Grand Mufti Emanuel's Chicago values

By Selwyn Duke

When Rahm Emanuel ascended to the top of Chicago's political heap last year, it was thought to have been the result of a citywide election that won him the mayorship. I had no idea he was appointed the city's first Grand Mufti.

But thus it must be, as Emanuel has spoken definitively as to what shall henceforth be considered Chicago values.

This, of course, refers to the Chick-fil-A flap, in which Emanuel expressed support for a city alderman who was going to ban the restaurant from his ward over chain president Dan Cathy's opposition to faux marriage.

That alderman, Proco Moreno, actually said, "Because of this man's [Cathy's] ignorance, I will now be denying Chick-fil-A's permit to open a restaurant in the 1st Ward." This prompted Grand Mufti Emanuel to affirm that the restaurant was unwelcome and decree, "Chick-fil-A's values are not Chicago values."

Yet who is Emanuel to issue a fatwa on what Chicago values are on faux marriage when approximately half of Chicagoans oppose the idea? Should these residents be expelled from the city or prohibited from making a living?

But if Emanuel speaks for a supernatural source, and I wouldn't doubt it, it isn't God. This is because hypocrisy is not a divine value.

It isn't just that Emanuel worked for Bill Clinton and never made a peep when his boss signed the Defense of Marriage Act into law. That was a long time ago, some will say. It isn't even just that he was a staunch supporter of Barack Obama, who also opposed faux marriage until his "evolution" this year. Grand Mufti Emanuel could have experienced sympathetic evolution, some will say. It's that Emanuel has also been a supporter of Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam.

Farrakhan's anti-Jewish and anti-white bigotry are well documented, but that gets a pass from the loony left. But what of that which Emanuel has obviously declared intolerable bigotry: defense of virtue and marriage? On this count, if Dan Cathy is a heretic, Farrakhan is an apostate.

Just consider the Nation of Islam leader's statements. Writes The Washington Times:

Last May, Mr. Farrakhan told a group of followers that the increasing public acceptance of homosexuality is evidence of the work of the devil. "The Koran says, Satan has made evil fair-seeming to them," he said. He stood firmly against same-sex marriage, saying that "Sin is sin according to the standard of God." He chastised Christian, Jewish and Muslim religious leaders for compromising on the issue, even saying that Muslims who condone homosexuality are enemies of Islam. He said that the Newsweek cover declaring President Obama the "first gay president" was a mockery, and said he should be called, "the first president that sanctioned what the scriptures forbid."

In 2009 Mr. Farrakhan said that homosexuality is "a learned behavior" and has its origins in predators sensing that children are vulnerable and "then some man will take advantage of that tenderness and engage a child in homosexual behavior."

In contrast, Cathy's comments were quite tepid. Yet not only does Emanuel have nothing to say about the Nation's Chicago restaurant, Salaam, he also welcomed Nation of Islam patrols of city streets. And the kicker?

He did that on the exact same day he condemned Chick-fil-A.

Of course, though, in a sense Grand Mufti Emanuel is right. Chick-fil-A isn't known for gang violence that kills people, votes by dead people, or graft and corruption. It is known for closing on Sundays in honor of the Lord's Day, providing quality products and treating customers well. It also suspended its famous ad campaign, featuring cows holding a sign stating "EAT MOR CHICKIN," during the Mad Cow Disease scare because it didn't want to be guilty of taking advantage of the crisis. So perhaps Chick-fil-A's values are not Chicago values. But they can only be an improvement.

The good news here is that the backlash, even from liberal journalists, has been against Grand Mufti Emanuel and his mullahs, who've been criticized for engaging in viewpoint discrimination. So the final score?

Chicken chain, 1

Chicken-head, 0

© Selwyn Duke