muslim

There is a reason why Bryan Fischer really likes the candidacy of Herman Cain, and it is because Cain and Fischer hold many of the same bigoted views.

Over the weekend, Cain reinforced this fact when he told Chris Wallace of Fox News that communities ought to be able to ban the construction of mosques:

WALLACE: But couldn’t any community then say they don’t want a mosque in our community?

CAIN: They could say that. Chris, lets go back to the fundamental issue that the people are basically saying they’re objecting to. They’re objecting to the fact Islam is both a religion and a set of laws, Sharia law. That’s the difference between any one of our other traditional religions where it’s just about religious purposes. The people in the community know best, and I happen to side with the people in Murfreesboro.

WALLACE: You’re saying any community, if they want to ban a mosque?

CAIN: Yes. They have a right to do that. That’s not discriminating based upon religion.

Fischer, of course, loved it precisely because he has been calling on communities to ban the building of mosques for a year now.

In addition, Cain and Fischer both share a view that Muslims ought to be banned from serving in any presidential administration; a position Fischer reiterated on his program last Friday:

So good for Herman Cain. He started off strong when it came to the Muslim deal - will not have a Muslim in my cabinet, he tried to finesse that, walk it back; shouldn't have done it, should have held firm.

I mean, there's no way a Muslim should be in anybody's cabinet in the United States of America because their ultimate devotion is not to the Constitution, it is to sharia law. That's what their God, their holy book and their prophet tell them is the highest law in the land. That's where their ultimate allegiance is going to be. It's impossible for them to take an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States and to be able to do that with any sort of a clear conscience.

It is of concern to anyone else that a Republican presidential candidate holds views that are exactly the same as those espoused by the Religous Right's most notorious bigot? 

It ought to be.

People keep asking Herman Cain about his statement that he would not appoint any Muslims to serve in his cabinet if elected president, and Cain just keeps lying about it as happened again earlier this week when Cain was asked about it by the BBC's Matthew Wells, as Think Progress reports:

Wells: You said you wouldn’t have a Muslim in your cabinet two weeks ago. Is that still your position?

CAIN: That wasn’t a statement I made. Let’s get it right. I was asked if I would be comfortable, and my response was I would not be comfortable with a terrorist in my cabinet. Not all Muslims are terrorists, but a lot of the terrorists are Muslims, so I just have to be real careful about who I put in my cabinet.

Think Progress lays out how Cain's explanation has evolved over time as he has tried to distance himself from his original position, but for some reason nobody ever asks Cain about the unmistakable statement he made in the early days of this controversy when he openly bragged to Bryan Fischer that "I wouldn't have Muslims in my administration":

Cain: I have been upfront, which ruffles some feathers, but remember Bryan, being politically correct is not one of my strong points; I come at it straight from the heart and straight from the way I see it. And the comment that I made the become controversial, and that my staff keeps hoping will die, is that I wouldn't have Muslims in my administration. And it's real simple: the Constitution does not have room for sharia law. I want people who are going to believe and enforce the Constitution of the United States of America. And so I don't have time, as President of the United States, to try and screen people based upon their religious beliefs - I really don't care what your religious beliefs are, but I do know that most of the people of the Muslim faith, they believe in sharia law. And to introduce that element as part of an administration when we have all of these other issues, I think I have a right to say that I won't.

Cain has been asked about his statement dozens of times, and every time he insists that he merely said he would be not be "comfortable" with having terrorists serve in his administration.

But that claim is absurdly false, as the above video proves. 

So if reporters are going to keep asking Cain about his position, can they at least follow up his stock answer by asking him about the very clear statement he delivered to Fischer that he "wouldn't have Muslims in my administration" and that he has every "right to say that I won't."

In 2010, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca was honored with a "Courage In Leadership" award from the Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.  Baca was unable to attend the event in person so he sent a video message praising CAIR for their efforts and thanking the group for the award.

And since every Muslim is a terrorist, it only stands to reason that anti-Islam activists like Gary Cass of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission are now demanding that Baca be fired immediately:

Many have United States citizens have fled to America after violence was directed at them for their Christian faith. Sheriff Baca’s praise for an organization with known ties to Islamic terrorism is outrageous and is an affront to all the victims of Islamic terror. This infiltration of law enforcement by those with sympathies for organizations that support Muslim violence is terrifying for Christians who have fled to the U.S. because of Muslim violence. Sheriff Baca must go!

On July 29th at 11:00am I will be attending the next L.A. Country Board of Supervisor's meeting, and calling on them to fire Sheriff Baca ... Join us as we work with other ministries and organizations to stop the infiltration of law enforcement by the Muslim Brotherhood.

As Brian mentioned in the last post, the Religious Right is none-too-pleased about the passage of a bill that would make sure textbooks recognize the contributions of prominent LGBT figures in California history.

So it was no surprise that it was a topic of discussion on today's broadcast of the AFA Report where Ed Vitagliano said that gay men are "abusing the nature of the design of the human body" while Jeremy Wiggins was outraged that they would allow such things into school before comparing gay sex to using a screwdriver to open paint cans:

Vitagliano: Our perspective here at AFA has been not only a biblical one, we've made this point numerous times, but it is also a physiological, a biological, a natural law perspective. And that perceptive is humankind is divided into male and female and the male and female have different - you know, I don't want to make this a biology lesson - but different organs that are designed for, well, intercourse. And so the fact of the matter is homosexuals can only imitate that and this is the primary reason why the sexually transmitted disease rates and infection rates are so high in, especially, the gay male community. They are abusing their body and they are abusing the nature of the design of the human body.

And so you don't even have to be a Christian or an orthodox Jew or a Muslim to argue against the unnaturalness of homosexual activity. We're not saying that people should be beaten up because they're gay or persecuted because they're homosexual, we're just simply saying that our society should not develop as a worldview that this is a natural and normal and healthy activity, because it's not.

Wiggins: When you look at the standards for the paste or the crayons that go into a classroom, how stringent the government is on the materials that a child can use because of health and safety regulations, but they want to teach a child that it's okay to be gay even though you can catch something that will kill you in a most horrific way that I wouldn't wish on anyone.

And also, when you use something - just to piggyback off of Ed - when you use something that it's not designed for, bad things happen. Why do you think they tell you don't use your screwdriver to open up paint can lids? It wasn't designed for that. It could break. And that's what we're seeing. You go against the unnatural [sic] state of things and things break down.

In a story first reported by Brian Kaylor of EthicsDaily.com, James Robison has been bringing social conservative activists and televangelists from across the country together to strategize on how to prevent President Barack Obama from winning reelection. A who’s who of Religious Right leaders, including Don Wildmon, Tony Perkins, Richard Land, Rod Parsley, Jerry Boykin, Jim Garlow, Daniel Lapin, Kenneth Copeland, Harry Jackson and Sam Rodriguez attended the gathering hosted by Robison.

According to Kaylor’s report, Robison called the meetings an “absolute necessity and one of the ways the people of God’s Kingdom can leave His footprints on planet Earth, impacting our own great nation.” Robison, who was Mike Huckabee’s mentor and host of Life Today, recently spoke with Texas Gov. Rick Perry about how the economic crisis was needed to turn America back to God. Wildmon and Garlow are both closely involved in organizing Perry’s The Response prayer rally and Kaylor reports that the “group is connected to Republican Texas Gov. Rick Perry's plan for a large prayer rally in August.” He writes:

According to a list obtained by EthicsDaily.com, among the attendees at the meeting were several Southern Baptist leaders: Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas who recently suggested on Fox News that Obama was a Muslim; Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission; Richard Lee, pastor and the editor of the controversial The American Patriot's Bible; and former North American Mission Board head Bob Reccord, who now heads the semi-secretive group the Council for National Policy, founded by Tim LaHaye. Jerry Falwell Jr., president of Liberty University and son of the late founder of the Moral Majority, was scheduled to attend but couldn't make it.

Also attending the meeting were: Jacob Aranza, a minister who in the 1980s helped popularize the theory that rock ’n’ roll music included backmasked messages promoting drug use and sex; Vonette Bright, widow of Campus Crusade for Christ founder Bill Bright, who played a key role in conservative religious-political efforts that birthed the so-called "Religious Right"; Jerry Boykin, a former Pentagon official rebuked for violating policies by speaking in churches in uniform; Jim Garlow, chairman of Newt Gingrich's organization, Renewing American Leadership; Ruth Graham, daughter of evangelist Billy Graham; Harry Jackson, a politically active conservative pastor; David Lane, who has led several efforts to politically mobilize pastors; Ron Luce of Teen Mania Ministries; former Republican U.S. Rep. Bob McEwen; Rod Parsley, a controversial megachurch pastor who endorsed John McCain in 2008 before being rejected by McCain; Samuel Rodriguez of the National Hispanic Christian Leaders Conference; and Don Wildmon of the American Family Association.

…

Tony Perkins, president of the James Dobson-founded Family Research Council, similarly praised Robison during the June 2 broadcast. Perkins attended both the September and June meetings.

"I sensed a new leadership that the Lord has called you to, in that there is a clear recognition that America needs to turn to God," Perkins said. "But I think what you're able to do as kind of a senior statesman of the church is to call together those leaders today that are emerging, and those that are present, to bring them together because unity is the key. I know one of the conversations we had is that you prayed for that unity among us. I think if we could ever be unified and we could walk together as a body of believers in this country that we could profoundly impact this nation."

…

Robison and his group seem united in their opposition to Obama and their desire to see Obama defeated in 2012, but it remains to be seen if they can find a candidate who unites and activates them like Ronald Reagan did in 1980.

Watch Robison and Perkins explain America’s dire need for Godly leaders:

Back in April, we posted a video of Jerry Boykin warning of the dangers of so-called "Chrislam," claiming there could be no hope of creating dialogue between Christians and Muslims and warning Christian not to allows Muslims to use their facilities for worship. 

One of the leaders Boykin cited as falling into this "Chrislam" trap was Rick Warren ... and it appears that Boykin was not alone as Michigan televangelist Jack Van Impe has now broken with Trinity Broadcasting Network claiming TBN censored him by refusing to air a program accusing Warren and others of undermining Christianity:  

Michigan televangelist Jack Van Impe ended his decades-long relationship with Trinity Broadcast Network late last week after becoming embroiled in a controversy with pastors Rick Warren and Robert H. Schuller ... Officials for TBN, based in Tustin, Calif., said they had to censor a Van Impe show set to run June 6 because he accused Warren and Schuller of trying to combine Christian and Muslim beliefs into a new movement called "Chrislam."

...

The head of TBN said he was not going to allow Van Impe to use his station to attack other religious leaders.

"It has been my position for TBN's 38 years of ministry that TBN preach(es) Christ only and that it does not become a bully pulpit for endless debate and/or criticism on/of various doctrinal issues among denominations," said Paul Crouch, president and founder of churches, ministries or individuals.

"Specifically, it has been TBN's policy not to allow its broadcast air time to be utilized for personal attacks by one Christian brother against another or to call them out by name," added Crouch in a statement.

A spokesman for Van Impe said "after much time in prayer" the Van Impes decided to part ways with TBN.

"We would not be able to minister effectively if we had to look over our shoulder wondering if a program was going to be censored because of mentioning a name," said Ken Vancil, executive director of the Jack Van Impe Ministries.

Today, TPM reports that Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain continues to distance himself from his claim that he wouldn’t allow Muslims to serve in his administration. Cain told TPM he would simply be cautious about appointing a Muslim but does not support an outright ban, which he said during a ThinkProgress interview in March:

"I am not anti-Muslim," he said. "I am anti-terrorist. And so my statement has been misconstrued several times, I've even been called a bigot because I expressed a desire to be cautious if I were to consider a Muslim for my administration. That was the intent of [the answer to ThinkProgress]."

…

"If you're trying to make me lose my cool, you are almost succeeding," Cain said, his voice rising. "I never said I would use any special precautions!"

OK, then, TPM followed up: "So a Muslim applies to be in the administration, he gets in like anybody else?" "Yes," Cain said.

But Herman Cain told Bryan Fischer the exact opposite in April, stating that he wouldn’t appoint any Muslims to his administration. Now, PolitiFact gave him a “pants on fire” rating for denying that he would refuse to appoint Muslim officials.

Watch:

Cain: I have been upfront, which ruffles some feathers, but remember Bryan, being politically correct is not one of my strong points; I come at it straight from the heart and straight from the way I see it. And the comment that I made the become controversial, and that my staff keeps hoping will die, is that I wouldn't have Muslims in my administration. And it's real simple: the Constitution does not have room for sharia law. I want people who are going to believe and enforce the Constitution of the United States of America. And so I don't have time, as President of the United States, to try and screen people based upon their religious beliefs - I really don't care what your religious beliefs are, but I do know that most of the people of the Muslim faith, they believe in sharia law. And to introduce that element as part of an administration when we have all of these other issues, I think I have a right to say that I won't.

Did Huma Abedin, a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, marry disgraced New York Rep. Anthony Weiner to usher in an Islamic, socialist, Alinskyist plot to takeover America? So says conservative Washington Times blogger Eliana Benador, who posits (in an article since pulled from the website) that the power-hungry Abedin may have married Weiner to advance the “pro-Muslim political agenda” backed by President Obama, George Soros, and her close friends Bill and Hillary Clinton, whose actions “signal their socialist agenda, which includes domination of the U.S. by a Muslim ruled world.” But their nefarious plans could be ruined by the congressman’s recent scandal.

Benador believes that Weiner may have even converted to Islam to marry Abedin, noting that no one can trust anything they say anyway because “an element of sharia that states there is a legal right and duty to distort the truth to promote the cause of Islam.” Good thing that Benador is asking the question everyone’s been thinking, “has Huma been groomed to access leading political movers and shakers to advance the cause of Islam in America, including a politically positioned marriage to Congressman Anthony Weiner?”

Congressman Weiner‘s indiscretions, however, might end up inconveniencing the present Administration’s plans. “How?” you might ask.

The clues may be found in the marriage of Huma Abedin, a devout Muslim, and Anthony Weiner, a Jew.

…

When looking broadly at the Anthony Weiner–Huma Abedin union, we have to wonder if the coupling of a Jewish American man and a Muslim woman of her pedigree was fostered by love or by a socialist political agenda.

…

Less than a year ago, in July 2010, Huma Abedin married Jewish U.S. Representative Anthony Weiner (D-NY). Attesting to the strength of her relationship with the Clintons, former President William J. Clinton officiated at the ceremony. Not unlike President Obama, the Clintons, as well as powerful politicos such as George Soros, are devotes of Saul Alinksy, who is considered “the founder of modern Community Organizing.” From my position, I clearly see that the actions of this group signal their socialist agenda, which includes domination of the U.S. by a Muslim ruled world.

Which begs the question of whether Huma Abedin been groomed by family and political leaders to carry this agenda forward? It’s noteworthy that Time Magazine listed Huma Abedin in its “40 under 40” list of the new generation of civic leaders and “rising stars in American politics.” That certainly puts her in a position to move the Alinsky-group agenda forward.

The Imam of New York has stated: “I would tell her [Huma] to be a little bit patient. In our book, if you think your wife, or husband, is doing something unacceptable, you start by counseling her.”

Counseling? For whom, Huma or Anthony? The Imam’s statement seems to state that Huma is in need.

Regardless, those are words of compromise offered by a leading Muslim Imam trying to make us forget that the Koran actually advocates stoning wives for adultery while turning a blind eye toward the sexual mis-deeds of the husband.

It is also important, when looking at this situation, to remember that observant Muslims practice Taqiyya , an element of sharia that states there is a legal right and duty to distort the truth to promote the cause of Islam.

Given the defense articulated by the Imam, which would be offered only for a Muslim man, we must believe this opportunity to remove this Muslim woman from a union with an non-believer would be quickly taken. Therefore we must consider that Mr. Weiner *may* have converted to Islam, because if he did not, we have to consider the unlikely, that being that Ms. Abedin has abandoned her Muslim faith, even while she still practices.

However, we should also bear in mind that any who are Jewish by orthodox standards will always remain Jewish, even if they have converted to another faith. This may explain rumors that Mr. Weiner went to his synagogue looking for moral support.

The question that begs to be asked, however, is, has Huma been groomed to access leading political movers and shakers to advance the cause of Islam in America, including a politically positioned marriage to Congressman Anthony Weiner?

If that is so, Anthony Weiner may be proven to be the weak link in a pro-Muslim political agenda.

And the final test of that may be in Huma Abedin’s reactions to her husband’s lack of moral principals.

Update (2:01) the article has now been pulled from The Washington Times website.

• Herman Cain has managed to make Alan Keyes seem reasonable, so that is quite an accomplishment.
• Rep. Peter King will be holding a second round of hearings on "Muslim radicalization" next week.
• Focus on the Family responds to allegations that the organization has given up the fight against gay marriage.
• It looks like Liberty University will finally get a polling place on campus.
• Finally, Gary Cass is very upset that the White House issued a proclamation recognizing LGBT Pride Month: "Christians know God is not mocked. We refuse to affirm their lie and the social chaos Obama and his allies want to impose, like redefining marriage ... Help us tell President Obama to repent for corrupting our children by publicly endorsing sinful perversion."