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Please read just a few of the headlines that World Net Daily has published.
May, 2007
Young U.S. Muslims back suicide attacks
The first nationwide survey of Muslim Americans revealed that more than a quarter of those younger than 30 say suicide bombings to defend Islam are justified, a fact that drowned out the poll's kinder, gentler findings suggesting that the community is mainstream and middle class.
"There are trouble spots," noted Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center, which conducted the survey of 1,050 adult Muslim Americans -- two-thirds of whom were foreign-born -- January to April. The results were released yesterday.
"We should be disturbed that 26 percent of these young people support an ideology in which the ends justify the means," said Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, chairman of the Arizona-based American Islamic Forum for Democracy.
"But the survey also found that only 40 percent of the overall American Muslim population would even admit that Arabs were behind 9/11. They're in denial, refusing to take moral responsibility, and the radicals will feed on this," Dr. Jasser said.
Farid Senzai of the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding said he had "concern" about evidence of youthful radicalism.
The revelation that some young American Muslims condone violent bombings led coverage from CBS News, the Associated Press, Reuters, the Detroit Free Press, the Los Angeles Times and other news organizations.
"I'm not surprised that the press picked up on the bad news, because that's what sells. I'd like to see another ethnic group get asked the same question," said Laila Al-Qatami of the District-based American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.
"What's also missing were responses about what it means among Muslims to be an American, or their opinions about education, health care and domestic issues. Failure to include this stuff lends an impression that American Muslims are different," she added.
The survey, which estimates the U.S. Muslim population to be 2.3 million, emphasized the more positive findings, billing the group as "middle class and mostly mainstream," socially assimilated and happy.
"Clearly, this public comes across as much more moderate than much of the Muslim public in most of the world. They are decidedly American in outlook," Mr. Kohut said.
Indeed, seven out of 10 of the respondents rated their communities as good or excellent and said they would get ahead through the "American work ethic," a greater percentage than found in the general public. Seventy-three percent have never been discriminated against as a Muslim on these shores, and 78 percent said they were either "pretty happy" or "very happy" with their lives.
Practicing their religion was a positive as well: 74 percent said they were satisfied with the quality of mosques in their neighborhood. Most identify themselves as Democrats (63 percent) and seven out of 10 voted for Sen. John Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat, in the 2004 presidential race. Sixty-one percent say homosexuality should be discouraged.
Yet many are troubled by politics or policy: 69 percent disapprove of President Bush, 75 percent disapprove of the Iraq war and 48 percent disapprove of the war in Afghanistan. Only 26 percent say the war on terrorism is a "sincere effort," compared with 67 percent of the general public.
Where are their hearts? It depends on the age group. Sixty percent of the younger-than-30 demographic said they were "Muslim" first, and a quarter were Americans first. Among the total population, 47 percent consider themselves Muslims first and 28 percent are Americans first.
Social factors also come into play. The survey found that 54 percent are dissatisfied with the general state of the nation, 53 percent say life has gotten more difficult for Muslim Americans since September 11, 2001. More than half believe that their population has been singled out by the U.S. government for surveillance.
Among respondents who were converts, 91 percent were U.S. citizens. Of the total number of converts, 59 percent were black, 55 percent followed Sunni traditions and 67 percent had converted from a Protestant denomination.
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
May, 2007
YOUR GOVERNMENT AT WORK
Bill sees churches as political lobbies
Grassroots advocacy again under fire from Congress
A Christian law firm is launching an urgent petition drive to try to convince Congress to drop plans to re-classify Christian ministers and ministries as "lobbyists," a move that would create reams of red tape and subject the leaders to fines of up to $50,000 if they don't follow all of the fine print.
Jay Sekulow, of the American Center for Law and Justice had warned several months ago when a similar proposal was defeated in the U.S. Senate that the issue may return.
"We're still deeply concerned that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others will attempt to push through these dangerous restrictions in the House," he had said when Section 220 of S.B. 1 was rejected.
Now it has been.
"This legislation, in essence, attempts to override the United States Constitution," said the appeal from the ACLJ. "What we're dealing with here is the work of politicians who want to control, limit, and silence Christians and conservative groups."
"We MUST fight back, and quickly," the group said.
The plan now is called House Resolution 2093, but would do just about the same thing as the earlier Section 220 in the Senate. "House Resolution 2093 would drastically affect churches that speak out on issues like partial-birth abortion, same-sex marriage, conservative judicial nominees, and military chaplains' right to pray," the ACLJ said. "It would also impact Christian groups using TV, radio, or the Internet to mobilize citizens around an issue."
The proposal, as did the earlier plan, could require pastors, church leaders, advocacy organizations and even some individuals to register as lobbyists, under penalty of fines of up to $50,000, the ACLJ said.
The ACLJ's protest petition is available online.
Sekulow noted that he's already assembled a legal team and produced a legal analysis, available on the organization's website, that details the dangers of the bill.
"We are preparing a complaint to file in federal court if necessary," he said.
Sekulow's analysis said the Senate was wise to reject the plan, on a bipartisan basis in January, and recommended the House do the same.
Many of the phrases in the legislation are similar or identical to the earlier proposal.
"The main difference between H.R. 2093 and Section 220 of S. 1 is that H.R. 2093 would simply shift the bulk of the financial and regulatory burden of registration and reporting from the grassroots organizations themselves to the media companies that help distribute their message," the analysis said.
"H.R. 2093 would chill the exercise of First Amendment rights by requiring the media firms that help grassroots organizations to share their message to register with the government and disclose information about the groups' activities," it continued.
"The cost of compliance with federal lobbying laws – including the need to hire lawyers, accountants, and other personnel to ensure that all legal requirements are met – would be great. Undoubtedly, many companies will make their grassroots clients bear the cost of compliance with the lobbying law rather than imposing the burden upon their entire clientele. Moreover, some companies would stop working with grassroots organizations altogether to avoid the onerous burden of lobbying registration."
The real problems come up in the definition of lobbying and employees. "For example, if a church or other non-profit client organization receives, spends, or agrees to spend $100,000 within a quarterly period to influence the general public to contact members of Congress about legal issues, an employee that directs how that money is spent – such as a pastor, treasurer, or public policy director – could be considered a 'lobbying firm,'" the analysis said.
Also, if a church or other group spends just $5,000 to encourage the general public to contact members of Congress about important policy issues, the printing, publishing or other media companies would be required to provide information about the group and its issues.
"H.R. 2093 casts an unduly broad net of regulation over many churches, public advocacy organizations, and individuals that are not 'lobbyists' and subjects the media companies … to burdensome registration and reporting requirements," the analysis ssaid.
In the end, First Amendment violations would abound under the proposal, Sekulow's organization found.
When the earlier plan was defeated, James Dobson, chairman of Focus on the Family Action, said, "The big winners in this battle are the American people. Getting rid of the onerous grass-roots lobbying restrictions in S.1 is a triumph of the representative form of government our Founding Fathers established 230 years ago."
He had interrupted his regular schedule of broadcasts to alert people to the legislation that would have imposed huge limits on Christian organizations.
That original plan would have required the pro-family groups to provide documentation of their actions to the government any time they try to spark any "grass-roots" action.
Phone calls, personal visits, e-mails, magazines, broadcasts, phone banks, appearances, travel, fund-raising and other items all would be subject to government tabulation, verification and audits, Dobson said his broadcast.
"What is being illustrated here is a passion by congressional liberals to consolidate power and operate within a cloak of secrecy. It is unconscionable and unconstitutional. We will not be intimidated by attempts to criminalize those who would hold Washington accountable. The right to do so is as American as apple pie," Dobson said.
The Senate plan, sponsored by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., was listed as a proposal "To provide greater transparency in the legislative process," however Dobson was joined by American Family Association Chairman Donald Wildmon, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins and American Values President Gary Bauer in urging listeners to flood Capitol Hill with phone calls demanding those speech limits be removed.
World Net DailyMay, 2007
FAITH UNDER FIRE
Muslims cracking down on Christianity
Costs of remaining steadfast include family, home, even life
Christian churches are being ordered closed and those who are steadfast in the faith are losing homes, families and jobs as the cost of being Christian in Pakistan is rising, according to new reports from the Voice of the Martyrs and others. Even the death penalty soon could be a possibility.
The Voice of the Martyrs said, however, Christians are remaining faithful under the persecution, and are in need of prayer.
"The Voice of the Martyrs recently received information from Pakistani contacts that Christians remain steadfast in their faith, although they are losing relationships with their families because of their faith in Jesus Christ," the VOM report said.
The VOM cited one specific case, that of "Karim," who comes from a devout Muslim family.
He routinely suffers the loss of jobs, contact with friends, and even homes, because of his Christianity, VOM said.
"After I became a Christian in 1997, I visited my family during the Muslim festival called, 'Eid-ul-Zaha,' where Muslims sacrifice animals before Allah," he told VOM. "I questioned my mother asking her why she was sacrificing animals to Allah and yet in the Christian faith Jesus Christ sacrificed himself for us. I explained there was no need to sacrifice any animals. My mother was shocked. She started verbally abusing me and told me she had noticed a change in me, but had never thought it was because I had converted to Christianity."
She warned him the rest of the family would not be as understanding as she was.
"Before I left home my brother asked if I was reading the Bible and if I had an interest in the Christian faith. He slapped and verbally abused me, saying Christians are 'churda,' dirty people. He said Christians would make me dirty and I should stop reading 'churda's books, the Bible,'" Karim said.
VOM reported that Karim has lost jobs because of his faith, and constantly moves from one location to another to avoid harassment from members of his extended family. But he said his Christianity, to which he was introduced by a co-worker who gave him a Bible, is worth it.
"One day I read where the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, and after this I also asked Jesus to teach me how to pray. I said, 'Jesus, I have no teacher who can guide me and teach me about the Bible and faith, give me the Holy Spirit so I can learn about this faith.' From that day the Holy Spirit has been my teacher," Karim told VOM.
He said he spent years investigating before he made that decision.
"For two and a half years I was reading it every day. I started a comparative study of the Bible and the Quran. I saw there was a sequence, continuity and discipline in the Bible. I could not find these things in the Quran," he said.
According to Elizabeth Kendal, who reports on the persecution for the World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission, the root of the developing problem in Pakistan is the nation's pro-Sharia, Islamist Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal alliance of Muslim devotees, which holds the balance of power in the nation's National Assembly.
As a result, President Pervez Musharraf frequently makes political agreements that advance his agenda of staying on power while granting the alliance some of its wishes – which could be summarized as the conversion of Pakistan into a Islam-controlled state.
One of the pending proposals is the Apostasy Act, under which any man who leaves Islam for another religion would be killed. Women would be imprisoned for life.
The report also said owners of stores trading in the "un-Islamic" have been ordered to close or "suffer dire consequences," female students have been threatened if they continue their schooling, and in the Charsadda district, churches have been issued hand-written letters with an ultimatum to close down.
Faith McDonnell, the religious liberty director of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, said the nation's consideration of the death penalty for leaving Islam is two steps backwards for religious freedom.
"The apostasy bill is the work of political parties aligned with Taliban-style repression," she wrote. She said such laws would open the door to massive abuse, and in fact, such cases already have been launched.
In one case, she said, a Christian boy was sentenced to death for writing blasphemy on the wall of a mosque. The penalty was based on Muslim "witnesses." However, the child was illiterate and could not write, she said.
There also have been reports from ASSIST News Service which cited a Pakistani Christian who is a lawyer, Khalil Tahir Sandhu, about random attacks on Christian women who are abducted, assaulted, and then forced to "convert" to Islam.
The Barnabas Fund reported that Shahbaz Bhatti, chief of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance, confirmed the Christians are being ordered to convert. "We will not do it, even if we have to die," he said.
Officials also cited similar concerns developing in Egypt, where unsubstantiated claims that Christians were planning to build a church in violation of national law sparked rioting that left Christians injured and their homes and businesses destroyed.
As WND has reported, three Christians also were martyred recently in Turkey by Islamists who feigned interest in a Bible study, then attacked the leaders.
Voice of the Martyrs is a non-profit, interdenominational ministry working worldwide to help Christians who are persecuted for their faith, and to educate the world about that persecution. Its headquarters are in Bartlesville, Okla., and it has 30 affiliated international offices.
It was launched by the late Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand, who started smuggling Russian Gospels into Russia in 1947, just months before Richard was abducted and imprisoned in Romania where he was tortured for his refusal to recant Christianity.
He eventually was released in 1964 and the next year he testified about the persecution of Christians before the U.S. Senate's Internal Security Subcommittee, stripping to the waist to show the deep torture wound scars on his body.
The group that later was renamed The Voice of the Martyrs was
organized in 1967, when his book, "Tortured for Christ," was released.
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TROUBLESPEAK
Radio host suggests putting GPS on Muslim immigrants
U.S. should consider bugging homes, monitoring calls, e-mails
A radio talk show host in Denver asked his audience to consider whether or not it would be right for all Muslim immigrants admitted to the U.S. to wear GPS units and have the FBI bug their homes and monitor their telephone calls and e-mails.
The comments from "Gunny Bob" Newman on 850 AM KOA radio were reported by the Denver Post. He was reacting to the recent arrests of six men charged in an alleged plot to attack and kill as many soldiers as they could at Fort Dix, N.J.
The suspects, Muslims, have been ordered held without bond, and court documents now reveal one of the men told the others how to make bombs and gave them weapons for the planned attack.
Newman, on his talk show on a station that also carries Rush Limbaugh, the nation's most-listened-to radio talk show host, said he was fed up with attacks by Muslims on the U.S. and its interests.
"I want – tell me if I'm wrong or tell me if I'm right. I want every Muslim immigrant in America who holds a green card, a visa, or who is a naturalized citizen to be required by law to wear a GPS tracking bracelet at all times," Newman said in a recent diatribe against such unprovoked attacks on the U.S.
"And the FBI and the NSA should monitor their phones and their e-mails, all communications – electronic – at all times, as well as bug their places of work and their residences. If they don't like the idea, or if they refuse, throw their a---- out of this country," he said.
"All mosques and community centers as well as Muslim organizations must be monitored. We know with the arrests … that the Muslim terrorists are absolutely, positively here – and we invited them to our country! And I think maybe it's time that we should stop doing that," he said.
The words immediately unleashed a firestorm of criticism from organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union, and a lobbying campaign convinced three companies to withdraw their advertising from the show.
"We sent numerous e-mails," said a spokeswoman for Colorado Media Matters, which bills itself as a resource that monitors and corrects conservative broadcast statements.
His boss at the Clear Channel station, Kris Olinger, reported "Gunny Bob" was expressing an opinion, "an extreme one, but his opinion. [Hosts] are paid to express opinions. That's the nature of what we do."
"Newsradio 850 KOA understands that some of you may have been offended by remarks Gunny Bob made regarding Muslim immigrants to the United States. That was not the intention. 850 KOA believes in being fair and respectful while encouraging discussion and debate of complex issues," the station said in a website statement.
"Call me kooky, but I think maybe it's time for a little moratorium on Muslim visas, period. Hey, I'm sorry guys – I know that a lot of you are great people. I know you just like to do business here or become a U.S. citizens (sic) and be a peaceful person. I know that. But you know what? You better get control of your own people. Once you get control of them, then come see us again and we'll think about – however many decades down the road it is – we'll think about maybe opening our doors to you again.
"But you are doing absolutely freaking nothing to help, to, to help this nation. And that's that," Newman said.
Newman had been honored in 2006 with a "Gunny Bob Day" declaration by Colorado's governor, who wrote the three-hour daily program is responsible for "educating and enlightening Colorado citizens on a variety of topics from counter-terrorism to survival tactics" and "the State of Colorado recognizes Gunny Bob for his ability to keep citizens informed about war tactics and strategies, as well as the current situation in the Global War on Terror."
In a Denver Post column, Dick Kreck noted that Newman is a "conservative talk show" host for whom "rash, rude and inflammatory statements are common."
Bill Menezes, chief of the Colorado Media Matters, said Newman is seeking to "deny to members of a specific religion the same rights that his employer states are integral in the treatment of its own employees."
"In dealing with the recent Don Imus controversy, NBC News President Steve Capus emphasized that it was important for NBC's employees to have confidence in the company's values. It's time for Ms. Olinger and Clear Channel to step up and have a public conversation about why one employee is allowed to broadcast values that it won't stand for elsewhere within its own organization," Menezes wrote.
After making his comments, and seeing some of the reaction, Newman acknowledged that visitors to what he described as "liberal hate blogs" were suggesting "liberals should protest me and my right to freedom of speech" at signings of his new book, "The War for America."
He then said those who might protest are "holier-than-thou, politically correct, anti-First Amendment, namby-pamby fools."
"Who the heck do you think you are to say an American citizen doesn't have the right to state his or her opinion?" wrote blogger "DB" about the situation. "Here I am to state my opinion! Get out of it! If you don't like it turn the d--- channel! We love Gunny Bob! He says it like it is."
Newman noted the "irony and hypocrisy" of those activists who protest against his First Amendment rights using their own First Amendment rights."
Newman "is one of the very few that live in the land of
reality. He is one of the few that recognizes the Islamic faith as a
terrorist faith. I certainly see it and once these people kill 100,000
Americans or so, others will recognize it," wrote "swatson839" on an
online comment page.
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YOUR GOVERNMENT AT WORK
Judge wannabes refuse to endorse constitution
Questionnaire sought confirmation of support for state law of the land
None of the 19 candidates currently seeking appointment to fill a vacancy in the Idaho Supreme Court was willing to confirm support for a series of statements drawn directly from the state's constitution, according to the Idaho Values Alliance.
The pro-family organization sent the candidates for the important judicial post a routine questionnaire asking whether they agreed or disagreed with a list of statements.
For example, Question 1 asked whether the candidates would agree with the statement: "The Founders of the state of Idaho were grateful to God for our freedom."
Not one candidate would respond to the questionnaire, even though the preamble to the state constitution says: "We, the people of the State of Idaho, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, to secure its blessings and promote our common welfare do establish this Constitution."
Likewise, none of the candidates responded to the following statement: "All men have an inalienable right to enjoy and defend both life and liberty."
The state constitution, in Article 1, Section 1, states: "All men are by nature free and equal, and have certain inalienable rights, among which are enjoying and defending life and liberty…"
The questionnaire was nothing more than requests for affirmation – or disagreement – for the existing state constitution, a document every judge in Idaho swears an oath to uphold upon taking office.
"One possibility is that the candidates didn't even recognize that these statements come word-for-word from the state constitution, which is pretty alarming," said Bryan Fischer, the executive director of the alliance.
"The second possibility is that they did recognize them as coming from the constitution, but weren't willing to let the public know whether they agreed with it. That's even worse," he said.
"The fact that not one candidate was willing to give the public this critical information will make the average observer wonder whether any of them are qualified for a seat on the bench," Fischer said.
Significant public issues are pending in the state, and rulings from the state Supreme Court affect the life of every resident, he noted.
"Whoever is appointed by the governor to the Supreme Court will take an oath to uphold the state constitution. The citizens have the right to know if candidates for that position know what's in it, and whether they will support it. It's worthless for them to say they will uphold the whole thing if they won't commit to upholding specific parts of it," Fischer said.
Those not responding to the questionnaire were: Bart M. Davis, Myron Dan Gabbert Jr., Michael S. Gilmore, Ralph J. Gines, Hon. Joel D. Horton, Larry C. Hunter, Warren E. Jones, Debora K. Kristensen, Lynn M. Luker, Charles F. Peterson Jr., Kevin D. Setterlee, Gardner W. Skinner Jr., Marvin M. Smith, Hon. Kathryn A. Sticklen, Clive J. Strong, Mitchell E. Toryanski, Terrence R. White, Hon. R. Barry Wood and William F. Yost III, the alliance said.
Question 4 asked the candidates to agree or disagree with the statement: "All political power is inherent in the people, not the courts."
The state constitution specifies: "All political power is inherent in the people."
Fischer said the role of judges in the law and umpires in baseball is similar.
"The role of a judge, like an umpire, is not to make up the rules or change the rules he doesn't like, but to apply the rules that have been established by others," he said.
"The first question league officials would ask a prospective umpire is whether he knows the rules of baseball and will agree to uphold them. If an umpire applicant doesn't know the rules or wouldn't be willing to openly admit he agrees with the 'three strikes and you're out' rule, for example, he wouldn't stand a chance of getting a job.
"Why would we award a position on the most powerful judicial body in the state to someone who won't let us know if he even knows the state constitution or agrees with it?" Fischer asked.
"When Judge Dan Eismann ran for a seat on the Idaho Supreme Court in 2000, he filled out a much more extensive questionnaire than this one. So these candidates can't hide behind the pretense that judicial rules don't allow them to return a judicial questionnaire. This naturally raises the question, why are these candidates so secretive? Why is this process so insular that the public cannot get any information at all about the judicial philosophy of the candidates?"
The document also asked the candidates to agree or disagree with: "The exercise and enjoyment of religious faith and worship should be forever guaranteed."
That comes from Article I, Section 4: "The exercise and enjoyment of religious faith and worship shall forever be guaranteed…"
They also were asked to agree or disagree with: "The people, not just the militia, should have the right to keep and bear arms."
And in Article 1, Section 11, the state constitution declares: "The people have the right to keep and bear arms, which right shall not be abridged…"
Still another request for agreement or disagreement: "The first concern of all good government should be the virtue and sobriety of the people, and the purity of the home."
And from the constitution, Article III, Section 24: "The first concern of all good government is the virtue and sobriety of the people, and the purity of the home."
The Idaho state constitution also recognizes that a marriage shall be only between a man and a woman, but Idaho residents don't know whether the judicial candidates agree with that or not.
World Net DailyMay, 2007
FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU
Muslims attack Christians accused of building church
Inflammatory Islamic sermon triggers fires at homes, shops
Muslims in Egypt this weekend attacked local Christians and set fire to their shops and homes after the Christian community was accused of attempting to build a church.
The riots broke out Friday in the village of Behma, about 50 miles south of Cairo, reportedly after a Muslim sermon at a nearby village mosque accused the town's Coptic Christian population of planning to construct a church without a permit. The Christians said the sermon was meant to stir violence.
The Egyptian government heavily restricts the construction or enlargement of churches, requiring permits for any Christian building.
The riots this weekend reportedly saw Muslim gangs of more than 500 clash with about 200 Christians. At least 27 Christian-owned houses and shops were damaged by fire, including 10 homes that were completely gutted. Muslims reportedly threw Molotov cocktails at some Christian homes. Sixty-nine Christians were injured, some gravely.
A spokesman for Egypt's interior ministry confirmed around 500 Muslims had gathered in Behma after Friday prayers and that the entrances to three Christian homes had been set on fire.
According to a Muslim reporter who was on the scene for a top Egyptian daily, Egyptian police forces did not immediately step in to stop the violence.
(Story continues below)
"There was an atmosphere of terror for the Christians of Behma. The police could have intervened early, but they seemed to let the clashes go for some hours before stepping in," said the reporter, who spoke to WND on condition his name be withheld. He said he was banned from filing a report for his newspaper.
Security forces ultimately reportedly arrested 59 Muslims, who were charged with arson and with spreading sectarian strife.
It wasn't immediately clear if the Behma Christian were enlarging or building a church. Christians in the town currently pray from a house that doubles as a worship center.
The Coptic Church, a major Christian community in Egypt, reportedly dates back to the origins of Christianity. Christians were the majority in Egypt until several centuries after the Arab conquest of the seventh century.
Christians now comprise about 10 percent of Egypt’s 75 million population, but Christians are effectively restricted from senior government, military or educational positions, and any worship services require the permission of the government.
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TRAIL OF TERROR
Police renew focus on Muslim cabbies
Authorities worry about 'taxi jihadists' in cities
With the arrest of a Philadelphia taxi cab driver in the Fort Dix terror plot, authorities are paying closer attention to Muslim cabbies, many of whom are militant believers, WND has learned.
Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer, a U.S. citizen born in Jordan, was charged earlier this week with conspiring to kill at least 100 soldiers on U.S. soil. The FBI says the 22-year-old drove a cab in Philadelphia.
"My intent is to hit a heavy concentration of soldiers," said Shnewer, the alleged mastermind of the terror plot.
Muslims account for the majority of cab drivers in many major U.S. cities – including the nation's capital. And a number of them have ties to terrorism, federal and local authorities say.
After 9/11, the U.S. Park Police, which enforces laws on federal roads leading into such places as CIA headquarters, ran a search of Islamic terror suspects against a database of traffic stops in the Washington, D.C., area going back decades.
"It came back with a nearly 25 percent hit rate," a U.S. Park Police official said. "Many of them were cab drivers."
The official, a veteran police detective who wished to go unidentified, says roughly 80 percent of cab drivers in the Washington area practice the Islamic faith. Their numbers concern police, who believe they make up part of the terror support network in America.
"If they're not suspects themselves, they pick up suspects at airports and take them to safehouses here," he told WND. "It's a jihadi network."
The federal Park Police work with the FBI and other law enforcement agencies assigned to the National Counter Terrorism Center, or NCTC, headquartered in McLean, Va., a Washington suburb. The FBI is now closely monitoring the activities of taxi drivers in the area, bureau sources confirm.
A great many of them worship at the large Dar al-Hijrah mosque in Falls Church, Va., another D.C. suburb. On Fridays, FBI case agents say they typically observe 50 or more cabs and limos parked among other cars in the parking lots used by the radical mosque, which has included several Hamas and al-Qaida terrorists among its members.
Some of the 9/11 hijackers also attended services at Dar al-Hijrah, while receiving assistance obtaining housing and IDs from mosque members and officials, some of whom are admitted members of the dangerous Muslim Brotherhood.
In between fares, many taxi drivers congregate at the Starbucks located down the road in a shopping center in Baileys Crossroads, which has the highest concentration of Muslims of any area outside Dearborn, Mich.
The shopping center is within a few miles of the Pentagon, and right across the street from two luxury apartment high-rises that erupted into cheers when the World Trade Center fell on 9/11. Law enforcement has dubbed the Skyline Towers the "Taliban Towers" after conducting several counterterrorism investigations involving tenants.
Washington is not alone. Other major cities are dealing with radical Muslim taxi drivers.
9/11 'Party Platters'
Miami-Dade County Police Department officials tell WND that after 9/11 a group of Muslim cab drivers at Miami International Airport held a celebration on a carpeted area of the concourse reserved for Islamic prayer.
Some were overheard allegedly saying, "Finally, the Great Satan got what it deserved."
"They brought out party platters," a Miami-Dade police detective said. "We tried to ID the taxi drivers who celebrated and give their names to the FBI."
New York also has had its share of "taxi jihadists," as law enforcement calls them.
Take Mahmud "The Red" Abouhalima, a former Manhattan cabbie. He helped plant the explosives-packed van that the terrorists used to try to blow up the World Trade Center in the first attack on the towers in 1993.
Those who knew him say he transformed his cab into a mobile Islamic institute, filled with copies of the Quran, jihadi books and tapes of sermons recorded in Arabic.
Like the Jersey jihadists accused of targeting Fort Dix, Abouhalima lived in New Jersey, which has a large Muslim population. Police believe he also was the intended getaway cab driver in the murder of Rabbi Meir Kahane.
More recently, in Nashville, a Muslim cab driver for United Cab this year was charged with assault and attempted homicide. Ibrahim Ahmed allegedly tried to run down two Vanderbilt University students. One was seriously injured.
Surprisingly, the 9/11 attacks emboldened many Islamic taxi drivers.
In Minneapolis, for instance, they've asserted the tenets of their faith, refusing airport passengers carrying duty-free wine and even blind riders accompanied by seeing-eye dogs. Alcohol is forbidden in Islam, and dogs are considered unclean.
About three of every four cabbies at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport practice Islam. Even after authorities last month agreed to slap fines on them for refusing "infidel" fares, some refuse to bend.
"I am Muslim. I'm not going to carry alcohol," insisted Abdi Mohamed, a driver for Bloomington Cab.
Islamic Foot-Baths
Muslim taxi drivers also have demanded special accommodations at airports.
In Kansas City, for one, airport authorities recently built several foot-baths in a restroom for Muslim drivers after they requested them to help them prepare for Islamic prayer, as WND first reported. Kansas City International Airport police say about 70 percent of the taxi drivers there are Muslim.
A great many taxi drivers are immigrants from the Mideast or Pakistan. Last November, Homeland Security agents rounded up dozens of Pakistani immigrants across the East Coast working illegally as cabbies. Pakistan is an al-Qaida hotbed.
Before last year's congressional election, a U.S. lawmaker was widely criticized for suggesting Muslim cabbies were a terrorist threat.
Republican Sen. Conrad Burns said the U.S. is up against a faceless enemy of terrorists who "drive taxi cabs in the daytime and kill at night."
The longtime senator lost his seat to Democrat Jon Tester.
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Because they hate
Larry Elder:
You are of Christian Lebanese descent. When you heard what Rosie
O'Donnell said, that Christian extremism is as bad as Islamic
extremism, how did you react?
Brigitte
Gabriel: Well, I do not know what land she is living in, but I
do not recall when the last time I saw a Christian behead anybody on
television, or behead somebody and advertise it on the Internet. I do
not recall hearing a Christian preach that Muslims are apes and pigs
because they are cursed by Jesus, the way that Muslims are teaching
that we are apes and pigs. I do not recall the last time a Christian
went into an elementary school, hijacked children and started shooting
them in the back like the Muslims did in Beslan in Russia when they
went into a schoolyard and took over the children and started
butchering them and killing them. [Rosie] better be thankful that she
is living in America, because if she were living in Iran and spoke
against her country – or any Arabic country – she would be beheaded or
actually buried halfway in the ground, to be stoned to death.
Elder:
Did you study Islam?
Gabriel:
No, I did not study Islam; I lived Islam. I lived in the
Elder: You
were raised in
Gabriel:
Yes, my 9-11 happened to me in 1975 when I was a 10-year-old child,
living and minding my own business [in] a small town in south
Elder:
You call your book a wake-up call. Tell us what the West does not
understand about what I call Islamo-fascism. And, do you think
"Islamo-fascism" is an appropriate term?
Gabriel:
Yes, it is an appropriate term. We are fighting Islamo-fascism, we are
fighting a war that is much worse than Nazism, anything we have fought
before, because even the Nazis did not encourage their children to
strap bombs onto their bodies and then rejoice at their deaths, as well
as the deaths of their victims. Islamists are encouraging their
children to die.
Elder:
There are 1.2 billion Muslims in the world. I want you to analyze them
by ideology.
Gabriel:
Not all of them are radicals. We estimate that the radicals are between
15 and 25 percent; that translates to between 180 and 300 million
people like Mohamed Atta who are willing to strap bombs to their bodies
and commit martyrdom operations. Now, that is still a minority, 15 to
25 percent, but 300 million Mohamed Attas ready to unleash their blood
upon the West. ... Now, the rest of them ... despise the West, they
hate our westernization, they think we are morally corrupt, that we are
corrupting the world, and they think we are such a bad influence on the
world that we need to be stopped at any cost. They may not be willing
to commit martyrdom operations themselves, but they will sit there and
cheer on and rally those who are willing to kill us.
Elder:
Are we winning?
Gabriel:
No, we are losing.
Larry Elder:
What caused
Brigitte
Gabriel: ... In the early '70s,
Elder:
Tell us about Islamo-fascism in the West.
Gabriel:
The Center for Religious Freedom went undercover last year and
collected 200 publications from some of the most prominent mosques in
the
Elder:
Are there moderate Muslims who condemn the radicals, who don't feel
threatened by democracy?
Gabriel:
Yes. ... I call it a practicing Muslim and a non-practicing Muslim. I
think it is a better description than "moderate" and "radical." A
practicing Muslim goes to mosque, prays five times a day, doesn't
drink, believes God gave him women to be his property – to beat, to
stone to death. ... He believes Christians and Jews are apes and pigs
because they are cursed by Allah. He believes it is his duty to declare
war on the infidels because they are Allah's enemies. That is a
practicing Muslim. A non-practicing Muslim no longer goes to mosque or
prays five times a day, has an occasional glass of wine and believes
that a woman is equal to a man. ... He believes he cannot murder his
wife just because he wants to. He does not believe in taking four wives
just for sexual pleasure. ... He no longer believes that, as a Muslim,
it is his duty to kill the apes and pigs that have been cursed by
Allah. A non-practicing Muslim is educated, an intellectual who
believes the Quran – writt en in the seventh century – doesn't apply to
today's standards, and Islam needs to be reformed. Those Muslims do
exist and live in the West. However, they are such a minority – we
estimate about 2 percent – they are irrelevant because it is the
majority that is causing the problem now.
Elder: What
should be done?
Gabriel:
Shut our borders. We have terrorists coming through our borders.
Al-Qaida is working with the MS-13 gang [El Salvadorian gang Mara
Salvatrucha], smuggling al-Qaida terrorists into the country. Hezbollah
is doing the same. ... We estimate thousands have already been smuggled
into
Elder: What
happens if a Democrat wins the 2008 election?
Gabriel: We are doomed. Our enemies want the
Democrats to win. This last election, jihadist websites were playing
victory songs and declaring the Democrats are our allies in the war
against
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BRAVE NEW SCHOOLS
Students punished for opposing 'gay' advocacy
Dozens of 1st Amendment lawsuits being considered against administrators
Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of students in several Sacramento area school districts are being penalized by school officials for objecting to the homosexual advocacy "Day of Silence," according to a law firm handling many complaints.
"We are looking at our options. If our affiliate attorneys come forward and help us with these … there might be dozens of lawsuits. I believe we have enough good attorneys both in skill and as a matter of conscience to step up to the plate," Kevin Snider, the chief counsel for the Pacific Justice Institute told WND.
"We should be able to do a full-court press on all of these," he said.
The issues arose during the annual "Day of Silence," last week at Inderkum, Rio Linda and San Juan high schools. That is an event promoted by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network organization, which advocates for the homosexual lifestyle and promotes educating children in that choice.
During that event, students go around school during the day without speaking, and they hand out cards stating they are protesting the "discrimination" against the homosexual lifestyle.
Many schools allow such activities without penalty, although one Illinois school has in the past notified students while they had the choice to participate, teachers were not obligated to facilitate that activity by allowing them not to answer questions.
A year ago, the following e-mail went to students at the Urbana school, where participation in the GLSEN event is declining:
"A reminder: Protest often brings with it consequences. Are you willing to pay the price or is this a game you are playing?
"Sometimes those consequences are positive as in change of heart or feelings for someone else or for an idea. Sometimes they can be negative as in a grade reduction for failure to participate in a class. Please note that instruction and the teacher in charge of the instruction is not out to 'get' the student or to protest the Day of Silence if they ask you to communicate. Sometimes meaningful instruction must have an exchange of ideas via speech. If this is the case and the teacher requires a verbal exchange and you refuse to speak that is the cost of the protest to you. Don't blame the teacher. Chalk it up to the cost of protest for ideas that you believe in. Please also remember that selective protest – in the classroom but not in the hall – is not in the spirit of the day."
Snider said an estimated 3,000-4,000 Sacramento area students remained out of class to protest the GLSEN event. Others attended and many "did some sort of speech activities on the Day of Silence or the days following."
He said the activities generally involved a protest on a sidewalk near a school, wearing a T-shirt that expressed the student's religious views on homosexuality, or some sort of literature distribution.
Snider told WND there was no overall resolution apparent, because there were a number of school districts involved, with a variety of actions and outcomes.
"A lot of students were suspended," he said. "Others were just kicked out [of school] and told to go home for the day. I'm not certain that is legal. You can't just kick students out."
He said that might have been done by the schools to avoid legal liability. "When there's punishment, the schools face liability," he said.
But he told WND some students' parents came with them to school the next day, and said, "My understanding is that my student was suspended."
"In some cases, the secretary said, 'We have no record of that,'" he said.
Other schools had been suspending students who objected to the pro-homosexual advocacy, but then abruptly halted in the middle of the day. Another school "rounded up" several students days later and held them for three hours.
"The parents are quite upset at this," he said.
"There's at least one school district that looks like they are digging in and not going to remove, expunge, suspensions," Snider said. "So that may well be a legal confrontation."
He said when similar issues arose a year earlier, Pacific Justice spent hours negotiating with schools to have suspensions removed. "Those good faith efforts have come to naught," he said.
"So the question for parents and students becomes, 'What do you do about it?'" he said.
He said even the case of one student cited by police for "trespassing" after a complaint from school officials remains undetermined. If the student was improperly removed from the school for protected 1st Amendment activities, is a subsequent arrest for those activities valid, he questioned.
GLSEN advertises its event as a "vow of silence to recognize and protest the silence that LGBT people face each day."
This year it was held April 18.
On the following day, students in schools around the nation participated in the "Day of Truth," organized by the Alliance Defense Fund to counter the GLSEN event.
"In the past, students who have attempted to speak against the promotion of the homosexual agenda have been censored or, in some cases, punished for their beliefs," the ADF said on its website.
"It is important that students stand up for their First Amendment right to hear and speak the truth about human sexuality in order to protect that freedom for future generations," the ADF said.
Those students wear T-shirts and pass out cards during non-instructional time with messages such as: "Silence isn't freedom; it's a constraint."
Another pro-family organization, Not Our Kids recommended that students stay home on that day.
"Many school district superintendents, principals, and faculty members also endorse, promote or allow DOS – subjecting traditional students to pro-'gay' activism that violates their religious beliefs and right to a non-politicized education," the group said.
"Teenagers deserve an opportunity to study English, history, math, and science – without being subjected to pro-homosexual proselytizing sanctioned by school authorities," said Linda Harvey of Mission America, a coalition member.
At Rio Linda High, officials said students were not suspended for wearing Christian message on their shirts, but were suspended for not removing the shirts.
And a local newspaper reader wondered: "Hmmm the students were
not suspended for wearing anti-gay T shirts, but were disciplined for
not removing them? Sounds like typical double speak to me. Were the
other students suspended for not speaking?"
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FAITH UNDER FIRE
Worker fired after posting picture of Jesus
Says manager told him 'God' not allowed on cubicle walls
A call center employee says he has been dismissed from his job for posting an artist's rendition of the crucifixion during Easter week, even though other employees were allowed to post pictures and art as they chose in their cubicles.
Chris Romansky, a former employee of Barclays, told WND he was told there had been a complaint about the picture he put up to remind himself of Christ's sacrifice on the cross, a foundational belief in Christianity.
A company spokeswoman, Donna Sokolsky, told WND that the job termination "had nothing to do with anything religious whatsoever." But she said she was not permitted by human resources to know "more beyond that."
"What I CAN tell you is that Barclays has very strict policies around nondescrimination (sic), especially religious. I cannot speak for this particular individual's situation but I know that there was no religious descrimination. I do not think you have a story here."
She followed up several days later with a formal, unattributed statement, "We do not discriminate or take any action based on religious affiliation."
Barclays PLC, according to Sokolsky, is a large global financial service provider, offering banking, investment banking and investment management services. It operates in more than 60 countries and has 110,500 employees worldwide.
Romansky told WND his dismissal was effective April 13, and he has contacted state labor regulators about filing a complaint.
"We're actually allowed to hang up pictures on our cubes. I had a picture of my wife, and there's a cross in the background but that didn't seem to bother anybody," he said. He also had posted a couple of Internet clippings, but those generated no response either.
Then during the Easter season, he said, "I hung a picture of the crucifixion, actually it was before Easter. It was of the crucifixion of Jesus and it showed the Resurrection and it said 'Happy Easter.'"
"I came in on the following Tuesday, and it was face down on my desk, so I put it back up," he said. Then a team manager came and told him there had been a complaint that it was "offensive" and he had to take it back down.
The manager called him into her office. "She told me people were offended, and she told me anything with Jesus and God can't be up," Romansky told WND.
The manager told him to leave the building. "She took copies of the pictures," he said.
Several conversations with managers and the human resources department followed, Romansky said.
"She [the manager] then called me and told me they're going to have to let me go," he said. He said he'd never even been "corrected" before by the company, and she responded that he was being dismissed for insubordination.
"I said I want [copies of] all the corrective actions. I want an explanation," he said.
He said the "complaint" about his Easter picture may have been in retaliation, because earlier he had complained about the crudity of the conversation in the office.
"I feel I was singled out," he said.
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FAITH UNDER FIRE
Iraqi Christians forced to pay 'protection tax'
Muslims enforcing Islamic law requiring tribute or conversion
Christians in a Baghdad neighborhood are being required to pay a "protection tax" because Muslims have begun enforcing an Islamic law demanding either the tribute – or conversion to Islam, according to Christians in Iraq.
The report from the Assyrian International News Agency follows on complaints from Iraqi Christians that they have been caught in a no-man's land between the Coalition forces and Muslim militants in Iraq, watching as their churches have been bombed, and men and women assaulted and killed.
The newest report said Muslims in the Dora neighborhood are forcing Assyrians, who also are known as Chaldeans and Syriacs, but who largely are Christian, to pay the jizya, the poll tax demanded by the Quran.
Christians – and Jews – must pay the tax "in exchange for being allowed to live and practice their faith as well as being entitled to 'Muslim protection' from outside aggression," the agency reported.
The news agency said elements of Al-Qaida have moved into the region, and there is no evidence of any security forces, either from the Iraqi national armed services or Coalition forces being led by the United States.
In one section of the region, "people have been warned by these insurgents to uninstall the satellite dishes since this is 'haram' [forbidden] is Islam," the report said. "Where Christians live in Hay Al-Mualimeen [teachers quarter] and Hay Al-Athorieen [Assyrian quarter] is where they are telling people to convert, leave, pay 'jizya' taxation," AINA reported.
According to an e-mail uncovered by the agency, one person reported that it has been going on for some time.
"We talked to many people within the American Embassy and Iraqi Government, but it seems nobody really cares, because they have done nothing, or sometimes I wonder if they care at all," said the e-mail, from an unidentified resident in the region.
"Neither the Iraqi nor the U.S. Army have any activity there, and they have delivered Dora to insurgents; and above all the U.S. Army went and put a camp in the Chaldean church [Babylon Theology College] to raise the hate among those Muslims toward Christians, as they are seeing them [as] allies for Americans, and that worsened things more."
Another Syriac, now a refugee in Syria, confirmed the actions. "Today a family [name withheld] arrived from Dora/Mualimeen street, and they said some terrorists knocked on their door and when they opened the door they were told to either pay money [jizya] or support the insurgents or convert to Islam, or leave the house within 24 hours or else be killed," the individual said.
AINA had reported several weeks earlier that the practice was beginning. The organization said then that "at least" two cases had been reported to the government in which Christian Assyrian wives had been ordered to go to a certain mosque and make payments, which "they did out of fear."
"The stated reason for the payment was 'we do the fighting and you pay to support,'" AINA said.
Such tributes have been collected since the arrival of Islam in 630 A.D., but the last systematic collection by the Turks came to an end in 1918 when the Ottoman empire was defeated and partitioned at the conclusion of World War I.
A report from Assist News said that the names of the individuals who have spoken up were being withheld to protect them from retaliatory actions.
Christians in Iraq repeatedly have sought help from American political leaders, demonstrating in front of the White House just a few months ago to highlight the persecution under which they suffer. Although they represent just 5 percent of the Iraqi population, 40 percent of the refugees fleeing Iraq are Christian.
One of the speakers at the rally, Nina Shea of Freedom House's Center for Religious Freedom in D.C., told WND that because of the "ethnic cleansing," the Christians want an autonomous district in Iraq they can administrate.
Among the atrocities documented just in recent months:
- Father Paulos Eskandar, of Mor Afrem Syriac Orthodox Church, was kidnapped Oct. 9 by Muslims and decapitated two days later. He was murdered despite Christians fulfilling a demand to post a text on the church doors condemning the pope's statement about Islam.
- On Oct. 4, a car bomb detonated in a Christian area and killed nine people, including Georges Zara, member of the Assyrian Chaldean Syriac National Council.
- A 14-year-old boy was crucified and stabbed in the stomach, mimicking what was done to Jesus, in Albasra.
- On Oct. 21, in Baquba, a group of veiled Muslims attacked a workplace where a 14-year-old boy named Ayad Tariq worked. The men asked the boy for his identity card. After seeing he was Christian the men asked whether he was a "dirty Christian sinner." Ayad answered: "Yes, I am Christian, but I am not a sinner." The rebels yelled he was a dirty Christian sinner and continued to grab him and to scream, "Allahu, Akbar! Allahu, Akbar!" The boy then was decapitated.
- In August, 13 Assyrian Christian women in Baghdad were kidnapped and murdered.
- In January, churches were bombed in Basra and Baghdad.
Shea said she has been raising the plight of the Iraqi
Christians with the U.S. government for several years, including in a
face-to-face meeting with President Bush in her role as a member of the
U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.
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FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU
Christian bookstore bombed by terrorists
Sword of Islam group takes credit at shop funded by U.S. Protestants
TEL AVIV – A Palestinian group today bombed a Christian bookstore in the Gaza Strip in the latest targeting of Christians in territories evacuated by Israel and now controlled by the Palestinians.
A group calling itself the Sword of Islam claimed responsibility for the blast, which targeted a store funded by American Protestants that exclusively sold Christian books. Two nearby Internet cafes were also bombed.
The Sword of Islam has previously stated it is allied with al-Qaida and is seeking to impose an Islamist theocracy in the Gaza Strip. It has taken credit in recent months for the bombings and attempted bombings of Internet cafes, music stores, pool holes and other establishments considered secular. Palestinian security officials say the Sword of Islam is an offshoot of the Gaza-based Popular Resistance Committees terror organization.
Sheik Abu Saqer, a prominent Gaza-based preacher and leader of the Jihadia Salafiya Islamic outreach movement, claimed to WND the Christian bookstore was "proselytizing and attempting to convert our people."
"As a principle we believe that Jews and Christians will always do everything in order to keep Muslims far from their religion," Abu Saqer said.
Christian persecution trend in West Bank, Gaza
The bookstore bombing was the latest targeting of Christians in Palestinian cities evacuated by Israel. In November, a church in the Gaza Strip was badly damaged in a fire security officials attributed to local Islamist groups.
In September, Palestinian gunmen attacked and set fire to the Young Men's Christian Association headquarters in Qalqiliya, a large West Bank city controlled by Hamas. Qalqiliya was previously administered by Israel, but was handed to the Palestinian Authority as part of the 1993 Oslo Accords.
One political source in the city told WND at the time of the attack, "the identity of the attackers is well known to Hamas. We don't expect the Hamas-controlled police, the Hamas city council or the Hamas Interior Ministry to do anything about this attack."
The source called the arson a "warning to YMCA's and Christian groups in the Palestinian areas that they are not safe."
One Christian leader, an aide to Jerusalem's Latin Patriarch Michel Sabah who asked his name be withheld out of fear of Muslim retaliation, called the threats against Qalqiliya's YMCA part of a general trend of Christian persecution in Palestinian areas.
"It's been happening all over the West Bank and Gaza," said the aide.
There have been rampant reports of abuses and persecution in several West Bank towns taken over by the PA.
Anti-Christian riots have been reported in Ramallah, Nazareth and surrounding villages, as well as in towns in Gaza. In Bethlehem, local Christians have long complained of anti-Christian violence. The city's Christian population, once 90 percent, declined drastically since the PA took control in December 1995. Christians now make up less than 25 percent of Bethlehem, according to Israeli surveys.
Some analysts called the recent bombings of secular and Christian institutions in Gaza recent indications Hamas may be seeking to impose Islamic rule on the Palestinian population.
Israeli officials say Hamas in the Gaza Strip has established hard-line Islamic courts and created the Hamas Anti-Corruption Group, which is described as a kind of "morality police" operating within Hamas' organization. Hamas has denied the existence of the group, but it recently carried out a high-profile "honor killing" widely covered by the Palestinian media.
A Hamas-run council in the West Bank came under international criticism last year when it barred an open-air music and dance festival, declaring it was against Islam.
Hamas chieftain: West can learn from Islamic values
In response to the uproar, Hamas chief in Gaza and the group's former foreign minister Mahmoud al-Zahar told WND: "I hardly understand the point of view of the West concerning these issues. The West brought all this freedom to its people but it is that freedom that has brought about the death of morality in the West. It's what led to phenomena like homosexuality, homelessness and AIDS."
Asked if Hamas is seeking to impose hard-line Islamic law on the Palestinians, al-Zahar responded, "The Palestinian people are Muslim people, and we do not need to impose anything on our people because they are already committed to their faith and religion. People are free to choose their way of life, their way of dress and behavior."
Al-Zahar said his terror group, which demands strict dress codes for females, respects women's rights.
"It is wrong to think that in our Islamic society there is a lack of rights for women. Women enjoy their rights. What we have, unlike the West, is that young women cannot be with men and have relations outside marriage. Sometimes with tens of men. This causes the destruction of the family institution and the fact that many kids come to the world without knowing who are their fathers or who are their mothers. This is not a modern and progressed society," al-Zahar explained.
The terror chieftain told WND the West can learn from his group's Islamic values.
"Here I refer to what was said in the early '90s by Britain's Prince Charles at Oxford University. He spoke about Islam and its important role in morality and culture. He said the West must learn from Islam how to bring up children properly and to teach them the right values."
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YOUR GOVERNMENT AT WORK
'Gay'-rights bill lets court define church's 'purpose'
'Most sweeping and culturally devastating law in Oregon history, establishing pagan morality'
A plan being shoved down a fast track in the Oregon Legislature would give homosexuals a vast range of new state laws they could use to impose their moral perspective on Christians across the state, according to opponents who fear for their speech and religious expression rights.
Senate Bill 2, on its face, is written to enshrine in state law special protections for homosexuals by classifying them as a protected civil rights group. But hundreds of pastors – whose churches include tens of thousands of evangelical Christians – are horrified by what they see advancing virtually without opposition.
"Senate Bill 2, in the Oregon House of Representatives, if passed, will limit your free speech rights and rights of conscience; require public schools to teach that homosexual/lesbian/bisexual behavior is 'okay' and 'moral'; impact your rights as a business owner; and put judges in authority on certain church matters," according to David Crowe, of the Christian ministry called Restore America.
"This bill is arrogantly, defiantly and deceptively crafted to accomplish a lot more than what it is saying," he told WND. "It definitely adds sexual orientation to the list of protected civil rights groups.
"But there is verbiage in the bill and the verbiage has to do with the primary purpose of a church. They're seeking really to gain a foothold for homosexuals into the Christian church with the court's approval," he said.
"It's more than the nose of the camel, they want the whole camel in the tent to ruminate around however they would like," he said. "The word we've gotten from attorneys is that of all the bills around the country this is the worst," Crowe said.
"The bottom line this is a total effort by the left to subvert our morality, our Judeo-Christian morality and impose on us a morality they consider superior. What it is really is challenging everything we as Christians stand for."
The bill would affect churches even though it has a so-called church exemption, he said, because it would require every church operation that isn't directly in support of its primary mission goal to be subject to mandatory homosexual hiring requirements and other restrictions.
And it would leave the determination of what is in support of a church's primary mission to be determined by a secular judge. It is possible, for example, that a lesbian could sue a church if not hired to be a pastor's secretary.
For Christian business owners, it would require them to hire and promote homosexuals irrespective of the religious beliefs the owner might hold -- or whether the employee agrees with the products, in a Christian bookstore for example.
For parents, it means their children in public schools would be subject to the state-sponsored and state-required indoctrination that the homosexual lifestyle choice is moral – even if the parents hold religious beliefs that contradict that.
"The law – and this is onerous – has a clause that talks about developing a program of education to change our attitudes," Crowe said. "To change our attitudes? Is it the government's business to change attitudes? But that's precisely what's in the bill."
"They want to put into law [their] view of morality, and that's a small minority view of morality. They are seeking to impose that on the rest of us," he said.
Nearly 500 Christian pastors from across the state recently gathered with representatives of the Legislature to express their opposition to the proposal, and afterwards issued a statement that the law, if approved, would be "the most sweeping and culturally devastating law in Oregon history, establishing pagan morality under the guise of a 'civil right,' and imposing it upon all Oregonians under the cover of 'law.'"
Crowed noted that of the 14 states that have added "sexual orientation" to their protected classes, all except Senate Bill 2 provide clear protection for churches. "Not one includes wording that allows courts to determine the 'primary purpose' of a church, but SB 2 does," he noted.
"The majority of our legislators have chosen to believe the lie that those who engage in homosexual activity cannot help themselves, and that they are being unjustly and wrongly discriminated against, when in fact, neither is true," Crowe said.
The proposal "clearly opens the door to liberal judges to redefine and decide the 'primary purpose' of a church, and violates the rights of everyone," said Crowe, who recommends people sign a petition to encourage legislators to oppose the plan.
The governor had appointed a commission to study the issue, but included only representatives of liberal or "gay" churches, leaving members of 2,500 Bible-believing and teaching churches unrepresented on the panel, he said.
Individual leaders from Christian organizations already have begun contacting not only their lawmakers, but Gov. Ted Kulongoski too.
A letter from Vernon M. Marks, superintendent of the Oregon Assemblies of God churches, told Kulongoski that the more than 30,000 members of those churches are urging the rejection of the plan.
His letter told the governor the bills will:
- Violate the very moral and ethical foundations of our
culture.
- Restrict the rights of our citizens to make moral
distinctions and to speak freely.
- Disregard fundamental biblical guidelines for the
sanctity of traditional family.
- Promote dysfunctional family structures that will rob
the next generation.
- Ignore the overwhelming vote of Oregonians to
preserve traditional marriage.
- Discriminate against parents raising mentally and
physically challenged adult children.
- Provide special rights for a few and ignore the civil
rights of the majority of Oregonians.
- Discriminate against parental moral values and
convictions.
- Promote behaviors that clearly violate common sense
and social stability.
- Will create a huge strain on Oregonians economically.
- Will elevate the already taxed judicial system in
dealing with lawsuits over these issues.
- Infringe on the constitutional protection of the free
exercise of religion.
John Fortmeyer, publisher of the Christian News Northwest reported that the Legislature has given the appearance of allowing public input, but it doesn't appear to impact any decisions.
Nick Graham of the Oregon Family Council told him a March hearing on the plan lasted seven hours and had 126 people register to oppose it. Sixty-five supported it.
"We had fantastic testimony in opposition, such as from legal firms and executive pastors," Graham said. "But to no avail, that evening, the bill was passed out of committee and sent to the floor of the Senate ... We were given the appearance of public input, but ultimately it meant nothing."
"Also, PRAY!" said a message from Marks to the church group's pastors. "This is possibly the most dangerous piece of legislation to come from Oregon's legislature."
The Constitution Party said the plan is a "recipe for civil war."
"Everyone should read this legislation. It clearly gives those who choose non-traditional sexual behavior preference over those with traditional moral values," said state Chairman Jack Brown. "This legislation will lock religious people inside their church buildings and let perversion occupy the rest of the landscape!"
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