Another friend of Father Pfleger

If you want the goods on Father Pfleger, look here, at Discover the Networks, where among other things you will find this near-endorsement of Jihadism which might come as news to many readers:

On another occasion, Pfleger invited Kareem Irfan, former Chairman of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago, to speak at Saint Sabina on the fourth anniversary of 9/11. A member of the Islamic Society of North America, Irfan has characterized Islamic beheadings of non-Muslims not as acts of evil, but rather as manifestations of “a primordial sense of retaliation and revenge.”

Endorsement is not too strong a word.  Pfleger’s guests are not people with whom he disagrees.

Unless you think he sharply distinguishes between this, that, and the other:

Rev. Michael Pfleger invited Kareem Irfan, former chairman of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago, to speak to his congregation about prejudice against Muslims and Arabs in the wake of Sept. 11.

“In the name of patriotism and the Patriot Act, there was a great rising of prejudice and bigotry against Muslims and Arabs,” Pfleger said. “We cannot allow that under the guise of patriotism.”

Irfan spoke about the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and the denial of legal representation for those being held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

“We’ve seen a shameful erosion of civil rights and liberties,” he said, referring to the Patriot Act’s power to allow law enforcement to use such measures as secret arrests and unrestricted wiretaps to investigate people since Sept. 11. “There’s been a distressing violation of the privacy of organizations and individuals.”

This is how it’s done, of course.  You make all-purpose bigotry the theme of your 9/11 observance.