I hope he gets around to those annoying bibles in hotel rooms next.

A guy like King will always find a way to demonize anything remotely Islam-friendly.

rac.

On a more serious note, if the ads are fine, the ads are fine. End of story.

If he can't find something wrong with the content of the ads, then I don't see what the problem is.

The only legitimate complaint I see from this story is: Do they also accept comparable ads from other religions? If they do, then "public service" or generic ads like those shown should also be permitted.

If the real problem is with an individual, then trace the money, find the crime, and prosecute it.

Yea Laine! I like it.

I agree Laine. If approving the ads is content neutral and other religions can put up informative ads like these ones then I see no problem.

I was going to say I hope that they let other religions post in the subway, but having ridden the subway in NY, they even let the gangs post stuff....

Advertising for your religion just cheapens your god. Seriously, if your god was so great, (Christian, Muslim, Jewish or otherwise) do you honestly think he would need his own ad campaign ? That said, King is just a bigot. Muslims should be allowed to cheapen their god just as much as the ubiquitous Christian adverts.

How is spreading the word cheapening the message? Wasn't one of the commandments Jesus gave to his disciples was to "go and make disciples of the people."?

Annick, I don't think they are advertising to really spread their religion. It seems to me, the ads are more about information, awareness and understanding... to address many of the prejudices and misconceptions that Muslim people are facing in this day and age

Yes, no matter how good the massage is, you have to communicate it.

Errr...message.
That really *was* a typo.

I think it was more in line of fruedian slip...

Not in the current context!

Other religions advertise all the time. He's a xenophile.

Maybe so, but it wasn't Christians who hijacked 4 planes and killed 3,000 civilians in the name of their religion.

No, they just decimated entire indigenous populations...

Christians also bomb abortion clinics... and I'm sure that if the crusaders had had planes, they would have made use of them too...

Let's not go back to the crusades. I don't condone the bombing of abortion clinics. And Christians aren't the only ones who have decimated indigenous populations. I was pointing out that in this day and age, anti-islamic attitudes (especially in NY, NY) are going to be prevalent.

And, more recently, shoot up the LA Jewish Community center (1999), bomb Oklahoma City (1995), burn down churches (1998), and bomb the Olympics (1996).

"I don't condone the bombing of abortion clinics"

I'm pretty sure the majority of Muslims don't condone those responsible for 9/11 either... People are afraid of what they don't understand, which is why I think that having ads that raise awareness and understanding are a good idea

Which may be why they are wanting to do this subway campaign, Dave, to counter some of the misconceptions people have about Islam. They may want people to know that a few fanatics don't speak for the whole religion.

Which is a good idea. I hope they allow all religions to do this. I also think it is OK to scrutinize the funding of the marketing. If the person funding it is fanaticle, then it's a good bet that the group has fanatical leanings.

I'm glad no one here supports bombing abortion clinics. Yay for that.

But we also don't get all weird about white Christians when they do bomb abortion clinics though. That's the difference with the people who flew plans into the WTC. Suddenly we're nervous about all Arab people? All muslims? Not okay!

But even if the person is a fanatic, should we ban their ads if the ads are reasonable? If they lead you to, say, a website with crazy lessons on terrorism or something, okay.

But are we saying that if a crazy religious zealot wants to put up signs that say something innocuous like, "Puppies are soft, and everyone should floss!" we should deny them?

Everyone should floss soft puppies?

If someone supports, or at the very least doesn't condem fanaticism should not be allowed to actively market to the masses.

I always thought flossing soft puppies kept them soft...

"If someone supports, or at the very least doesn't condem fanaticism should not be allowed to actively market to the masses."

Really? Even if their message is non-fanatical?

How do you get people into a fanatical group? You don't say "come on! Let's go bomb clinics!" You start with something innocuous, earn their trust, and then stear their thinking. The whole point of the marketing could be to get new recruits to bend to his will.

wow it's not surprising but oh so hypocritical; I can't even try to count how many various christian posters and ads I see on the subway.

Why is that hypocritical? I haven't made any reference to any religion. I think any posters with links to fanatacism should not be allowed.

But aren't the ads just promoting Islam? And as I said above, if they're linked back to any kind of nutbag group, I can see why we might pause, but they're directing people to whyislam dot org. There's nothing controversial in the website, it's just trying to explain Islam to people, with stuff like...

"Prominent Muslim scholars, organizations and movements, representing the vast majority of Muslims worldwide, have repeatedly condemned terrorism, and have spoken out for peace and justice. Following is a very brief list of such open condemnation of terrorism, including statements issued in the wake of the heinous attacks on September 11. "

I don't see why we would prevent, say, Timothy McVeigh from paying for an ad that directs someone to christianity dot com.

I think that comment refers to the post generally, not you. Just guessing since its the first comment by that user on this post.

How do you get people into a fanatical group? You don't say "come on! Let's go bomb clinics!"

Actually, that is exactly what the Taliban do. They enlist people to join their Jihad. The people who join know exactly what they are getting into.

(Blargh! Wrong "its"! Darnit.)

Actually, they convince the parents to send their kids to a specific madrassa, and then brainwash the kids there.

Dave, you know "madrassa" just means "school" right, as in any school - it seems like you do, but I had to point it out after how silly new anchors sound saying in a shocked tone "Did Obama attend a 'madrassa'" as if madrassa meant "terror camp" or something.

I'm pretty sure not all people joined their ranks as children. Although you can argue that brainwashing at a young age happens in many religions.

But in any case, I don't see how informative subway ads will incite people to join the Jihad and detonate a bomb (even if ONE of the backers is possibly not on the up and up... no one ever said that Wahhaj is playing a major role in the ads)

And just to add, the fact that Wahhaj was a character witness in a terrorism trial does not mean that he himself is a terrorist. There are good chances that Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman didn't broadcast to his community that he was going to bomb the WTC in '93. He could have been a well respected member until those events occurred. Do you know everything your neighbours are doing? And if you testify that a friend of yours who is accused of a crime is a good person, does that make you a criminal too?

I'm off to bed. Have a good night

I can see why the rep. has a problem with supporting the backers...(what with the backer acting as a character witness for a bomber)

I believe in free speech, don't get me wrong but I'm just saying I can see why King isn't happy about the ads. I'm sure the ads themselves are harmless, it's the backers behind them he's worried about.

so let the ads run and prosecute the backers for whatever crimes they have committed.