Yearly Archives: 2012

EDL member gets three months for breaking Muslim’s jaw

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Steven Crispin

Hope Not Hate reports that thanks to photographic evidence they were able to give the police, an English Defence League member, Steven Crispin, has been convicted of an attack on two Muslim brothers during an EDL anti-mosque protest in Dagenham last year, in the course of which he kicked one of the victims and fractured his jaw. Unfortunately a decision was taken not to charge Crispin with a racially aggravated offence and he received a jail sentence of just three months.

In December last year another EDL member, John McAndrew, received a 14-month custodial term to serve a minimum of seven months having been convicted of participating in the attack on the brothers. He was subsequently handed a five-year CRASBO banning him attending EDL demonstrations or entering mosques, Islamic cultural centres and Muslim festival sites.

Petition urges hate-crime probe of mosque fire

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A progressive evangelical group has launched an online petition urging the U.S. Justice Department to investigate a July 4 fire at a Missouri mosque as a potential hate crime.

Sojourners, a Washington-based organization dedicated to social justice in a Christian context, sent out an e-mail announcing the campaign July 18. It follows an earlier plea by the Council on American-Islamic Relations for state and federal hate crime investigations of a suspicious fire at the Islamic Society of Joplin, Mo.

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Why has Patrick Sookhdeo (of all people) been advising Britain’s armed forces?

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Barnabas Fund Slippery SlopeIt has been revealed that a British Ministry of Defense advisor – who helped write the “religious engagement strategy” for troops occupying the Afghan province of Kandahar – believes Islam might “be the rod of God’s anger,” raising disturbing questions for the military and the UK government.

Patrick Sookhdeo, who teaches at the UK’s Defense Academy and has served in the role of “cultural advisor” to troops in Afghanistan and southern Iraq, is also a regular speaker at events held by churches and Christian organizations internationally.

Speaking in a Washington DC church in 2007, Sookhdeo wondered if “[there is a] danger facing the West, particularly with Islam, might Islam be the rod of God’s anger?” (“Understanding Radicalization and Islamicization,” Capitol Hill Baptist Church)

In a 2009 interview, he said: “I think we need to understand that there is, in the very nature of Islam itself and its followers, an inherent sense of superiority.” He also said, “everything about the West is inimical to Islam” (“Clash of Cultures,” Australian Presbyterian [PDF]).

More recently, at a talk organized by the Family Research Council – a right-wing organization noted for attacking gay men and lesbians – Sookhdeo said that the West had removed Muammar Gaddafi in Libya only to replace him “with a political ideology rooted in a religion that wants our destruction” (“Responding to Islam: Lessons from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Karl Barth, and Bishop George Bell,” Family Research Council, 26 January 2012).

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Bachmann defends her witch hunt

Posted on by Bob Pitt

KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERARep. Michele Bachmann defended her attempt to root out “deep penetration” by the Muslim Brotherhood into the U.S. government Friday, writing a 16‑page letter explaining and expanding on her initial charges against Huma Abedin and others of being terrorist sympathizers.

Bachmann’s letter came in response to a challenge from a fellow Minnesota lawmaker, Rep. Keith Ellison, a Democrat who was the first Muslim elected to Congress. Ellison last week asked Bachmann for evidence to support a series of letters the Republican sent to five national security agencies demanding investigations into alleged Muslim Brotherhood infiltration in their ranks.

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Racism and violence from the EDL

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Rather that posting individual entries on acts of racism and violence by members of the English Defence League, here is a roundup of three cases from the past 24 hours.

EDL News reports that Sam Burgess, a member of the EDL’s Norwich Division who has been on training courses to work for the Olympics security team, has pictured himself on Facebook with a gun and posted threats against the Muslim community.

The Hull Daily Mail reports that on Saturday evening a group of youth at Hull railway station were assaulted by a man wearing a Grimsby EDL top (presumably on his way back from the EDL’s protest in Bristol).

STV reports that a Scottish Defence League member from Edinburgh named Raymond Strachan (or “Raymo Sdl Strachan” as he likes to call himself) was sentenced to 200 hours’ community service having been convicted of posting racist messages on Facebook.

Pat Robertson: Dump your Muslim girlfriend

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A 700 Club viewer asked Pat Robertson today if he should marry his Muslim girlfriend of three years even though he is a Christian, to which Robertson responded, “no way.” “She wants to do her Muslim thing and you want to do your Christian thing,” Robertson said, “walk away.” He urged him to pray for her to become a Christian, “and if that doesn’t work say, ‘I’m sorry, good bye’.” Robertson, who is no fan of Muslims, explained that it isn’t necessarily Christ-like to be “nice and friendly” as “he’s not gentle Jesus, meek and mild, he really isn’t.”

Right Wing Watch, 16 July 2012

The French minister for women has let down Muslim voters

Posted on by Bob Pitt

After the election of a Socialist government, and the appointment of a Muslim of North African heritage – Najat Vallaud-Belkacem – as minister for women’s rights, France’s Muslim community might have hoped for a reversal of Nicolas Sarkozy’s policy of pandering to Islamophobia, and in particular an overturn of the notorious “burqa ban”. So far they have been disappointed, writes Nabila Ramdani.

Comment is Free, 16 July 2012

Jerusalem: illegal settlers plan to drown out Muslim call to prayer with loud rock music

Posted on by Bob Pitt

After the French Hill neighborhood of Jerusalem has decided to play very loud music, in defiance of the volume and disturbance of the sound of the muezzin at the mosque in nearby Al-Issawiya, two additional Jewish neighborhoods, Pisgat Ze’ev and Har Choma, have announced that they, too, will take up a similar approach. French Hill also decided to go with hard rock, and not Mediterranean tunes, as had originally been planned, because, as they put it, hard rock is more likely to deliver the message.

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Mosque plan provokes complaints about noise and traffic – from people who don’t even live in the area

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Millfield mosque protest
Paul Dixon with anti-mosque protestors in January

Complaints from across Sunderland have now been registered on the city council’s website against a proposed mosque.

The controversial proposal to convert an old transport depot on St Mark’s Road, Millfield, into an Islamic place of worship has sparked a heated debate in the community as to whether it should go ahead.

If the plans get the green light, they will involve the demolition of single-storey offices, the erection of parapet walls and two brick-faced columns. But many of the neighbours have objected because they believe it will result in an increase in noise and traffic.

The application, which was submitted by the Pakistan Islamic Centre, has now drawn more than 1,000 comments on the council’s website. But while many are from people who live in Millfield, there are also objections from people in Seaburn, Southwick and Hylton.

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Posted in UK