Lowe's action against Muslims is un-American ON LOWE'S AND ISLAM

Mike Jaafar, back right, and his family will appear in, "All American Muslim," on TLC. Ran on: 11-12-2011 Mike Jaafar and his wife and children are among five families profiled in the documentary series &quo;All-American Muslim.&quo; less Mike Jaafar, back right, and his family will appear in, "All American Muslim," on TLC. Ran on: 11-12-2011 Mike Jaafar and his wife and children are among five families profiled in the documentary series ... more Photo: Adam Rose, TLC Photo: Adam Rose, TLC Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Lowe's action against Muslims is un-American 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

The Lowe's home-improvement chain pulled its advertising from Discovery Channel/TLC's show "All-American Muslim" last week ("Anger over Lowe's pulling ads from Muslim TV show," Dec. 13) because of complaints from the Florida Family Association that " 'All-American Muslim' is propaganda that riskily hides the Islamic agenda's clear and present danger to American liberties and traditional values."

In a Dec. 6 letter from Lowe's to the Florida group, an official referred to "All-American Muslim" as the "show you brought to our attention," adding: "We will no longer be advertising on that program."

Lowe's action is bigoted, shameful and un-American. I call on Lowe's to rescind its action and apologize to Americans who are Muslim. If Lowe's continues its religious bigotry, I will encourage boycotts of Lowe's and look into other actions.

Lowe's action is profoundly ignorant. Islam is a peaceful religion practiced by more than 1.5 billion people, including Americans across our great nation and Lowe's own employees. As President George W. Bush declared, and President Obama reaffirmed, America is not at war with Islam.

America is, however, at war with people who pose a clear and present danger, whether they are white separatists like Timothy McVeigh (who happened to be Catholic); mass shooters such as Seung-Hui Cho at Virginia Tech; or members of the Revolutionary People's Liberation Army (a Marxist-Leninist group that has targeted U.S. interests with suicide bombings). Lowe's bigoted action conflates peaceful religions with dangerous people who use peaceful religions (or political ideology) to advance their agenda.

Lowe's religious discrimination is the equivalent of a company asserting that it is pulling advertising from the Christian Broadcast Network's "700 Club" because the program somehow "riskily hides" the agenda of Christian radicalized groups such as Aryan Nation. That assertion would, of course, be utter nonsense and religious bigotry.

Radicals who commit murder or other extreme acts in the name of a peaceful religion - whether Christianity or Islam or Hinduism - do not give that religion an "agenda" that would be a "danger" to "American liberties and traditional values." In fact, it is Lowe's bigotry that poses a danger to American liberties and values.

One of America's main founding principles was religious freedom. Many early Americans fled Europe because of Europe's religious intolerance at the time. Another American principle is the protection of minority rights and the abhorrence of discrimination based on protected classes such as race, national origin and religion.

I served on active duty in the U.S. military to defend our constitutional rights and our way of life. As a veteran, I find Lowe's action intensely anti-American. As a Catholic, I find Lowe's religious intolerance to be dangerous. As a consumer, I find Lowe's bigotry to be nonsensical.

Lowe's needs to use common sense and rescind its bigoted action. Lowe's also needs to apologize to Americans who happen to practice Islam.

At a time when we are reflecting on our blessings this holiday season, such actions would go far toward capturing the spirit of goodwill to all.