Questions are being raised over whether this kind of bigoted ideology is acceptable while she attempts to run for office, especially in a time when Islamophobia has real and deadly consequences for Muslim Americans.
US Representative Tulsi Gabbard’s spiritual guru is outed as deeply Islamophobic
Questions are being raised over whether this kind of bigoted ideology is acceptable while she attempts to run for office, especially in a time when Islamophobia has real and deadly consequences for Muslim Americans.
In newly unearthed recording from US Representative Tulsi Gabbard’s spiritual guru, Chris Butler, deeply disturbing Islamophobic comments have been made public. Butler, a self-proclaimed guru and founder of an organisation called The Science of Identity, a branch from the Hare Krishna movement, is the spiritual guru and close family friend of US representative Tulsi Gabbard. Gabbard is a member of the Democratic Party, campaigning for the 2020 Presidential election. A devote Hindu, Gabbard has come under harsh criticisms for her close ties to the now openly bigoted Butler.
"The Mohammadian philosophy [Islam] is so full of violence. It's so low class. It's so Mickey Mouse… It's so violent…You're completely allowed to kill all infidels."
-Chris Butler, spiritual advisor to America's "Hindutva mascot" @TulsiGabbard. pic.twitter.com/mfxnCDWYMt
— CJ Werleman (@cjwerleman) October 5, 2019
Gabbard has long dodged questions about her close ties to the controversial guru, however as his deeply Islamophobic and bigoted comments and views come under public scrutiny, it becomes imperative on her part to come clean on what she supports and what she denounces. According to the report, Butler has previously claimed:
They [Muslims] are demons. They’re demons that go ‘Allalalalah’. It’s bulls*t…There’s absolutely no value in putting up with this dog sh*t [Islam] in the name of tolerance.”
CJ Werleman, who exposed the comments and deeply disturbing rhetoric of Butler, tweeted what a former staff member of Gabbard said in regards to the US politician’s close ties to the guru that he “completely runs her campaign”:
Here's the thing: Tulsi Gabbard remains an active devotee of Butler and the Science of Identity cult, as do her husband, sister, and chief of staff.
Here's what one of her former staffers told me:https://t.co/h3keQ0YMdj pic.twitter.com/8dulKITdaf
— CJ Werleman (@cjwerleman) October 5, 2019
Butler has also been quoted as describing Islam as “demonic”, mocking the Muslim tradition of not depicting the faces of the Prophet and his family, as well as calling Islam as inherently violent. His worrying comments that pit Muslims against Hindus in India are just as problematic, especially with the growing violent movement of Modi-inspired Hindu nationalism.
Speaking to journalist Werleman, Gabbard’s former campaign assistant stated:
The anti-Muslim animus comes not only from her Islamophobic guru but also from her constant misuse of ethnic slurs, such as ‘wahhabi/salafi’ ect. very ignorantly as if they are the same thing. She has been asked repeatedly to stop using these terms she does not understand. Any Arabic speaker or person from the region could hear her butchering these terms and know she is doing it for purposes of fear-mongering.”
Gabbard has of yet not responded to this newest development, and is under increasing pressure to come clean about her overtly close ties to this bigoted and Islamophobic spiritual guru. Questions are being raised over whether this kind of bigoted ideology is acceptable while she attempts to run for office, especially in a time when Islamophobia has real and deadly consequences for Muslim Americans. Butler himself has also as of yet not responded to any media inquiries.
