Category Archives: Right wing

Is Congressional Christian Brotherhood group behind GOP Islamophobia?

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Capitol Minstries BachmannSheila Musaji notes that many of Congress’s leading Republican Islamophobes are members of an evangelical Christian organisation called Capitol Ministries. She writes:

“Looking through information on Capitol Ministries, it seems that they are not only anti-Muslim, but also anti-gay, and anti-Catholic. However, they seem to focus more of their venom on Muslims….

“How is it that of the 46 Congressional sponsors on Capitol Ministries list, at least 23 of them have been involved in anti-Sharia, anti-Muslim, Islamophobic activities? That’s at least 50% of the members of this group who seem to believe that it is a ‘Christian’ value to bash Muslims….

“These are people who have political power, and are using it to demean and demonize members of a minority religion.”

The American Muslim, 20 July 2012

Anti-Islamic activist dumps $100 K into Tennessee primary

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Lou Ann Zelenik for CongressA new super PAC targeting a Tennessee House primary has raised all its funds from a board member of a local anti-Islamic conservative group who is also the one-time finance chairman of one of the candidates in the race.

Citizens 4 Ethics in Government registered as a super PAC with the Federal Election Commission on July 2. Its first disclosure, filed today, shows that it has raised all of its $105,000 in funds from Andrew Miller, the owner of Nashville-based Healthmark Ventures and a conservative activist who helps lead the anti-Islamic Tennessee Freedom Coalition. The group has spent more than $30,000 so far on the 6th Congressional District primary contest between incumbent Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) and tea party activist Lou Ann Zelenik.

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Judge grants Tennessee mosque’s petition to open

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A federal judge ordered a Tennessee county on Wednesday to move ahead with opening a Muslim congregation’s newly built mosque after a two-year fight from opponents.

The Islamic Center of Murfreesboro sued Rutherford County earlier in the day and asked District Judge Todd Campbell for an emergency order to let worshippers into the building before the holy month of Ramadan starts at sundown Thursday. Federal prosecutors also filed a similar lawsuit.

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Becket Fund publishes open letter defending Murfreesboro Islamic Center

Posted on by Bob Pitt

No congregation should have its right of religious liberty curtailed solely because some of its neighbors disapprove of its religious beliefs.

In 2010, the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro sought to build a new mosque in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, where they could worship God in peace on their own property. Although it made every effort to reach out to its neighbors in friendship, the congregation was subjected to a campaign of protest and violence, including vandalism, a bomb threat, and even arson.

This campaign of violence was accompanied by a legal campaign in which the congregation’s opponents claimed that the Muslim religion – one of the world’s largest – was not really a religion, but a political movement seeking to impose “sharia” on the United States. As a result of the legal battle, a local judge has issued a ruling forbidding the congregation from entering its newly completed building. After years of following both the letter and the spirit of the law, the congregation is again seeking permission to use its building – this time in the hope that it will be permitted to do so before the start of Ramadan.

We, the undersigned, represent a diverse array of religious beliefs and have disagreements on a wide variety of theological, political, and social matters. But we are united in supporting the right of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro to gather in peace on their own property for their celebration of Ramadan.

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Republican right campaigns against Tennessee governor who appointed Muslim

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Williamson County Republican Party

Rank-and-file Republicans, including some in the party’s suburban Nashville stronghold, have condemned Gov. Bill Haslam for policies that include the hiring of gay individuals, Democrats and a Muslim-American lawyer.

At least two western Tennessee chapters of the Tennessee Republican Party – and possibly as many as eight statewide – have passed resolutions saying Haslam has shown “a consistent lack of conservative values” and calling on state party leaders to sanction the governor.

Meanwhile, the Williamson County Republican Party has passed a more narrow resolution that criticizes the governor for hiring a Tennessee-born Muslim to a trade position. The effort highlights the continued concern about Sharia, or Islamic law, among grass-roots Republicans throughout Tennessee.

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Geller unveils new advert to combat ‘Islamization of America’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Geller Spencer Islamic attacks advert

New York City train commuters may soon see new anti-Islam advertisements on the city’s Metro North line.

The American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) created an ad campaign to raise awareness about Jihadist activities against Israel and the United States, highlighting the number of Islamist attacks since Sept. 11, 2001, and a growing number of deaths that have resulted.

“19,207 deadly Islamic attacks since 9/11/01 and counting,” the ad reads. “It’s not Islamophohia, it’s Islamorealism.”

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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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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