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April 25, 2011 06:40 PM UTC

Palin speaks Mon. with General who says Islam shouldn't be protected like other religions

  • 17 Comments
  • by: Jason Salzman

(How presidential! – promoted by Colorado Pols)

In March, The Denver Post let us know that Sarah Palin will share a podium with Lt. General William G. Boykin (ret.) at “Tribute for the Troops” rally Monday at Colorado Christian University in Lakewood, CO.

But The Post didn’t mention-and neither have other media outlets-that this isn’t just any run-of-the-mill General Boykin.

It’s Gen. William “Holy War” Boykin, widely known for describing the war on terror in religious terms, saying America is fighting “Satan,” views President George W. Bush disavowed when Boykin first voiced them in 2003 as an active member of the U.S. Army.

He got in the most trouble for delivering a speech at a church in which he discussed his battle against a warlord in Somalia in 1993. In a widely circulated quote, Boykin said, “I knew my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol.” Boykin later said he meant no offense against Islam and the warlord’s god.

Boykin left the Army in 2007, and during his retirement, he’s unapologetically stepped up his attacks on Islam.

For example, in an article published by the Centennial Institute, an arm of Colorado Christian University, where he’s scheduled to stand with Palin Mon., Boykin argued that full First Amendment protections should not apply to practitioners of some forms of Islam because “Islam is not just another religion,” but, “in its fullest form, Islam is a complete and totalitarian way of life.” This, he writes, “is a huge problem for the nation’s future.”

He argues in the article, titled, “Sharia Law or the Constitution: America Must Choose,” that the Koran is “unequivocal in its directive to Muslims to establish a global Islamic state” with “Sharia as the only law of the land.”

“Islam does have a religious component,” Boykin writes in the article, “but it has many other components, which should not be entitled to the same level of constitutional protection. Islam is foremost a legal system, called Sharia law. The Koran is unequivocal in its directive to Muslims to establish a global Islamic state, or Caliphate, over which the Islamic messiah, or Mahdi, will rule with Sharia as the only law of the land. That is the intent of many influential Islamic elements in America. But it is the exact opposite of what the First Amendment was designed to protect.”

“We have taken for granted that Islam deserves the same constitutionally protected status afforded to Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, and other faiths,” he wrote, in asserting that we should do re-think our view of Islam.

Boykin is a familiar figure at the Colorado Christian University, where he’s spoken three times previously.

In an a short essay titled “A Clash of Loyalties” and published in Feb. with Boykin’s article, John Andrews, President of Colorado Christian University’s Centennial Institute, asks:

“Can a good Muslim be a good American,” and he concluded that “the answer is not so simple.”

Andrews writes that some may find Boykin’s article “unwelcome or offensive” but Andrews says Boykin’s “warning here is a plea of a patriot; we should listen well.”

Andrews is a former GOP President of the Colorado State Senate. The President of Colorado Christian University is Bill Armstrong, a former U.S. Senator from Colorado.

In the conclusion of his article, Boykin warns:

“Americans can no longer afford to operate from a position of ignorance about Islam…. Relying on political leaders, opinion elites, and the media to inform us is unfortunately not an option. When Americans realize the threat of Islamic law, they will certainly sense a call to action. Europe failed to answer that same call [to take action against Islam], and it may now be too late for them to reverse the inevitable Islamic domination of their continent.”

When you read these types of  lines by Boykin, you see that his attacks on “manifestations” of Islam bleed into all people who practice any form of Islam.

I’ve tried to figure out how he distinguishes one manifestation of Islam from another, and I don’t see how he does it. So you have to interpret Boykin’s views as attacks against Islam, period. How else can you read his words except as a condemnation the entire religion?

I mean, we have plenty of laws to protect us from any religious person who commits a crime, whether the criminal is Islamic or Christian, but Boykin isn’t proposing using criminal code against Muslims. He’s proposing a radically different approach, albeit a touch vague on specifics, targeting Islam.

Imagine the uproar if Boykin wrote, “America can no longer afford to operate from a position of ignorance about Christianity….” Or that Judaism “is a huge problem for America’s future.”

Seriously, what if Boykin condemned Judaism or Christianity in this way?

Can you imagine Palin getting anywhere near him, much less speak together with him at a public event? I don’t think so.

Makes you wonder whether Palin agrees with Boykin.

Reporters should ask her about this Monday if not sooner. And if she disagrees with Boykin, they should ask her why she’s comfortable speaking with him at all.

Follow Jason Salzman on Twitter @bigmediablog

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17 thoughts on “Palin speaks Mon. with General who says Islam shouldn’t be protected like other religions”

  2. You’re telling me that Islam has managed to convince millions of people not only to fully understand and adhere to a “legal system” but also to embrace it to the extent of laying down their lives for it? When we here in America can’t even convince a majority of our adults to understand the difference between the judicial branch and the legislative branch, or civil vs. criminal court? So Boykin is saying Muslims are smarter and more governed by the rule of law, is that it?

    /my Glenn Beck impression for the day

  4. an intricate system of codified law. You know…Moses the law giver? The Ten Commandments? The Torah?  Plus we have quite a lot of smiting of everyone who is “other” in our bible.  So are we next on Boykin’s list?  In any case, this attitude should give Boykens a clear undestanding of why Muslim’s might want to discriminate against and even eliminate Christians in their countries.  He should be completely understanding of those who feel the same way about his religion as he feels about theirs.  Nothing personal. Just self preservation, right?  

    1. it’s always these zealot Christ-o-mighty nutbags that can’t see their own hypocrisy.  He’ll pray on the battlefield, proselytize to recruits, and call for a 2nd Coming as long as it’s his God that’s gonna win.

      Delusional religious zealots, within all beliefs, are what scare me.  And Bozo Boykin is more to fear since he’s already on our home turf & being paid to say what he thinks (and idiots paying to hear him).  

  5. Hmmmm, don’t I remember that Christian missionaries in the 1700’s and 1800’s were dedicated to eradicating other religious beliefs as the European colonial empire building was disrupting culture after culture?

    Indeed there are Muslim fundamentalists who are willing to advance their religious beliefs through intolerant imposition by means of force and coercion.  The world’s history of religious intolerance and conquest cannot be said to be unique to a single religion or religious movement.

    How does the General’s belief differ in real world terms from those of a Taliban leader?

    1. Sarah Vowell’s “Unfamiliar Fishes” is a great read on US imperialism/Christianity pretty much fucking over long established cultures and just happening over 100 yrs. ago.

      Hawaii, Cuba, Philippines, & Puerto Rico all suffered at the hand of US military imperialsim & Christian conversions.  Boykins just another in a long list of assholes that can’t help but filter life thru his Bible.  

    2. on his car’s bumper:

      “My God is a an honor student at Christview Fundamentalist Middle School”

      Semi-related question:  Is anyone giving odds on a Palin no-show?  To me this sounds too much like Crazy Andrews attempt to gin up some interest in his nut fest (ala . . . or is that, “allah”? . . . the Donald).

      Also semi-related:  Any word yet on a planned WWJ-love-as-condiments-with-his-Koran bbq?

      Finally John Andrews, don’t forget how patriotic Tim McVeigh was, why not a reading or two from his works?  Remember, you don’t have to agree with all his views.

  6. when he was studying to be an officer, he wouldn’t be another stupe who thinks there’s even the most infinitesimal chance of sharia law superseding the Constitution.

    Palin’s place in history as a footnote continues to be cemented.

  7. .

    … more of a hypothetical, since I don’t expect to see a “good Christian” anytime soon.  

    The ones I know are all evil sinners, deserving of the wages of sin, but for the Lamb.  

    But didn’t Jesus demand devotion from His followers comparable to that of today’s Muslim terrorists ?  

    Didn’t he say he came to turn brother against brother ?  

    General Boykin is a “Comfortable Christian,” one whose religious beliefs don’t actually demand any kind of adherence to the teachings of the Rebbe.  To be a fly on the wall as he approaches the pearly gates …

    ………

    But I digress.

    I’m posting here to wonder publicly if there is room for another of Bush’s Generals, Geoffrey Miller, in a Palin Cabinet.  Secretary of Homeland Security, maybe ?

    .

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