Newsweek Says Trump’s Plan is to Divide America Based on Religion; Faith Leaders Unite to Dispel Anti-Muslim Bigotry

CAIR organizes a statement from interfaith leaders condemning Trump’s muslim ban.

The State of the Union speech last night falls exactly one year after Sally Yates, the Acting Attorney General, took a historic decision to refuse the initial executive order from President Donald Trump[/tweetit] prohibiting the admission of citizens of seven countries to the United States. The countries were Yemen, Iraq, Somalia, Libya, Syria, Sudan, and Iran. In her later interviews with the media, she said she figured out the order was issued on the basis of religion. It reminded her of other discriminatory laws in American history like literacy tests or Jim Crow laws. Those laws did not explicitly state that their aim was to stop voting by African-Americans, but by all intents and purposes, the laws were crafted to do exactly that. President Trump's response was as it was expected: he fired her.

Newsweek Says Trump’s Plan is to Divide America Based on Religion; Faith Leaders Unite to Dispel Anti-Muslim Bigotry[/tweetthis]

Both Newsweek and Senator Cory Booker have declared the president is using religion to divide the country.

The first anniversary of the ban witnessed Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR-WA) issuing a statement on this matter. The content of the statement said that a year after Executive Order 13769 was signed by President Trump, faith leaders from all over the United States spent about three days confabulating on the best method to counter the anti-Muslim bigotry. CAIR also wants to promote religious freedom that's applicable to all religions. Religious leaders from Presbyterian, Methodist, Episcopal, Evangelical, Muslim, Methodist, Jewish, Catholic and Mormon along with a number of other faith leaders came together to promote the culture which regards Americans with uniform respect, dignity, and fairness. The participants gathered at Muslim Association of Puget Sound (MAPS), the event started from January 28 and ended on January 30. The event organizers included Neighbors in Faith's Terry Kyllo, Aneelah Afzali, the executive director of MAPS-AMEN, and Catherine Orsborn, the executive of Shoulder-to-Shoulder. Jasmin Samy, the civil rights director of CAIR was also present.

The ban marked Trump's initial try to fulfill the promise made by him in his presidential campaign to implement a full ban on Muslims to enter the United States. According to political analysts, the move was designed to create chaos. This has been corroborated by a report published by Department of Homeland Security which said that the government officials had almost no inkling that this Executive Order will be issued. Ordinary Americans resisted as soon as the ban came into force. They rushed into international arrival airports all over the United States. People of all religions condemned the executive order.

I didn't watch the SOTU last night. I hear enough lies and buffoonery from #NotMyPresident @realDonaldTrump just trying to avoid him. But the evangelicals still don't understand why the rest of us want nothing to do with THEIR God. https://t.co/HX2e9ERSPc

— Tim Rymel, M.Ed. (@TheRealTimRymel) January 31, 2018

Resources

• Newsweek
• International Examiner

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