There are pure-tee idiots in every faith, denomination and following.
But at the risk of bringing a fatwah down on my own head, I have to say the proverbial cake has been taken by a Palestinian “activist” celebrating the election of a Muslim mayor in New York City.
The lady caused a bit of controversy when she declared that dogs should not be kept indoors, and under the new Muslim mayor of the Big Apple, that could soon be the law. Non-Islamic New Yorkers will have to change their ways to accommodate Islamists who are scared of or offended by dogs. Among the suggested changes were rules like no longer allowing dogs in parks or on sidewalks, but especially anyplace indoors where a non-dog person might someday pass through and unknowingly become impure. To his credit, Mamdani has had enough sense to keep his mouth shut on this one.
Depending on how fundamentalist the sect is, some Islamists firmly believe that dogs are by their very nature unclean, except for hunting and herding animals, and therefore they must be avoided and in many cases killed.
Remember how al Quaida demonstrated chemical agents on puppies in some of their videos right after 9/11? That’s an extreme example, but ask some of the veterans of Afghanistan and the Global War on Terror how folks in some Islamic countries feel about dogs.
At the same time, I knew a Muslim man in Wilmington who held two kids at gunpoint when they were trying to kick a stray dog to death. My friend adopted that dog, and kept him inside the house. There were never any children better protected than those of my friend. He’s the same one who helped me fish a drowning puppy out of a storm drain once during an almost-tropical storm. He may not have been a good Muslim by the standards of many folks, but he was a better man.
Once again, I am glad to be a Christian and a Baptist.
Years ago, Miss Rhonda and I had a Boxer who went to church every Sunday. Grizzly was content to sleep in the back seat of the car when the weather was right (much like many churchgoers of many faiths, but that’s neither here nor there.) He would come out and play during outside events like picnics and Vacation Bible School. Indeed, the Sunday School superintendent half-jokingly put him on the rolls, and kept up with his attendance.
History is replete with dogs who went to church; some waited outside (as did one of mine when I was a little kid) and others just walked in the front door and took a place on the Amen pew (not my dog that time, but I was there).
I am not going to argue whether or not animals go to Heaven. That’s a theological and eschatological column for another day. What I will say that is 95 percent of the dogs I have ever met have a pure heart. I will take a dog over most people any day of the week, and I honestly do like a lot of folks. It’s just that in a lot of cases, I like my dogs better. Heck, I may even like the dogs better than the owners, for that matter.
So for someone who hates America, who is looking forward to the Islamic socialization of the once great, now lost city of New York, to say folks need to get rid of their dogs to avoid offending other folks – well, I take issue with that.
Of course, the keyboard warriors (and a Senator) have pilloried said doghater; some of the comments on social media were as bad or worse as those directed toward by extremists, while others were just amusing. Still others were poignant, and many have been spot on.
Americans by and large love our dogs. The dogs don’t even have to work for a living. From the raggedy-eared old retired coonhound to the floppy pit puppy who eats shoes to the pocketbook poodlepomerapso — Americans love their dogs.
True Americans get infuriated when a law enforcement officer is wounded or killed in the line of duty; let a police K9 get hurt, and the reaction is even more visceral.
Rightly or wrongly, we get angrier about mistreatment of pets than we do human beings. Humans can, with enough willpower, ask for help. Animals cannot. And dogs never understand why they are mistreated. Humans can grasp that the person that hurts them is an addict, a criminal, or just a bad person. Dogs cannot understand.
No, I don’t think animal abusers should face the same penalties as those who hurt people, but I do believe we could make the punishments significantly harsher than the political kneejerk vote-securing laws we have now.
Some of the more radical Islamic folks are bragging loudly about the Islamicization of America. Our country is going the way of past empires, they say. We will fall, Christianity and the Representative Republic will be cast on the dungheap of history, and Sharia law will make all the women shrouded, all the men bearded, and everyone will live happily ever after – without dogs.
Hold on, Mohammed.
Might I direct you toward American literature and history?
The American explorers who rested for a few years on the eastern slopes of the Appalachians went west with Plotts. Others moved north with Catahoulas. They met Native Americans who had their own dogs.
“Nanny bulldogs” were once raised here in southeastern North Carolina. Sadly, that quality of breeding has long since been lost, but there are still far more good pitties than there are good pit bull owners.
Shep wasn’t a pit, but a shepherd mix, and he saved my life a couple times over when I was a toddler. Indeed, those protective instincts were what got him killed by a speeding motorist.
My old Dixie jumped from a second story window and shattered her front paws nailing a burglar. The neighbors saw it happen. Ain’t many people will do that for another human. My dog did.
How many great books have been written about dogs? When the narrator’s dogs were fighting a cougar, the boy in Where the Red Fern Grows defended his hounds with a double-bit axe. In the Voice of Bugle Ann, when the protagonist thought that his neighbor had killed his beloved hound — well, things went downhill, badly.
John Wayne in the Searchers? Remember Dog? Remember what happened to the man who killed Dog?
Had anyone ever hurt Josey Wales’ dog-by-default in the Outlaw Josey Wales, he likely would have gone ahead and rekindled the War Between the States.
Never mind the John Wick movies.
And yes, I know it was never just about the puppy.
Nor is it just about the puppy now.
America has a place for everyone who wants to truly be an American. That means there’s room for different ideas, different cultures, and different values. Those who aren’t interested in becoming part of the American people can always go somewhere else where dogs and freedom are not around to make them uncomfortable.
Someone who hates what this country stands for has no right to tell me my tickahoulas they can’t sleep in the bed, or say my fat little pit can’t come to the office because someday someone might walk where she drooled and become unclean.
God made us stewards of animals; some were made to work, some to be food, some companions, some to keep us humble, and some to make us laugh in the worst of times – and to help Man be the best steward possible, God made Man a friend, then called him Dog.
If you hate freedom for all people, never mind the dog. Beware of the owner.
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