Category Archives: Right wing

Pa. lawmaker’s anti-Muslim comment derails measure

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Daryl MetcalfeHARRISBURG, Pa. — State lawmakers Wednesday held up voting on a resolution in recognition of a Muslim group’s upcoming convention after a legislator protested that “the Muslims do not recognize Jesus Christ as God.”

Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, a Republican from Butler County, north of Pittsburgh, said he opposed the House’s formal recognition of this weekend’s 60th annual convention in Harrisburg of the U.S. chapter of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. “The Muslims do not recognize Jesus Christ as God and I will be voting negative,” he said on the House floor.

The two-page resolution, sponsored by Speaker Dennis O’Brien, a Republican from Philadelphia, noted that the convention’s mission was to “increase faith and harmony and introduce various humanitarian, social and religious services.”

The remarks by Metcalfe drew a rebuke from Democratic Rep. Jewell Williams of Philadelphia. “We should be careful in making these remarks and we should support all people in America,” Williams said.

A Jewish lawmaker, Democratic Rep. Babette Josephs of Philadelphia, also protested and said she would seek to have Metcalfe’s remarks stricken from the official record. She said Metcalfe’s position places a religious test on House resolutions, which generally clear the chamber quickly and unanimously.

“I wonder what I would not also qualify for – being on the floor myself?” she said later. “Having the right to vote? Having the right to practice my religion? That’s what I was responding to. And we have other people who are not Jewish and not Christian on the floor – some elected, some not.”

Associated Press, 19 June 2008

See also “CAIR: Penn. Muslims ask legislature to reject religious ‘litmus test'”, CAIR press release, 19 June 2008

Christian Right intervenes in Birmingham ‘no go’ area

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Christian_Voice

Christians from all over the country were gathering in Birmingham today following claims that two ministers were ejected by police for preaching the word of Jesus. Followers from Christian Voice have accused West Midlands Police for turning the predominately Muslim area of Alum Rock into a no-go zone for non-Muslims.

The Carmarthen-based group was heading into Alum Rock today to distribute Christian leaflets and share the Gospel with passers-by. Stephen Green, national director of Christian Voice, said: “We are coming to preach the Gospel and to show West Midlands Police that they cannot create a Muslim ghetto for the Gospel.”

A spokeswoman said: “West Midlands Police would like to reiterate its reassurance to all communities that there are not any ‘no go’ areas in the West Midlands Police area and we will defend the rights of all individuals’ lawful rights to freedom of expression and religion.”

Faith leaders also stood side by side to deny that Alum Rock had become a no-go area for non-Muslims. Members of the Church of England, Catholic and Islamic faiths issued a message of solidarity to say a lot of work had been done to bring the communities together. Diane Dawson, a volunteer at Our Lady of the Rosary and St Therese Church, said: “We live in a community of different beliefs.”

Birmigham Mail, 13 June 2008

Atheism as a cover for racism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“I don’t much care if people think I’m thick because I believe in God. But what’s really nasty here – and it’s a part of a growing phenomenon – is the way religion is being used as a subtle code for race.

“Belief in God is alive and well in Africa and in the Middle East and declining in western Europe. Writing about the intelligence of religious believers has, for some, become a roundabout way of commenting on the intelligence of those with darker skins whilst seeking to avoid the charge of racism. Religion is being used with a nod and a wink, cover for some rather dodgy and dangerous politics.

“The BNP, for example, has started using religion as a category of racial designation so as to deflect charges of racism. For instance, they seek to defend something called ‘Christian Britain’. But what they really mean is ‘no Muslims’ – and that really means ‘no Asians’. The fact that these categories are not in any way equivalent does not detract from the message the BNP is sending by using them in the way they do….

“The debate between believers and non-believers – a debate that gets terribly hot on this site sometimes – is not made any more civil by the addition of this unpleasant inflection. Which is why believers and unbelievers (even those who think people like me are idiotic enough to have given their life to the great flying spaghetti monster) ought to unite against this way of thinking about our differences. ”

Giles Fraser at Comment is Free, 12 June 2008

‘Britain’s virtual caliphate takes shape’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Extremist Muslims are making ingenious use of the internet to create a ‘virtual caliphate’ in Britain, according to a scary report by a former Al-Jazeera journalist published today. The report – produced by the Centre for Social Cohesion, a dynamic new think tank – demonstrates a crucial paradox: that the UK’s most barbaric medieval religious creed [sic] is also its most modern, in terms of its understanding of technology.”

Damian Thompson at Holy Smoke, 11 June 2008

Muslim parents to blame for children turning to extremism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Dr Farhan Nizami CBE, a key adviser on Islam to the Prince of Wales, accused British Muslims of failing to make sure their children learn to speak English or supporting them in their education. He said this leaves them alienated from mainstream society and exposed to being groomed by radical Islamic groups.

It is the first time Dr Nizami, the director of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, which has links with Oxford University, has spoken out about the failure of Muslims to integrate with British society. His comments come just weeks after the Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, warned that radical Islam is filling the “moral vacuum” created by the decline of Christian values in Britain. Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, Dr Nizami said Muslims would never play a full role in British society until they improved their education, language and aspirations.

Inayat Bunglawala, spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain, said: “There is really no question regarding the central importance of parents taking an active interest in the better education of their children. But we need to be cautious of putting too much blame on parents for the actions of their children. As we have seen in the cases of the 7/7 bombers and terrorists who have been convicted since then, many of them were extremely adept at deceiving their closest family relatives about their intentions.”

Daily Telegraph, 11 June 2008

See Azad Ali’s comments at Between the Lines, 11 June 2008

Friendswood principal backed in Islam flap

Posted on by Bob Pitt

About 200 Friendswood residents, divided over a junior high principal’s decision to let an Islamic group make a presentation to students last month, packed Tuesday night’s school board meeting as the governing body considered whether to ban any future religious presentations by outsiders.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations in Houston sought permission to address the mostly Anglo student body at Friendswood Junior High after a Muslim student was stuffed head-first into a trash can by a classmate. Principal Robin Lowe agreed to the 40-minute PowerPoint presentation on the basic beliefs of Islam, which drew howls of protest from some parents, talk radio hosts and Christian clergy.

Last week, Lowe requested and received a new central administration job because she felt the controversy made continuing at the junior high impossible, Superintendent Trish Hanks said.

Most who spoke Tuesday blasted the school board and Hanks for not supporting Lowe.

“I ask that you as a board take certain actions — reinstate Robin Lowe with a suitable and public apology,” said longtime Friendswood resident Tom Burke, drawing a loud burst of applause and whoops of approval from the audience. “Pledge to listen to the wishes of the large, but all too silent majority, and close your ears to the vocal minority. This community has been embarrassed. You can turn that around and make yourselves and your community proud.”

Other speakers, however, accused CAIR of having links to terrorism.

Houston Chronicle, 10 June 2008

See also “R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Religious persecution, not lessons in tolerance and diversity, should spark outrage”, Houston Chronicle, 7  June 2008

‘Hazel Blears says sidelining of Christianity is common sense’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

It is “common sense” for Christianity to be sidelined at the expense of Islam, a Government minister claimed on Sunday. Hazel Blears, the Communities Secretary, defended Labour’s policy on religion after a report backed by the Church of England claimed that Muslims receive a disproportionate amount of attention.

She said it was right that more money and effort was spent on Islam than Christianity because of the threat from extremism and home-grown terrorism.

Ms Blears told BBC Radio 4’s Sunday programme: “That’s just common sense. If we’ve got an issue where we have to build resilience of young Muslim men and women to withstand an extremist message.”

She added: “We live in a secular democracy. That’s a precious thing. We don’t live in a theocracy, but we’ve always accepted that hundreds of thousands of people are motivated by faith. We live in a secular democracy but we want to recognise the role of faith.”

The Church of England bishop responsible for the report, the Rt Rev Stephen Lowe, Bishop for Urban Life and Faith, said afterwards: “She said we live in a secular democracy. That comes as news to me – we have an established Church, but the Government can’t deal with Christianity.”

As The Daily Telegraph reported on Saturday, the landmark report commissioned by the Church and written by academics at the Von Hugel Institute accuses ministers of paying only “lip service” to Christianity and marginalising the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches, while focusing “intently” on Islam.

Daily Telegraph, 9 June 2008

The idea that Blears’ targeting of British Muslims as a suspect community amounts to discriminating in favour of Islam against Christianity is of course laughable.

Nevertheless, Mad Mel is appalled:

“Here is a government minister endorsing the sidelining of the founding faith of her country by an aggressively colonising religion whose adherents are determined that it should supplant that founding faith – and boasting that she is giving it British taxpayers’ money to do so in the name of defeating religious extremism…. The root of this madness is the government’s refusal to acknowledge the essence of the problem. Crippled by tunnel vision in which it sees al Qaeda alone as beyond the pale because the only threat the government recognises is terrorism, it fails to see that the other half of the attack is the attempt by Islamists to colonise the cultural sphere and transform Britain into an Islamic state.”

Melanie Phillip’s blog, 9 June 2008

Sun ‘exposes’ MuslimYouth.net

Posted on by Bob Pitt

An Islamic website which backs suicide bombers got a £35,000 Government grant – a month before the anniversary of the 7/7 attacks. Muslimyouth.net carries dozens of rants by fanatics on its “support group” site.

One member wrote of suicide missions: “If you can blow dozens of people up at the same time, great, absolutely great.” And in another vile message a member PRAISED a beheading video of British hostage Ken Bigley. It said: “I like the beheading videos of the prisoners of war – especially the Daniel Pearl and Ken Bigley one.”

But the Department for Communities and Local Government agreed to fund the group’s film on problems faced by UK Muslims.

Sun, 9 June 2008

Government ‘discriminates against Christianity in favour of Islam’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Christianity is being discriminated against by the Government in favour of Islam and other minority faiths, according to a landmark Church of England report.

The highly critical report, titled Moral, But No Compass – a twist on Mr Brown’s claim to have a “moral compass” – carries significant weight as it has been endorsed by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York and expresses the views of three-quarters of the Church’s bishops.

It echoes claims made by the Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, last week that the decline of Christian values is destroying Britishness and has created a “moral vacuum” which radical Islam is filling.

Daily Telegraph, 7 June 2008

See also Daily Mail, 7 June 2008