Columns

Religious intolerance is un-American

By BILL MAXWELL
Published December 31, 2006

CHASE CITY, Va. - The Christmas holidays brought me to southern Virginia, where Republican U.S. congressman Virgil H. Goode recently made headlines.

At a time when the majority of voters in most parts of the nation have told the GOP that they are weary of blatant intolerance and crude attacks against people with whom they disagree, Goode continues to spew Islamophobia and anti-immigrant paranoia.

The Rocky Mount congressman, who represents the deeply conservative 5th District, is now known internationally for a letter he mailed two weeks ago to his constituents expressing outrage that a Minnesota district had elected a Muslim, Keith Ellison, to represent them in the U.S. House and that Ellison, a Democrat, has announced that he wants to hold the Koran during his swearing-in ceremony.

In addition to being the first black to represent Minnesota in Washington, Ellison, a criminal defense lawyer, is the first Muslim to serve in the U.S. Congress.

Goode's district, stretching from the North Carolina line between Henry and Brunswick counties north to Greene County, is mostly rural and white. I have acquaintances and relatives who vote in the district. They see Goode as an embarrassment.

Goode said he wrote the letter after a large number of his constituents complained about Ellison's victory. Goode, like many of his constituents, sees something evil and un-American about Minnesota's choice. Unlike his fellow Virginian, George Allen, who had his politically disastrous "macaca" moment, Goode has tapped into Virginia's dark side with his missive, which I quote at length:

"I do not subscribe to using the Koran in any way. The Muslim Representative from Minnesota was elected by the voters of that district and if American citizens don't wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran.

"We need to stop illegal immigration totally and reduce legal immigration and end the diversity visas policy pushed hard by President Clinton and allowing persons from the Middle East to come to this country.

"I fear that in the next century we will have many more Muslims in the United States if we do not adopt strict immigration policies that I believe are necessary to preserve the values and beliefs traditional to the United States of America and to prevent our resources from being swamped.

"The Ten Commandments and 'In God We Trust' are on the wall of my office. A Muslim student came by my office and asked why I did not have anything on my wall about the Koran. My response was clear, 'As long as I have the honor of representing the citizens of the 5th District of Virginia in the United States House of Representatives, the Koran is not going to be on the wall of my office."

The kind of hatred and stereotypes that Goode expresses condemns good people. Rep.-elect Ellison is not an immigrant. He was born in Michigan, and he can trace his American ancestry to the 1700s. As a defense lawyer, he is an exemplary citizen who works hard, pays taxes and Social Security, and he serves his community.

Curious, I read what the right-leaning Richmond Times-Dispatch had to say about the Goode episode. In a Dec. 23 editorial headlined "Not Goode," the newspaper wrote: "The Republican Goode is wrong not only to take offense at a newly elected Minnesota representative who wants to swear the oath of office while holding a Koran, but to express his exclusionist views in a letter to constituents. ... Goode's fatwa insults Keith Ellison personally even as it mocks the religious freedom Americans say they hold dear. It is conduct unbecoming a member of the House of Representatives - and a Virginian."

I would hope that the results of the midterm elections sent the message that Goode's brand of intolerance is unacceptable and that we want to chart a new course toward respecting the democratic principles in our Constitution and other documents that make us unique in our increasingly intolerant world.

In response to Goode, Ellison told CNN: "I don't know the fellow, and I'd rather just say that he has a lot to learn about Islam, and we all have a lot to learn. ... I think diversity in our nation is a great thing, and we should embrace it, not be afraid of it."

Ellison, not Goode, understands the real America.

[Last modified December 30, 2006, 21:43:14]