“There is nothing more dangerous than to build a society, with a large segment of people in that society, who feel that they have no stake in it; who feel that they have nothing to lose. People who have a stake in their society, protect that society, but when they don’t have it, they unconsciously want to destroy it.”
— Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Sorry but that sounds like American muslims who when surveyed considered themselves muslim first and American second.
Vonster,
Or maybe it should sound like “If American Muslims do not feel thay have a stake in American society …… ONLY THEN THEY CONSIDERED THEMSELVES MUSLIM FIRST and AMERICAN SECOND.
The difficulty with Irish American, Swedish American, African American, German American, Jewish American or Muslim American is the contradiction of E Pluribus Unum ——– Out of Many comes one. If individuals or groups do not feel part of society or have a stake in it, they do not strengthen it thru their support and participation.
It has nothing to do with whether they are Muslim or not, but as Dr. King said whether they believe thay have a stake in the American society
Can you forward that quote to Ken Hinton and the Dist. 150 Board? Maybe even to Bonnie Noble?
Vonster,
I imagine most conservative Christians consider themselves Christians first, Americans second. CJ, what would you say?
Assimmilation is the key. So many immigrants are not assimilating these days. They set up racial or cultural enclaves and live apart from mainstream society.
“In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person’s becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American…There can be NO divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but ONE flag, the American flag… We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language… and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.”
Cap’n Jack: That’s an interesting question. Yes, I would consider myself a Christian first and an American second. The Bible says that Christians are citizens of heaven (Phil. 3:20) as well as citizens of earth; thus, theologians often refer to Christians as having “dual citizenship.” Christians are to be subject to the government (Rom. 13:1-7), including giving due honor and paying taxes to that government. However, civil disobedience is approved in scripture if the government tells you to do something in direct contradiction to God’s command (e.g., Acts 4:19, “we must obey God rather than men”). And that’s where the rubber meets the road — who gets greater allegiance, God or country? For the Christian, the answer to that would be God. That’s what has gotten Christians persecuted for centuries.
I think it’s interesting to see how different people are interpreting King’s quote. It’s kind of like a Rorschach test of sorts. Vonster immediately thinks of religion; Prego Man thinks of local politics.
Think about the context of the times in which Dr. King made that statement. There were large segments of our population legally disenfranchised – denial of the right to vote, limited educational and employment opportunities, and separate schools, drinking fountains, entrances to restaurants, etc.
That was also about the same time the controversy over the draft and the Viet Nam war was heating up – the people most affected by the draft didn’t even have the right to vote. In the most extreme cases, college students took over university buildings and some were set on fire, others fled the country.
Then came the women’s rights movement, because they too felt disenfranchised and marginalized. They took to the streets and burned their bras.
Common to each of these three examples was the belief that the American citizens involved didn’t have an equal stake in our society and had nothing to lose by engaging in civil disobediance.
The issues we as a nation are dealing with today with radical Muslim groups are vastly different from the types of issues we were facing in the 1960s and 1970s. The radical Muslim groups are not engaging in acts of terrorism because they represent a large segment of the American population that feels disenfranchised. They are foreign nationals imported for the express purpose of engaging in terrorist attacks on our country. Not the same thing at all . . .
IMHO, there are many American citizens who feel disenfranchised with our government, one only needs to think of th recent GOS/GOP school siting issue …. I agree with Prairie Celt — the times and issues are different, nevertheless, look at various issues and then take a look at voter apathy in this country, ranking 130+ or something out of 170 + nations in going to vote…. and when you are in the marginalized sector that elected officials do not want to listen to …. you are part of the ‘vocal minority’….
FWIW, that quote was from Teddy Roosevelt.