”
“We were so shocked by her comments,” said Laura Grube, coordinator for Child & Family Services Haven House, a coalition member.
The comments by Marcia Pappas, NOW’s state president, were insensitive and harmful to domestic violence victims, she said.
But Pappas stood her ground and said that dozens of Muslim women have written to thank her for speaking out.
“There will be no retraction,” she said.
Hassan was found beheaded Feb. 12 in the office of Bridges TV in Orchard Park. Her husband, Muzzammil Hassan, the chief executive officer of the television channel, is charged with her slaying.
In a statement Feb. 16, Pappas criticized the media for paying little attention to the case, which came to light the same day as the crash of Continental Flight 3407 in Clarence.
“Why is this horrendous story not all over the news?” Pappas asked in the news release.
“Is a Muslim woman’s life not worth a five-minute report? This was, apparently, a terroristic version of ‘honor killing,’ a murder rooted in cultural notions about women’s subordination to men.”
Linking the death to the couple’s religion “inflamed anti-Muslim sentiment and let the non-Muslim community off the hook for addressing the real issue—ending domestic violence,” the coalition said in a statement.
[h/t James Taranto]
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Marcia Pappas, the New York state head of NOW is right on this one. It was nothing but courage to stand up for the beheaded Muslim woman and point out the Islam encourages the savage subjugation of women and looks the other way when daughters, wives and sister are murdered to cleanse the family honor.Marcia Pappas has opened herself up for merciless criticism from the media which is sold out to Muslim interests and money. Pappas has also riskedher safety. Muslim women who speak out against the vilence of Isolam are frequently killed. Pappas has taken a deliberate risk. We should congrtulate and encourage her in this. MOst of the American feminist world is silent when it socomes to the deaths of their Muslim sisters.These feminsts are distancing themselves from Pappas. THose who love life should not. Support her with a phone call or email. It wil make a difference. Islam is not an ally of the pro-life movement in any way shape or form. Islam has its own agenda.
There are honor killings in the US and our officials have begun to look the other way as our media refuses to report the occurrences. Two Texas teens were strangled to death by their Dad after saying that they wished to date non-Islamic boys. Their Islamicized American mother aided in the murders. The father is still at large and the mother is free. Girls of marriageable age disappear from school. Many are flown back to their countries for “marriages” in which they have no say. In Atlanta a young Muslim woman was strangled by her father after she announced that she was going to divorce her husband. There is no moderate form of Islam. It is totalitarian and requires submission or death.
Islamic practice also permits girls to be sold into “marraigae” at the age of six. The marriage can be consumated at 9, but sexual manipulation of the child is permitted.These horrific facts would be inbelievable except for the growing number of Islamic women who are risking their lives to write and speak about the truth. The huge outcry of Islamic women defending the status quo is distracting. They say that Islam respects women and is a religion of peace. They are lying. It is called Taqiyya. Taqiyya is the Islamic duty to lie in order to protect the honor of Islam. The lies are outrageous, told with a straight face and quite confusing to the listener, unless you know the process of deliberate deception that is being perpetrated.
I urge you to take up the cause of this poor beheaded woman and not allow her death to be labeled as domestic violence. Our consistent ethic for life can embrace this woman who attempted to break away. We can be a voice for an other voiceless group. I believe that this will only strngthen our ministry to the unborn.
I believe the (tortured) logic is that since these people see these honor killings as the same thing as domestic violence, that to therefore blame the murder on Islamic Law (not sure if this is Sharia, or just an extremist interpretation of it) is implicitly denying that the problem of domestic violence against women exists.
I think the protesters view that Muslim women get treated badly because their men feel superior to women, not that they are actually acting as their law demands. Therefore to blame the religion fails to criticize the attitude of male-superiority, which they view is the real problem. To some extent that might be correct, but is it that way because of or in-spite of their religion?
Honestly, I do think there is an attitude of male superiority in culture, not that there isn’t also an attitude of female superiority as well. I however think it’s wrong to solely attribute violence against women to the male feeling of superiority. It could also involve something such as males being not very emotionally mature and consequently not knowing how to deal with the problems they encounter. That is where I think these protesters are wrong. While domestic violence can lead to battered and murdered women, beheadings is something else!