Proposal Submission (Deadline: January 1, 2016, 11:59 pm EST
Submissions, unless otherwise stated in a modified Section’s Call for Papers below, should include the following information:
- Name
Dr. G. Mick Smith
- Institutional Affiliation
Strayer University
- E-mail Address
gmicksmith@gmail.com
- 150-word Abstract
- 500-word Proposal
Please review the various sections accepting proposal guidelines below. Submit by e-mail attachment to the chair and cochairs identified in the section to which you are submitting. Members may only submit one proposal to a section, for a total of two proposals. The submission deadline is December 18, 2015. You will receive notification regarding the status of your proposal by mid-January. If you have questions about which section to submit to or need additional information about submitting a proposal, please contact the MAR-AAR Vice President, Sabrina Misirhiralall, EdD, at Misirhiralall.S@gmail.com.
Gerald S. Vigna (Chair)Alvernia University
Jerry.vigna@alvernia.edu
- 150-word Abstract
My question is an extension of Robert Spencer's question which is: did Mohammed exist? I mean by this a comparison between the criticisms and evaluations in the gospels of the person of Jesus as compared to the integrity of the Koran and accounts of Mohammed. Criticisms and negative evaluations of the gospels and skepticism about the person of Jesus and the integrity of the New Testament are common. The study of the historical Jesus, and the critical questions and scrutiny that resulted, are a Western achievement of the Enlightenment. On the other hand, and this is the substance of my paper, serious scholarly appraisals of Mohammed and the sources about Islam are nowhere near as critical as those examining the New Testament. Why should this be so?
- 500-word Proposal
Did Robert Spencer Exist?
My question is: did Robert Spencer exist? The question is really a take off on Spencer's question which is: did Mohammed exist? I mean by this a comparison between the criticisms and evaluations in the gospels of the person of Jesus as compared to the integrity of the Koran and accounts of Mohammed. Criticisms and negative evaluations of the gospels and skepticism about the person of Jesus and the integrity of the New Testament are common. The study of the historical Jesus, and the critical questions and scrutiny that resulted, are a Western achievement of the Enlightenment. On the other hand, and this is the substance of my paper, serious scholarly appraisals of Mohammed and the sources about Islam are nowhere near as critical as those examining the New Testament. Why should this be so?
If, in history of religions scholarship you have two somewhat similar founders of religions surely the methodology of inquiry should be comparable. And although it is common to compare Jesus and Mohammed in schools and in college teaching the methods of inquiry are not the same. As a result, reported results do a disservice to both Islam and Christianity. Both founders and religions are historically based entities and claims of historicity are equally open to scholarly inquiry. Nonetheless, the two traditions are handled in a widely disparate manner.
What I seek to establish in this paper is several important points. I will examine the lack of academic interaction with Spencer's basic premise, i.e., that Mohammed did not exist. Secondly, I will compare a standard religion textbook and its approach to both the New Testament, in particular the gospels, and sources about Mohammed. The textbook is indicative of a standard approach to Islam in college classes. College-level introductory accounts of Islam are by and large flawed because they over emphasize harmonious similarities between religions and downplay distinctions between peaceful religionists and Islamism.
In conclusion, Spencer is correct, both in scholarly and in standard textbook formats, the formation of Islam and its founder remains a largely unexamined and uncriticized religious tradition in American academe. Not only in higher education, but from elementary school on, students are presented with a white-washed and sanitized version of Islam. Numerous recent examples violating the separation of church and state exist. Middle school students were asked to promote Islamic cultural achievements over other religions. In a high school geography class students were enjoined to recite the tenets of the Islamic faith. Is the science of geography an appropriate place to promote one religion over others? Don't these lessons violate the Establishment clause of the Constitution? If so, religious scholars should argue for the separation of mosque and state. Islam is Islam, and even in America the three academic studies conducted in U.S. mosques confirm that the overwhelming majority of mosques promote violence against non-Muslims.
Islam is Islam
http://pamelageller.com/2015/12/watch-pamela-geller-on-lou-dobbs-islam-is-islam-not-radical-close-jihad-mosques-loudobbsnews.html/
http://www.theblaze.com/contributions/6-shocking-new-discoveries-about-jesus-of-nazareth/
http://pamelageller.com/2015/12/left-wingers-rage-at-middle-school-for-allowing-students-to-opt-out-of-lesson-on-islamic-achievements.html/
In a geography class students were asked to recite the tenents of the Islamic faith.
Is the science of geography an appropriate place to promote religious ideas? Is this a violation of the establishment clause?
http://pamelageller.com/2015/12/virginia-students-practice-calligraphy-by-writing-there-is-no-god-but-allah.html/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=linkedin
Round up 2015
Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, has publicly admitted that a significant minority of Muslims support terrorism to establish an Islamic caliphate. Sanchez, sits on the House Committee on Homeland Security and the House Armed Services Committee. After the San Bernardino attacks she said that “there is a small group–and we don’t know how big that is, it can be anywhere between five and 20 percent, from the people that I speak to–that Islam is their religion and who have a desire for a caliphate and to institute that in any way possible, and in particular go after what they consider Western norms, our way of life. They are not content enough to have their way of looking at the world. They want to put their way on everybody in the world. And, again, I don’t know how big that is, and depending on who you talk to, but they’re certainly, they are willing to go to extremes. They are willing to use, and they do use, terrorism. And it is in the name of a very wrong way of looking at Islam.”
http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2015/12/fbi-sued-for-civil-rights-violations-for-surveilling-muslims-near-san-bernardino/?utm_source=SilverpopMailing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Judicial%20Watch%20Tipsheet%20-%20Template%202%20(2)&utm_content=
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