Elizabeth Campbell
Thu, March 23, 2023
State Rep. Tony Tinderholt, an Arlington Republican, is facing criticism on social media after he posted that he voted against a resolution to celebrate the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Tinderholt said in a statement posted on his Twitter account that as a combat veteran, he served alongside many translators who were “Muslims and good people.”
“I can also attest that Ramadan was routinely the most violent period during every deployment.”
“Texas and America were founded on Christian principles and my faith as a Christian prevents me from celebrating Ramadan. I want to commend Dan Patrick for choosing not to join the House in this celebration.”
Ramadan, which began Wednesday night, is a time of fasting, prayer and reflection for Muslims throughout the world. It is one of the most significant holy months in the Muslim calendar when it is believed that the prophet Muhammad received the Quran from God.
Tinderholt voted in support of resolutions commemorating Ramadan in 2021 and 2019.
Tinderholt did not respond to requests for comments from the Star-telegram on his vote against the resolution to celebrate Ramadan. But during an interview Friday on the Mark Davis Show on 660-AM The Answer, Tinderholt said he is “finally taking a stand against the left and Democrat chairs who are forcing celebrations of LGBTQ days and religious holidays.
“To celebrate and compel us to do so, it’s just a little bit over the top, and someone has to take a stand, and look, it’s not a comfortable stand. I’ve got over a half a million people attacking me on Twittter right now, but I’m OK with it. We’re doing the right thing. When we’re doing the right thing and the left is mad, it’s OK.”
Davis asked Tinderholt about the sentence in his statement that said that Ramadan was routinely the most violent period during his deployment.
Tinderholt said most Muslims are peaceful. “They are a very gentle religion. They are a very kind culture, but the fundamentalists in the Muslim world use the religion during Ramadan to ramp up and do attacks against Americans and infidels and kill innocent people. Now, let me be clear. As Muslims, that is not the average person it’s a small fraction that do this so quit telling me that I have to celebrate this time.”
Tinderholt also said that the left and the Democrats are trying to force someone to celebrate something when they’ve had a bad experience during that specific holiday every year.
“They’re always trying to force us to celebrate their side, their thing ...” he said. “Every person is an individual, and my personal story is that Ramadan, when I was in combat, was never a very peaceful time.”
Some who criticized Tinderholt on Twitter asked if crime also occurs during the Christian holidays of Christmas and Easter. Others asked about the separation of church and state..
One person wrote, “That’s a shame that you cannot embrace enlightenment as the founders did and celebrate some of the principles of our country, tolerance and religious freedom. Too bad. Our state is not your church.”
“As a Texan, I’m embarrassed you hold power in my state,” another wrote.
The Texas chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations also condemned Tinderholt’s opposition to the resolution.
William White, director of the Texas chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said in a news release that Tinderholt’s claim that Ramadan is the most violent time of the year is false and insulting to the Muslim community.
“Every elected official has the right to express their sincerely-held religious beliefs, and we welcome that — but insulting and insinuating false information about another faith should be condemned,” he said.
Rep. Salman Bhojani, a Democrat from Euless, wrote a similar resolution celebrating Ramadan. It states the month is a time for spiritual reflection, charitable giving and open houses at mosques to welcome people of other faiths.
Bhojani was elected in November as one of the first Muslims and south Asians to serve in the Texas House.
“I was sad and disappointed to see Representative Tinderholt’s statement today,” Bhojani said in an emailed statement. “Ramadan is a time of spiritual reflection, self-discipline, and acts of kindness and generosity for Muslims across the world. Any description of this holy month other than this is a mischaracterization of a religion of love that millions of people share.
“The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) taught, ‘None of you has faith until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.’”
Bhojani is also championing freedom of religion legislation that would expand the list of optional state holidays and prevent state exams from falling on religious holy days. During a news conference last month, Bhojani said his first priority is to safeguard protections “not just for my faith, but for every faith in Texas.”
Texan smeared two faiths — including his own — with pathetic vote against Ramadan honor | Opinion
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram Editorial Board
Fri, March 24, 2023
Arlington Republican Rep. Tony Tinderholt ran for speaker, the top spot in the House, this year. He got smoked, 145-3.
But the race to the bottom? He may already have that one locked up.
Tinderholt was among a handful of Republican representatives to vote Wednesday against a resolution honoring the Islamic holy month of Ramadan and the first fast-breaking dinner scheduled for the Capitol in association with the holiday. He was the only one to go out of his way to put on the record why he did it — and in the unmistakable language of religious bigotry.
“Today, I voted against a resolution made in celebration of Ramadan on the House floor. As a combat veteran, I served beside many local translators who were Muslims and good people,” Tinderholt said in a statement he had included in the House Journal and later repeated on Twitter. “I can also attest that Ramadan was routinely the most violent period during every deployment. Texas and America were founded on Christian principles and my faith as a Christian prevents me from celebrating Ramadan.”
All that over one of hundreds of resolutions the House will vote on with little or no controversy. They don’t amount to endorsing a religion, or a winning sports team, or whatever the subject is.
Done right, they celebrate something great about our state, small or large. They bring otherwise sparring legislators together to shine the spotlight on their constituents. Among the other resolutions considered Wednesday were honors for Realtors, residents of Buda, Pearsall and Val Verde County.
State Rep. Tony Tinderholt, R-Arlington
Six other Republicans voted no on the Ramadan resolution, including Rep. Lynn Stucky, the Denton Republican whose district also includes Wise County. Unlike Tinderholt, Stucky didn’t go out of the way to make a historical record of his bigotry … er, opposition.
No, Tinderholt took the extra step to insert into the House Journal his official stance and pitiful explanation. And in so doing, he slandered an entire faith practiced by millions of loyal Americans — and bruised the view of his own faith in the process.
The fifth-term Arlington lawmaker wants you to believe that his vote represents some bold strike for Christianity. But no sensible person confuses a resolution honoring a sacred time for hundreds of thousands of fellow Texans as some betrayal of any other religion.
And, it turns out, Tinderholt’s streak of self-righteous pomposity — if real — is pretty new. He said nothing about resolutions honoring Ramadan that the House passed in 2019 and 2021, according to House Journal entries.
Perhaps his faith has deepened. Or perhaps, having lost the speaker vote so terribly and facing even greater irrelevance as a lawmaker, his only political option is to double-down among bigots who would applaud standing in the way of extending such a basic recognition to a diverse array of Texans and their interests.
Tinderholt tried to explain himself Friday to conservative radio host Mark Davis (a Star-Telegram contributor). With his usual bluster and incoherence, he first said it was the consequence of having Democrats as committee chairs.
The decades-long bipartisan tradition of including the minority party in governance of the House is a sore spot for some Republicans. The resolution’s author, Houston-area Democratic Rep. Suleman Lalani, is no committee chair. He moved for a vote on his resolution — a common step to ensure resolutions are heard in a timely manner. More than 135 of the House’s 150 members assented. (Later Wednesday, Lalani briefly presided over the House, as most members have the honor of doing at some point. That does not make him a “Democrat chair.”)
Tinderholt then told Davis that he was “done with the left trying to force us and compel us” to celebrate topics such as LGBTQ rights. It sounds like his fatigue may actually be driven by frustration over pretending to represent any constituents who aren’t like him. Perhaps the voters in House District 94 should relieve Tinderholt of this burden next time he asks for their votes.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram Editorial Board
Fri, March 24, 2023
Arlington Republican Rep. Tony Tinderholt ran for speaker, the top spot in the House, this year. He got smoked, 145-3.
But the race to the bottom? He may already have that one locked up.
Tinderholt was among a handful of Republican representatives to vote Wednesday against a resolution honoring the Islamic holy month of Ramadan and the first fast-breaking dinner scheduled for the Capitol in association with the holiday. He was the only one to go out of his way to put on the record why he did it — and in the unmistakable language of religious bigotry.
“Today, I voted against a resolution made in celebration of Ramadan on the House floor. As a combat veteran, I served beside many local translators who were Muslims and good people,” Tinderholt said in a statement he had included in the House Journal and later repeated on Twitter. “I can also attest that Ramadan was routinely the most violent period during every deployment. Texas and America were founded on Christian principles and my faith as a Christian prevents me from celebrating Ramadan.”
It’s quite a trifecta: blaming an entire religion for wartime violence, shutting out any constituents who don’t share Tinderholt’s faith and diminishing Christianity’s ability to co-exist with other religions.
All that over one of hundreds of resolutions the House will vote on with little or no controversy. They don’t amount to endorsing a religion, or a winning sports team, or whatever the subject is.
Done right, they celebrate something great about our state, small or large. They bring otherwise sparring legislators together to shine the spotlight on their constituents. Among the other resolutions considered Wednesday were honors for Realtors, residents of Buda, Pearsall and Val Verde County.
State Rep. Tony Tinderholt, R-Arlington
Six other Republicans voted no on the Ramadan resolution, including Rep. Lynn Stucky, the Denton Republican whose district also includes Wise County. Unlike Tinderholt, Stucky didn’t go out of the way to make a historical record of his bigotry … er, opposition.
No, Tinderholt took the extra step to insert into the House Journal his official stance and pitiful explanation. And in so doing, he slandered an entire faith practiced by millions of loyal Americans — and bruised the view of his own faith in the process.
The fifth-term Arlington lawmaker wants you to believe that his vote represents some bold strike for Christianity. But no sensible person confuses a resolution honoring a sacred time for hundreds of thousands of fellow Texans as some betrayal of any other religion.
And, it turns out, Tinderholt’s streak of self-righteous pomposity — if real — is pretty new. He said nothing about resolutions honoring Ramadan that the House passed in 2019 and 2021, according to House Journal entries.
Perhaps his faith has deepened. Or perhaps, having lost the speaker vote so terribly and facing even greater irrelevance as a lawmaker, his only political option is to double-down among bigots who would applaud standing in the way of extending such a basic recognition to a diverse array of Texans and their interests.
Tinderholt tried to explain himself Friday to conservative radio host Mark Davis (a Star-Telegram contributor). With his usual bluster and incoherence, he first said it was the consequence of having Democrats as committee chairs.
The decades-long bipartisan tradition of including the minority party in governance of the House is a sore spot for some Republicans. The resolution’s author, Houston-area Democratic Rep. Suleman Lalani, is no committee chair. He moved for a vote on his resolution — a common step to ensure resolutions are heard in a timely manner. More than 135 of the House’s 150 members assented. (Later Wednesday, Lalani briefly presided over the House, as most members have the honor of doing at some point. That does not make him a “Democrat chair.”)
Tinderholt then told Davis that he was “done with the left trying to force us and compel us” to celebrate topics such as LGBTQ rights. It sounds like his fatigue may actually be driven by frustration over pretending to represent any constituents who aren’t like him. Perhaps the voters in House District 94 should relieve Tinderholt of this burden next time he asks for their votes.
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