A major Florida conservative organization plans to closely monitor a new show -- All-American Muslims on The Learning Channel.
On Tuesday, David Caton, executive director of the Florida Family Association, sent out an email to supporters focusing on the new show. The first of eight episodes of All-American Muslims will launch on Sunday.
The program will profile five Muslim families who live in Dearborn, Michigan, Caton wrote. This show, since it is called All-American Muslims, will most likely be void of any information regarding Muslims in the United States who want America controlled by Islamic Sharia law.
Approximately thirty-three percent (33 percent) of Dearborn, Michigans, population are from Arab descent, according to Wikipedia, added Caton. Many changes in culture and public policy have taken place in Dearborn and surrounding cities as a result of the increase in Muslim populations.
Caton pointed to an incident in 2009 in which police restricted Pastor George Saieg, a Christian trying to evangelize to Muslims, from passing out literature during Dearborns annual Arab International Festival. With the support of the Thomas More Law Center, a conservative Christian legal group, Saieg sued the city, eventually winning in the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, which found the city had violated his First Amendment rights.
This is just one of several accounts of the bias that has occurred against the Christian faith in favor of Islamic rule at the hands of Dearborn officials, continued Caton. It is troubling that The Learning Channel would give the All-American stamp of approval to a culture that has many followers of Islam who strongly oppose traditional American values. The title of this show alone is irresponsible from that perspective.
Florida Family Association plans to closely monitor this show and contact advertisers, added Caton in closing.
In All-American Muslim, TLC follows five American Muslim families who have varying practices when it comes to their faith, Laurie Goldberg, the executive vice president of communications for Discovery and TLC networks, wrote in an email to Sunshine State News on Tuesday. "The series is a perfect fit for TLC because, like many of our programs, it offers viewers a glimpse into a world they may not otherwise experience, introducing them to real-life families who are going through everyday experiences that really resonate with our audience -- from getting married to having a baby to rooting for your favorite football team."
The show will be an eight-part series following the lives of five Muslim families in Dearborn. TLC reaches almost 100 million American homes and more than 50 million other viewers in more than 30 international markets.
"'All-American Muslim' is a perfect fit for TLC, inviting viewers into a world they might not otherwise experience," said Amy Winter, the general manager of TLC, in October when the channel unveiled the new show. "Through these families and their diverse experiences, we will explore how they blend their values and traditions with everyday life in America."
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
