Former heavyweight boxing champ Muhammad Ali visited the ruins of the World Trade Center on Thursday. When reporters asked how he felt about the suspects sharing his Islamic faith, Ali responded pleasantly, "How do you feel about Hitler sharing yours?"
Muhammad Ali was, of course, the American boxing champion who was stripped of his title for refusing to fight in the Vietnam War; an action echoed recently when the World Boxing Council stripped Australian boxer Anthony Mundine, a Muslim, of his rank for saying that the US brought the attacks onto itself. (Apparently athletes aren't meant to say anything controversial, just parrot the patriotic party line.)
firstly, someone who has a "higher power belief" is by definition not an atheist.
secondly, whatever happened to freedom of expression and "I may disagree with your opinion but I will defend to the death your right to say it"?
And thirdly, I don't think he said that the people who were murdered by the terrorists deserved what happened to them, or that "the US" (whatever that is; when someone throws a nebulous concept like that at you in an assertion, chances are they're trying to put one over you) did, but that the US is partly responsible for the conditions which lead to the bombing (i.e., without mass resentment in the Middle East, where would Bin Laden find willing suicide bombers? And do you think they hate the US because they're jealous of not having cable TV and Big Macs?)
Everyone's getting their words twisted at the moment...welcome to wartime. Suddenly...
"The US has made some people in the middle east angry, through it's foreign policy and bias."
...gets turned unto...
"The US deserved the terrorist attacks, and the terrorists were justified in doing it!"
Those are two completely different concepts, but the the media and public seems to see little difference at the moment. A rich oil magnate from the UAE wrote New York City a cheque for $10,000,000 - but Mayor Guiliani refused to accept it, because the guy making the donation had made some comment about US support for Israel being biased. Similarly, anyone who tries to "understand" the terrorists motives, in order to stop this happening again, is accused of sympathising with them...remember those eloquent words of Dubya; "If you're not with us, you're against us".
I read your log on and off, but I gotta comment on this one.
First, Hitler was an atheist. This is pretty well documented in his own writing. He had a quasi higher power belief, but was not christian.
Second, Titles for atheletes are a priviledge, not a right. The US did not deserve what happened on 9/11. Pulling his title was an appropriate response to comments from a chowderhead.