PBS

Last night, on the Public B S, I watched the interview of a young, well-spoken American Muslim. Because it used to be the "educational channel," I was hoping to be educated. What I learned, however, was more disturbing that informative.

It started well. The young man had risen from poverty to be a spokesman for his religion. He had chosen Islam because it "answered all the questions" he had for the other religions he had investigated. I wanted to hear those answers.

But suddenly, the discussion took an ugly turn when the interviewer, Bill Moyers, quoted a passage from the Quran which seemed to imply that it was acceptable for a Muslim man to beat his wife. The young man grew frustrated when he couldn't explain the passage, and his true feelings began to emerge. (Of course, there is no explanation. All religious tracts contain multiple references to gratuitous violence. The Bible itself tells of a petulant God who decimated two cities just because He was pissed. That can't be explained either.)

In his frustration the young man, an African-American, as are most American Muslims, tried to blame the criticism of his religion on racism. He said that "a few beheadings" don't compare with another outrageous event (of which I hadn't heard) involving an airstrike on an African water purification plant, which caused some African children to have to drink dirty water.

There are no degrees of outrageous. I'm sure the loved ones of Daniel Pearl consider his beheading no less a tragedy than the bombing of the Twin Towers. It is discouraging, however, that another young African-American hasn't yet risen above racism.

To his credit, Bill Moyers never said, "Right on."


GOSSIP: I don't know their marital statuses, but Senators Trent Lott (R-MS) and Diane Feinstein (D-CA), on Fox News Sunday, acted as though they have a thing for each other. If it turns out to be true, remember, you saw it here first.