as if this is some expose...when was the last time i heard an expose about a pro-christianity broadcast already?
klewis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
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PBS, Recruiting for Islam
by Daniel Pipes
New York Post
December 17, 2002
http://www.danielpipes.org/article/982
http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/64772.htm
What would be the best way to convert lots of Americans to Islam?
Forget print, go to film. Put together a handsome documentary with
an original musical score that presents Islam's prophet Muhammad
in the most glowing manner, indeed, as a model of perfection.
Round up Muslim and non-Muslim enthusiasts to endorse the
nobility and truth of his message.
Splice in vignettes of winsome American Muslims testifying to the
justice and beauty of their Islamic faith. Then get the U.S. taxpayer
to help pay for it.
Show it at prime time on the most high-minded TV network. Oh, and
screen it at least once during the holidays, when anyone out of
synch with Christmas might be especially susceptible to another
religion's appeal.
This is precisely what the producers of "Muhammad: Legacy of a
Prophet" have done. In a documentary The Washington Post calls
"absorbing, . . . enjoyable and informative," exotic images of the
desert and medieval miniatures mix with scenes of New York City
and the American flag. Born- and convert-American Muslims speak
affectingly about their personal bond to their prophet.
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) will premiere this two-hour
documentary across the nation tomorrow night, then repeat it in
most areas.
The film's largest tranche of funding comes from the Corporation for
Public Broadcasting, a private, nonprofit corporation created by
Congress that in fiscal 2002 received $350 million in taxpayers'
funds.
The heart of the film consists of nine talking heads competing with
each other to praise Muhammad the most extravagantly. Not one of
them criticizes him.
Some of their efforts are laughable, as when one commentator
denies allegations about Muhammad contracting a marriage of
convenience with a rich older woman named Khadija: "He deeply,
deeply loved Khadija." Oh, and his many marriages were "an act of
faith, not of lust." How could anyone know this?
Other apologetics are more consequential. What Muhammad did for
women, viewers learn, was "amazing" - his condemning female
infanticide, giving legal rights to wives, permitting divorce and
protecting their inheritance rights. But no commentator is so impolite
as to note that however admirable this was in the 7th century,
Muslim women today suffer widely from genital mutilation, forced
marriages, purdah, illiteracy, sexual apartheid, polygamy and honor
killings.
The film treats religious beliefs - such as Muhammad's "Night
Journey," when the Quran says he went to heaven and entered the
divine presence - as historical fact. It presents Muslim wars as only
defensive and reluctant, which is simply false. All this smacks of a
film shown by missionaries.
Move to the present and the political correctness is stifling.
Hostility is said to be "hurled" at American Muslims since 9/11 - but
there's no mention about the prior and vastly greater (foreign)
Muslim hostility "hurled" at Americans, killing several thousand. The
narrator exaggerates the number of American Muslims,
overestimates their rate of growth and wrongly terms
them the country's "most diverse" religious community.
But these are details. "Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet" is an
outrage on two main counts.
* PBS has betrayed its viewers by presenting an airbrushed and
uncritical documentary of a topic that has both world historical and
contemporary significance. Its patronizing film might be fine for an
Islamic Sunday school class, but not for a national audience.
For example, PBS ignores an ongoing scholarly reassessment of
Muhammad's life that disputes every detail - down to the century
and region Muhammad lived in - of its film. This is especially odd
when contrasted with the 1998 PBS documentary, "From Jesus to
Christ," which focuses almost exclusively on the work of cutting-
edge scholars and presents the latest in critical thinking on Jesus.
* The U.S. government should never fund a documentary whose
obvious intent is to glorify a religion and proselytize for it. Doing so
flies in the face of American tradition and law. On behalf of
taxpayers, a public-interest law firm should bring suit against the
Corporation for Public Broadcasting, both to address this week's
travesty and to win an injunction against any possible repetitions.
To comment on the article, please go to http://www.danielpipes
org/article/982#comment
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