Thursday, August 19, 2010
GB Council Approves Velp Avenue Mosque
Does this mean that Green Bay is more tolerant than Sheboygan? Probably not. However, it may have occurred to the city fathers that a number of former Green Bay Packers have Islamic-sounding names (Ahman Green, Na'il Diggs, Najeh Davenport, Jamal Jones, and of course Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila come to mind). I don't know how many are actually Moslems (Green was named after former NFL great and well-known broadcaster Ahmad Rashad, for instance), but chances are good that the Packers will sign the occasional Moslem player. It wouldn't do for local officials to make their families feel unwelcome.
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6 comments:
Green and KGB are devout Christians.
As I said, they aren't necessarily Moslems (much like President Obama, who was named for his Moslem father but raised as a Christian by his mother), but their names must make the City Council aware that there are Moslem players in the NFL, and some of them will occasionally play for Green Bay.
A few of us are old enough to remember when Ahmad Rashad was called Bobby Moore, back when he played for the Vikings. It was an era when many high-profile black athletes (Lew Alcindor, Cassius Clay, et.al.) embraced the Muslim faith and renounced their "slave name".
Funny to read the article in the first link where the neighbor of the soon-to-be former bait shop is worried that the Muslims who will worship there might become radicals, and torment the neighborhood.
I'd be more concerned that some Christian right-wing fundamentalist got an automatic weapon and decided to shoot up Lambeau Field on the Sabbath to slay all the sinners who are not making holy the Lord's day....
Yes, Tim...of course...because it has happened SO many times before and there are no American-Born Muslim terrorists.
While there have been a few American-born Muslim terrorists in the past decade, they are still outnumbered by the American-born Christian terrorists (David Koresh, Jim Jones, Eric Rudolph, Timothy McVeigh and many more).
And THERE is some cognitive dissonance.
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