Tennessee

In his latest column, Matt Barber of Liberty Counsel claims that the "useful idiots on the American left represent every bit the threat to both this great republic and her unalienable freedoms as do the Muslim extremists with whom they play footsy."

Today, Barber was invited on The Matt Friedeman Show on the AFA's radio station to further elaborate during which he blasted churches that allow Muslims to use their facilities so long as the Muslims "just please try not to behead us on your way out the door" and attacked Islam as, literally, Satanic:

Given that this attitude toward Islam seems foundational among Christian conservatives, I guess it should not really come as a surprise that legislators in Tennessee have introduced a bill that makes it a felony for anyone to follow Shariah and which carries a fifteen year sentence:

A new bill in the Tennessee legislature could make following Shariah, an Islamic code of conduct, a felony with 15 years in jail.

State Senator Bill Ketron and State Representative Judd Matheny unveiled the bill in the state Senate and House, respectively, last week. Ketron and Matheny argue that Shariah is unconstitutional.

Shariah is an intricate Islamic code of conduct that rose out of Middle Eastern theocracies. It touches on all aspects of life, including justice and personal habits. Critics of the bill cite Sharia's innocuous laws, which include giving money to the poor and not eating shellfish.

After receiving support and encouragement from potential presidential candidates like Tim Pawlenty, Newt Gingrich, and Mike Pence, Ralph Reed’s new group is now courting voters by running radio ads to defeat vulnerable Democratic incumbents. Here are some of the Republican candidates that the Faith and Freedom Coalition say have “a big belief in faith and freedom,” and are hoping to elect to the US House:

• Iowa’s Brad Zaun, who is challenging Leonard Boswell, “had to be told by West Des Moines police in 2001 to stay away from a former girlfriend who had accused him of harassing her, a police report shows. The woman called police in the early morning hours in April 2001 to complain that a former boyfriend, identified as Zaun, had gone to her home and had pounded on her windows. ‘Brad yelled from outside calling her slut and other names,’ the police report states.”

• Scott DesJarlais of Tennessee was accused by his ex-wife of “harassment, intimidation and physical abuse.” Divorce records show that DesJarlais was accused of “dry firing a gun outside the Plaintiff’s locked bedroom door, admission of suicidal ideation, holding a gun in his mouth for three hours, an incident of physical intimidation at the hospital; and previous threatening behavior ... i.e. shoving, tripping, pushing down, etc.” Following the divorce, the police were called on DesJarlais for harassing his ex-wife.

• Allen West, the tea party sensation challenging Ron Klein in Florida, is closely tied to the Outlaws motorcycle gang, which is involved in criminal activity such as drug dealing and lists convicted murderers on its website as members. Members of the Outlaws are even present at his campaign stop, where they have been accused of intimidating Democratic trackers. West himself called on his campaign supporters to make his opponent “scared to come out of his house,” and was forced to leave the military after he “threatened to kill a police officer, then fired a 9mm next to his head to make the threat credible.”

• Pennsylvania’s Lou Barletta promised to make the city of Hazelton “the toughest place on illegal immigrants in America” by passing draconian laws to stop illegal immigrants from receiving housing or employment. While the Mayor became an all-star to the anti-immigrant movement, his city “has the highest unemployment rate of any city in Pennsylvania.”

Reed is running cookie-cutter ads to help their favored candidates:

It's us vs them. Big government vs a big belief in faith and freedom.  Scott DesJarlais vs Lincoln Davis.  Davis is a 'Them,' like Obama, like Pelosi. He voted for their Stimulus Plan that wasted our money, for taxpayer funded bailouts of Wall Street, for taxpayer funded abortion. DesJarlais is one of us. He says faith in God and the freedom to become all we want to be made America great. We must choose an ‘us.’ Someone who gets it, will protect our freedom and defend our faith. Please vote faith, vote freedom, vote DesJarlais. Because it’s us vs. them.

Today, The 700 Club ran a segment on the attempt by Muslims to build a new Islamic Center in Murfreesboro, Tennessee that was nothing more than a collection of baseless insinuations that funding for the development was coming from overseas and that Murfreesboro was being targeted by Muslims because it is such a strongly Christian community:

Mosque officials say the money was raised in the community. But local journalist Rebecca Bynum said she isn't convinced.

"In other mosques, like in Boston and other areas where there's been huge mosques built, the funding did come from overseas, principally from Saudi Arabia, rich individuals from countries like Saudi Arabia and the UAE," she said.

Murfreesboro is not alone. two more mega-mosques are now being planned for Tennessee--one in Memphis and another the town of Antioch, near Nashville.

"It does seem to be part of a larger strategy to build mosques in rural areas and create Islamic communities--large Islamic communities--in rural areas for some larger purpose," said Bynum, a columnist for the New English Review

 

Cardoza-Moore believes the purpose is clear in middle Tennessee.

"You have Bible book publishers, you have Christian book publishers, you have Christian music headquartered here," she said. "So this is where the Gospel message goes out. And the radical Islamic extremists have stated that they're still fighting the Crusaders--and they see this as the capital of the Crusaders."

But nothing quite captures the absurdity of this piece like the fact that, at the end, Pat Robertson claiming that Muslims are bribing local officials in order to build these sorts of complexes while warning that Muslims are going to move into this sorts of communities in order to take over city councils so that they can turn their religious views into law. 

That, by the way, was the exact purpose of the Christian Coalition, which Robertson himself founded:

Let us offer some advice to anyone planning on attending a future "A Call to Arms" rally hosted by a right-wing radio host by the name of Ralph Bristol and TEA Party activists: even though it is being held in a church, be sure to wear your best military fatigues if you want to fit in .... and bring your gun:

An old-fashioned God and country revival broke out at Cornerstone Church in Madison [Tennessee] on Friday night, complete with patriotic songs, flag waving, and a dose of fire and brimstone about the dangers of socialism.

There was even an altar call.

But the 600 or so Christian conservatives gathered for "A Call to Arms," organized by talk show host Ralph Bristol, weren't asked to give their heart to Jesus. Instead, they were asked to sign up for conservative causes like the Tea Party Nation and the Eagle Forum, and to donate to charities like the Nashville Rescue Mission.

"You must get involved," said Judson Phillips of Tea Party Nation. "The time for sitting on the sidelines is over."

Phillips urged the crowd to fight what he called the "Obama-Pelosi-Reed axis of evil," which he believes threatens the American way of life.

"Tonight we are doing a different kind of altar call," he said. "Tonight's altar call is not for God. It's for country."

...

Toward the end of his program, Bristol replaced the Hawaiian shirt with a green army jacket and baseball cap with the American flag on it, to play a character called Sgt. Bristol. He gave his audience marching orders to slay the socialist monster.

One thing Bristol didn't carry was a firearm. He had thought about bringing one to church as part of his uniform but decided against it.

"Sergeant Bristol gets pretty angry, and to be up there, wearing a gun, didn't feel right," he said.

Some of the audience wore similar uniforms, and brought their guns.

Sobota and his wife, Cindy, said they have permits to carry handguns, and brought them along to church on Friday.

"There's been a lot of fear-mongering about that," he said. "I'm probably the safest person out there, because I don't want to do anything to jeopardize my permit."