Washington is pushing Islamic propaganda

[docmom]

I was in the doctor's office this morning and came across "World" magazine. It was right next to Conde Naste's Traveller so I thought it was a travel magazine. I was wrong. It's hard-core Christian right propaganda full of made up "facts" about abortion, climate change, homosexuality and, of course, Islam. Apparently, through the National Endowment for the Humanities, the ebil government is trying to force us to convert to Islam. They are providing libraries across the country with books on Islam. But, according to the ace journalists at World, they are hopelessly biased books which only show Islam in a good light.

www.worldmag.com/

Alvin Schmidt, author of The Great Divide, said the selection “conveys the message that Islam is a peaceful religion,†which is “the biggest, unmitigated lie in circulation today.†Andrew Bostom, author of Sharia versus Freedom, said the books “whitewash†Islam and “amount to ‘dawa’—Islamic proselytization.†Jihad Watch director Robert Spencer said, “This is an egregiously propagandistic selection of books, designed not to give readers a balanced view of jihad, but solely a positive one.â€

I couldn't help but compare what their "experts" say about the books with similar books about Christianity which are of course available in most libraries.

The Story of the Qur’an by Ingrid Mattson, former president of the Islamic Society of North America (which Robert Spencer calls “a Hamas-linked Muslim Brotherhood front groupâ€), is a propagandistic account of how Islam’s sacred scripture came into being. Mattson refers very briefly to a counter-theory developed by John Wansbrough and other scholars, but readers would not know that the origins of the Quran are highly in dispute.

Muhammad: A Very Short Introduction: Jonathan A.C. Brown, in Adam Francisco’s words, “accepts unquestioningly some of the most spurious sources as matter of fact. Why? Because this is what the Muslim tradition demands.â€

The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain: Maria Rosa Menocal writes about “peaceful Islam†and ignores the centuries of persecution Christians and Jews experienced while Muslims ruled and dominated Spain.

The article is pretty hateful, but apparently we are the ones giving one sided world views to our children!

ETA: link

[E Street Fan]

Was that magazine addressed to your doctor's office? If so, I think I'd be finding another doctor.

[FeministShrew]

Around here churches & non-profit groups donate their magazines to doctor/dentist offices, or give them free subscriptions. I see "World" magazine just about everywhere - from doctor's offices to the waiting room at the oil-change place.

Anyone else remember thos children's bible story books in waiting rooms - bright blue with lots of colorful pictures? (Or is it just a southern thing?) I always loved them when I was a kid, but I recently found out they were written by a Seventh-Day Adventist & published by one of the Advenist publishing companies. Not sure if Adventists are considered fundie, but they can be there own special brand of crazy.

http://www.thebiblestory.com/tbs/index.php

[docmom]

The name and address were carefully blacked out. I suspect it was planted by a patient as the nearest thing to it I've ever seen in that office is Time magazine.

I just love how they use only their own carefully specialists' opinions and then present them as widely accepted ideas. The Robert Spencer quoted in the article is vehemently anti-Islam:

In an October 2010 news article, an investigative report by The Tennessean described Spencer as one of several individuals who "...cash in on spreading hate and fear about Islam." Tennessean investigation concluded "IRS filings from 2008 show that Robert Spencer earned $132,537 from the David Horowitz Freedom Center, and Horowitz pocketed over $400,000 for himself in just one year".

[gardenvarietycitizen]

The first time I heard someone criticizing people for reading "World" I thought they meant "National Geographic World" and was very confused why that could possibly be a bad thing (the latter is a version of National Geographic aimed at kids, someone bought the elementary kid me a subscription in the 70's and I loved the thing - still have some posters from it).

Turns out, yeah, VERY different thing!

Googling now I see that this World Magazine is also distinct from the other one I hear of frequently (in forwarded emails, natch) - "World Net Daily." Most of my circles refer to that one as "World Nut Daily," if you surf over there you'll see what I mean...