Terry Jones, the Quran-burning controversial Florida pastor, called this afternoon for the United States to stop allowing Muslims to immigrate into the country.

In brief remarks witnessed by only a few people at the Dearborn City Hall, Jones also advocated the government regularly monitor mosques to make sure they are not a place of “propaganda of Islam.”

“Sharia must be banned in America,” Jones said, referring to the religious law practiced by some Muslims in other countries.

Jones spoke for about 20 minutes before a crowd of about 50. Many were protesters from the group By Any Means Necessary (BAMN), which has dogged Jones during his repeated trips to the area. Numerous media also were attending the event, which drew the attention of about two dozen police officers. Muslims were noticeably absent from the crowd.

Jones, wearing a bulletproof vest, was returning after his attempt to protest in from of the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn in April was aborted by a court fight that resulted in his jailing after he refused to pay a $1 “peace bond” to the court.

Opposing Jones were protesters from BAMN who chanted “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Terry Jones has got to go” and carried signs, including some saying, “Honk against anti-Muslim Bigotry” and “Stop Terry Jones, Defend the Arab International Festival.”

Jones, who has said he will not burn a Quran while here, also plans to speak at the 16th annual Dearborn Arab International Festival.

Jones, the 59-year-old pastor of the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla., is expected to be joined by Christian missionaries who have attended the festival in the past as part of their efforts to convert Muslims to Christianity.

Detroit News, 17 June 2011

See also Jeff T. Wattrick, “Anti-Islamic pastor Terry Jones calls for ban on Islamic immigration, claims free speech violates his free speech”, MLive.com, 17 June 2011

Update:  See “6 Arrested as mob rushes Terry Jones at Arab Festival in Dearborn”, Dearborn Patch, 17 June 2011

“Following widespread ridicule of the suggestion that Anthony Weiner may have secretly converted to Islam as part of a socialist plot to orchestrate a Muslim takeover of the USA, the conspiracy-mongerers are now settling on the idea that Weiner’s wife Huma Abedin – who works as an aide to Hilary Clinton – may be a spy for the Muslim Brotherhood.”

Richard Bartholomew has the details.

See also Sheila Musaji, “Abedin/Weiner marriage and dumb ‘Muslim plots'”, The American Muslim, 17 June 2011

Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich’s comments comparing Muslims to Nazis at the GOP debate Monday night have sparked a firestorm in the blogosphere, where liberals, and even some conservatives, have pounced on the former House speaker for what they view as excessive fear mongering.

“Of course Newt is taking it too far. He is appealing to the basest instincts of a very small minority of folks,” said Matthew Dowd, ABC News consultant who served as chief strategist on George W. Bush’s 2004 re-election team. “Either he is doing this for political purposes to distract people from a campaign in disarray, which is bad, or he actually believes it, which is scary.”

ABC News Radio, 15 June 2011

The days and weeks leading up to Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford) hearing on the radicalization of Muslim-Americans back in March was filled with heated rallies and protest. Protesters called the hearing “un-American” and said investigating one community brought them back to the days of “McCarthyism”.

Going into Wednesday’s second hearing concerning radicalization in the prison system before the Homeland Security Committee, which King chairs, the tone has died down considerably. But there is still concern in the Muslim community and other religious groups that these hearings are disenfranchising Muslim-Americans.

“The congressman’s focus on the whole community, singling out one community for this hearing is not right,” Dr. Faroque Khan, a member of the board of trustees for the Islamic Center of Long Island, told the Press. “It sends the wrong message, it’s counterproductive, it’s not going to accomplish anything, and it basically violates the first amendment; that he’s attacking the religion.”

The Muslim-American community gathered at the Islamic Center of Long Island on Tuesday for one of the few protest leading up to the congressman’s second hearing.

Dr. Shaik Ubaid, co-chairman of the New York Chapter of Muslim Peace Coalition Committee said in a phone interview that religious groups decided to hold discussions at the community level “rather than giving congressman King some free publicity”.

Ubaid, who was an active protester during King’s first hearing, said these hearings could do more harm than good. He cited other violent gangs in prison that are prevalent across the country, and questioned why the congressman is only investigating Muslims in prisons.

“What is the motivation of the hearing?” he said. “It’s not going to make the country any safer. It’s just going to stereotype and increase more polarization in the country.”

Long Island Press, 15 June 2011

See also “Law enforcement officials at King hearing claim radical Islam infiltrating US prisons”, Fox News, 15 June 2011

The National Jewish Democratic Council blasted what it said was a Republican “obsession” with Muslims.

An NJDC statement termed as “utterly unnecessary” a second hearing convened Wednesday by Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), the chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Commitee, on Muslim radicalization.

“Taken together with examples such as Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s and Herman Cain’s deeply disturbing comments in Monday night’s debate, these hearings are a manifestation of an upsetting GOP obsession with American Muslims,” the statement said.

In the GOP presidential debate Monday, Gingrich defended proposed loyalty tests for Muslims by likening them to past loyalty tests aimed at ferreting out communists and Nazis. Cain attempted to explain past comments in which he said he would not be comfortable with including a Muslim in his Cabinet.

“Once again, King has singled out the adherents of the Muslim faith, calling into question the loyalty of an entire community,” NJDC said. “All Americans who treasure the freedom of religion should be concerned with the growing suspicion of Muslim Americans by the Republican Party, which seems to be a requirement among its 2012 contenders.”

JTA, 15 June 2011

Sheila Musaji responds to an article by Eliana Benador, former president of the now-defunct neo-con PR firm Benador Associates, which takes demented right-wing fantasies about the Muslim takeover of the USA to a new level.

The American Muslim, 14 June 2011

See also Bartholomew’s Notes on Religion, 14 June 2011