Your Global Minute: The Muslim Brotherhood

When I heard the term Muslim Brotherhood being thrown around in connection with the uprising in Egypt, I first presumed it was an American media skewing on the state of things in Cairo. Turns out, the Muslim Brotherhood is a large, influential Islamic organization not only in Egypt but throughout the world. They're also a peaceful group, and have long ago sworn off violence as a means to achieving their ends. So they're not jihadists - in fact, Osama bin Laden has criticized them for this. Basically, the MB seeks to establish an Islamic state, but not through jihad. Rather, their efforts have focused on preaching their religious teachings, teaching the illiterate, and setting up hospitals.

American news media seems to support the idea that the MB would take over the new Egyptian government (however that evolves), but one thing that many of them fail to mention is that the MB commands under 20% of the popular vote in Egypt. That's less than the Tea Party (another radical group, who are arguably more violent) commands in the USA, for reference.

The bottom line: The MB isn't a threat to America or democracy. I don't agree with the influence of religion in government, but I feel like that problem is not entirely fixable in the first place. In my opinion, the MB appears to be a less-powerful, less-violent, and more-benevolent GOP.

(source: Wikipedia!)