Persisting In Error And Clinging To Ignorance
“The fact that millions of people share the same vices
does not make these vices virtues,
the fact that they share so many errors
does not make the errors to be truths,
and the fact that millions of people share
the same form of mental pathology
does not make these people sane.”
Social Psychologist and Psychoanalyst Eric Fromm
“Harm comes from persisting in error and clinging to ignorance.”
Marcus Aurelius
[EDITORS’ NOTE: This post is a partial fulfillment of our pastoral/priestly commitments to challenge prejudice and fear with truth and facts.]
Under the Succession Act of 1947, the Speaker of the House of Representatives is second in line - immediately behind the Vice President - in the order of presidential succession.
In one of the most divisive times in the nation’s history, it’s tragic beyond words to realize that the representative from Louisiana and Speaker of the House seems to have forgotten (perhaps never learned) the history of fear-, lies- and hate-induced violence that conspired to make his state the site of the largest single bigotry-driven lynching in American history.
American President Thomas Jefferson’s 1803 Louisiana Purchase - at less than 3 cents per acre - doubled the size of the new nation and, in 1812, the newly carved-out Pelican State became the 18th to join the Union. By 1840, New Orleans was home of the biggest slave market in the U.S. and one of the largest freed Black populations in the country; in 1860, almost half of the state’s population was enslaved, and, in 1861, Louisiana became the sixth state to secede.
With that history, it almost makes sense that Louisiana would be home to the largest “lynching” - vigilante murders including shootings, hangings and other forms of “mob justice” – in American history.
Here’s some history.
Nearly 5,000 lynchings were recorded in the United States between 1882 and 1968 and most of the victims were African American men.
Between 1884 and 1924, 300,000 Italian immigrants, most of them Sicilian, moved to New Orleans – “Little Palermo.” Their language and customs were considered so foreign and dangerous that they were perceived as culturally backward and their “dark” skin resulted in the same contempt as that heaped on Blacks.
On the night of October 15, 1890, New Orleans police chief David Hennessy was shot and killed by a group of unknown men as he walked home. Asked who had shot him, the dying man whispered an anti-Italian slur. In the hysterical wave that followed, police rounded-up hundreds of Italians, even though the majority were not associated with the attack. Local newspapers fueled the panic, declaring the guilt of nine men arrested on suspicion of connection to the murder – even before they were tried.
Six “not guilty” jury verdicts, three mistrials and the assumption that the Mafia had somehow influenced jurors or fixed the trial resulted in The Daily States newspaper blasting “Rise, people of New Orleans! Alien hands of oath-bound assassins have set the blot of a martyr’s blood upon your vaunted civilization.”
On the night of March 14, 1891, a mob raided the city’s arsenal, stealing guns and ammunition before storming the prison, grabbing not just the men who had been acquitted or given mistrials but seven who had not even been accused or tried. Hundreds of shots rang out; eleven men were riddled with bullets. When their mutilated bodies were displayed to the public, some corpses were hanged and others torn apart and plundered for souvenirs.
The nation’s largest single lynching targeted Italians – not Blacks.
Perhaps Speaker of the House and second in line for the Presidency of the United States Michael Johnson once learned that history or never knew it. Maybe he understood the horror of prejudice or has forgotten. Perhaps he just doesn’t care.
However, Johnson’s response to the utter stupidity and prejudice of some members of his own party barely merits the description “milquetoast.”
On Monday, March 9, Tennessee Republican Representative Andy Ogles posted a series of social media comments:
“Muslims don’t belong in American society. Pluralism is a lie.”
“If muslims (sic) want to practice their law and exemplify Muhammadan (sic) culture, that is where they belong.” (The post was accompanied by a screenshot showing member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.)
“The [Department of Justice] can deport him [NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani] today. All they need to do is read his file.”
Ogles is the member of the House of Representatives who, during a 2024 encounter with activists protesting civilian deaths during Israel’s invasion of Gaza, announced “I think we should kill them all, if that makes you feel better.”
Florida’s Sixth Congressional District (St. Augustine/South Daytona Beach) Republican Representative Randy Fine is a repeat winner of the Most Odious Statements Award.
Fine has made a career of currying votes with his anti-Muslim and anti-Islam (borderline paranoid) statements:
“In world war two (sic), we did not negotiate a surrender with the Nazis. We did not negotiate a surrender with the Japanese. We nuked the Japanese twice in order to get unconditional surrender. That needs to be the same here. There is something deeply, deeply wrong with this culture, and it needs to be defeated.” (“GOP congressman calls for ‘nuking’ Gaza like US did to Japan,” The Times of Israel, May 22, 2025.)
“’I don’t know how you make peace with those who seek your destruction. I think you destroy them first…” His office said he was referring to “mainstream Muslims” broadly with this comment. (“US Congressman Randy Fine suggest Muslims should ‘be destroyed.’” Al Jazeera, December 10, 2025.)
“In America, we will not allow anyone to tell us that we cannot have dogs. My [“Protecting Puppies from Sharia Act” introduced on February 20, 2026] bill protects Americans’ right to own a dog and would not allow federal funding to be given to any state or local government that bans them as Haram [‘sinful,’ or ‘forbidden’ according to Islamic law.] There are 57 countries that are Sharia compliant; the United States will not be the 58th.”
“‘It is time for a Muslim travel ban, radical deportations of all mainstream Muslim legal and illegal immigrants, and citizenship revocations wherever possible,’ Rep. Randy Fine (R-Florida) posted on social media Monday. ‘Mainstream Muslims have declared war on us. The least we can do is kick them the hell out of America.’” (“Some Republican lawmakers call for mass expulsion of American Muslims,” The Washington Post, December 15, 2025)
“If they force us to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one.” (X Post, @RepFine, February 15, 2026.)
Much of 2026 political wackadoodlery will focus the “threat” of “Sharia law,” despite the fact that the wackadoodlers know almost nothing about Sharia law, except how to use the phrase to instill fear. On March 14, NPR (“House GOP leadership silent as more members post anti-Muslim statements,” Barbara Sprunt.) reported:
“…a growing chorus among Republican lawmakers, who've been increasingly vocal about denouncing Sharia law and raising questions about Muslims immigrating to the U.S. and those already in the country. There are now 50 Republicans in the ‘Sharia-Free America caucus.’”
Republicans have also spent more than $10 million on political TV ads that mention "Sharia" or "Islam" in a negative way, most of it in Texas ahead of its primaries, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact. That's about 10 times what had been spent in each of the last four election cycles.
Because the phrases “Sharia” and “Sharia law” have been politicized to garner votes, we’re offering some basic insights – a little voter education:
Islam is the world’s second-largest and fastest-growing religion with the overall Muslim population growing 21% between 2010 and 2020 – twice as fast as the rest of the world’s population; Muslims represent between 24 and 26 percent of the global population. (“How the Global Religious Landscape Changed From 2010 to 2020,” Pew Research Center, June 9, 2025).
Indonesia (238,990,000), Pakistan (226,880,000) and India (213,060,000) had the largest Muslim populations in 2020; India and Pakistan are both nuclear powers.
Iran (90 – 95%), Bahrain (65 – 70%), Azerbaijan (65 – 75%) and Yemen (35 – 45%) are home to the world’s largest Shia populations.
Sunni Muslims constitute between 85 and 90+ percent of the world’s Muslim population and are the overwhelming majority religious groups in Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, Algeria, Pakistan, Jordan, and Qatar.
Sunni Muslims place the most importance on correctly interpreting Quran scriptures and other holy writings to guide their faith and practices. They focus on understanding Allah (God) through these texts.
Shiites place more emphasis on the Prophet Muhammad and his genetic successors as living embodiments of Allah’s teachings. They venerate and emulate these figures. This is especially important to understand when dealing with Iran, a theocratic autocracy where an unelected Supreme Leader controls the military, judiciary and state media. Iran’s Supreme Leader is ultimately named by the Guardian Council, a body of six clerics appointed by the Supreme leader and six lawyers nominated by the judiciary. The Supreme Leader is de facto chosen by the 86 clerics who are members of the Assembly of Experts.
Pennsylvania Amish
There are four prominent schools or theories of Islamic law:
Hanafiyya
Malikiyya
Shafiyya
Hanbaliyya
Within each, there are five main categories (ahkam) of Sharia law:
Fard/Wajib (mandatory actions) including daily prayers (Salah) and fasting during Ramadan.
Mustahabb/Mandub (recommended acts) – voluntary prayers and charity.
Mubah/Halal (permissible) – neutral actions that are neither rewarded or punished.
Makruh (discouraged) – offensive, disliked or discouraged, though not technically sinful.
Haram (forbidden) – strictly prohibited and sinful, including theft, murder and adultery.
Wanna mess with the brains of any politico railing against the “imposition of Sharia law”? Ask which to which school or category of Sharia they’re referring.
Republican politicians in Texas are knocking themselves out campaigning on the promise that they will block the development of Epic City – a community with shops, clinics, apartments, 1,000 homes and a mosque. Office holders and wannabes will campaign this year on promises to keep Muslim/Sharia communities from being established anywhere in the country, even though Muslims represent between 1.0 and 1.3 percent of the American population.
Politicians railing against “Sharia law” and the “threat” of Muslim communities overlook American history:
The Massachusetts Bay Colony was founded by English Puritans; the “city upon a hill” was known for its strict theological governance and intolerance of differing beliefs.
Roger Williams established Rhode Island in 1636 as a haven for freedom of conscience and religion after being banished from the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony. His colony was open to people of all religions, including Baptists, Quakers and Jews.
Maryland was founded in 1634 as a refuge for English Catholics fleeing Europe’s religious wars.
With a 1681 land grant from Charles II, William Penn established his “holy experiment” as a haven from persecution for himself and his fellow Quakers, among the most radical of the English Protestant sects.
Mennonites, Old Order Amish, Hutterites, and Church of the Brethren are all denominations of the 16th Century Radical Reformation and Anabaptists – emphasizing adult “believer’s” baptism, separation of church and state, and simple living. Throughout American history they have had their own close-knit communities.
Brigham Young and 148 Mormon pioneers arrive in the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847, settling in and eventually “Mormonizing” what was then Mexican territory. Before the year’s end, over 2,000 Mormons had settled in the valley that is now the hub or the worldwide Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Salt Lake City and Mormonism live hand-in-hand (or hand-in-glove).
The Brooklyn neighborhoods of Williamsburg, Borough Park and Crown Heights and the Upstate New York communities of Kiryas, Joel and Monsey are tight-knit, Yiddish-speaking, ultra-orthodox and conservative Hasidic communities numbering over 200,000 members.
In 2005, Domino’s Pizza founder Tom Monaghan founded Ave Maria, Florida – a master planned town of gated communities (eventually including the gated Ave Maria University) around the Ave Maria Oratory (now a diocesan Catholic parish church). In 2023, Ave Maria was Florida’s fastest growing community.
Two lessons to draw from this post:
Politicians – whatever their party or the office they are seeking – who attempt to curry favor and votes by inducing fear of “Sharia law” and Muslims have little or no understanding of American History and even less understanding of Islam (with all its expressions, traditions and laws). They’ve reduced their arguments to something less than the lowest common denominator of fear: Be afraid of and hate your neighbor. They are persisting in errors and clinging to ignorance.
Communities founded on religious beliefs and traditions are older than the Nation itself.
We deserve better than politicians who persist in error and cling to ignorance and lies just to get votes.