Anti-Muslim

Today the United States Reformation Prayer Network, an organization of “prophetic voices” using “strategic targeting coordinates for reformation prayer” founded by Cindy Jacobs, sent out a prayer alert for Michigan’s Tuesday primary which warned about the state’s Muslim community. Rick Joyner of the Oak Initiative previously warned that “there is actually an attempt to make Michigan our first Muslim state,” and in the prayer alert from Anita Christopher of the Heartland Apostolic Prayer Network and the West Michigan Prayer Center made the same claim today: “There seems to be an underlying agenda by Islam to have Michigan become the first Islamic state in America.” She went on to call for Michigan to ‘come into its Kingdom destiny” and for the government to “make covenant decrees over the people.” While such a claim is absurd on its face, it appears even more ridiculous after learning that Michigan’s Muslim community represents approximately 3 percent of the state’s population:

Michigan has suffered great economic hardship for many years due to foreign competition and costs of doing business. We have historically historically [sic] been an anti-Semitic state, and hold one of the largest population of Muslims outside of the Middle East. There seems to be an underlying agenda by Islam to have Michigan become the first Islamic state in America.
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• Declare that Godly men and women will be elected who carry a Biblical worldview and have moral integrity.

• Declare that our elected leaders will stand with Israel.

• Declare that our elected leaders will uphold traditional marriage and the sanctity of life.

• Declare our elected leaders will preserve our God-given Constitution.

• Cry out for the wind of awakening to come into this region.

• Cry out for revelation for the Church to see Michigan’s issues with Kingdom mindsets.

• Decree that Michigan will come into its Kingdom destiny.

• Decree the government of Michigan will shift and begin to make covenant decrees over the people.

Last week at the Conservative Political Action Conference, James Lafferty of the Virginia Anti-Shariah Task Force spoke at Pamela Geller’s panel opposing the construction of mosques and the supposed threat of sharia law in the U.S. and bragged that while attending a hate crimes summit convened by the Department of Justice he watched “pictures of some mosque somewhere, and it was usually in the South I’m proud to say where a guy would drive a pickup truck right into the mosque.”

Today in her WorldNetDaily column, Geller responded to the “anti-freedom, pro-jihad left” for trying to “twist the meaning of remarks by one of our speakers, James Lafferty.” She then included a short statement to “set the record straight” saying that he “does not condone ore encourage nay criminal act or vandalism against any mosque” and believes in the free exercise of religion:

I have been organizing events at CPAC since I first brought Geert Wilders to the conservative confab back in 2009, but this was our most powerful one yet. The only coverage of our landmark event in defense of freedom, however, was from the anti-freedom, pro-jihad left. Islamic supremacists and their quisling apologists in the leftist media immediately tried to twist the meaning of remarks by one of our speakers, James Lafferty. They accused Lafferty, founder and chairman of the Virginia Anti-Shariah Task Force, of applauding the destruction of mosques. Lafferty set the record straight in a statement he sent me: “I do not condone or encourage any criminal act or vandalism against any mosque. I am a firm believer in the rule of law and the protections our Constitution provides for the free exercise of religion – and that means all religions.”

But this brief statement does nothing to “set the record straight,” and doesn’t even come close to addressing what Lafferty said at the panel.

Lafferty may have released a statement saying he doesn’t “condone or encourage” vandalism after the video of him was released, but Lafferty in his statement in no way explains how his statement didn’t express his pride in the fact that his home region of the South is where a preponderance of attacks on mosques take place.

In an action alert to members today, the Family Research Council is blaming “the Obama Administration’s continuing track-record of hostility toward Christianity” for William ‘Jerry’ Boykin’s decision to withdraw from a scheduled speaking event at West Point, calling members to sign a petition “to ensure that America's brave warriors have access to free and full expression of their faith.”

This is pathetically ironic for two reasons:

Firstly, the Obama Administration had nothing to do with Boykin’s decision. Boykin was facing severe criticism not due to any “hostility toward Christianity” but from groups representing veterans, Muslim-Americans and civil liberties advocates who did not find it suitable that West Point should give a platform to someone who calls Islam a “totalitarian way of life,” claims that “there is no greater threat to America than Islam” and believes the U.S. should wage a holy war against Islam. As the group VoteVets noted, Boykin’s speeches directly contradict the military’s efforts to reject Al-Qaeda’s frame that the U.S. was in a war against Islam.

Moreover, it wasn’t the Obama administration who formally rebuked Boykin for his over-the-top rhetoric. In fact, it was the Bush administration that rebuked Boykin because his speeches broke military rules, and President George W. Bush publicly reprimanded Boykin.

Secondly, while the FRC wants service members to be guaranteed the “free and full expression of their faith,” Boykin has called for the exact opposite, arguing that Muslim-Americans should not have rights under the First Amendment and demanding the government ban mosques.

We all know the Religious Right loves finding new ‘victims’ for fundraising and political purposes, but this has to be one of their most pitiful and laughable attempts of all:

It's happened again.

In a move that's reflective of the Obama Administration's continuing track-record of hostility toward Christianity, Lt. Gen. William Boykin (USA, Ret.), was recently pressured to withdraw from speaking at the United States Military Academy at West Point. General Boykin had been preparing to speak at the West Point Prayer Breakfast about the importance of prayer in a leader's life. The Academy moved Boykin to pull out of the event when a handful of atheist and Muslim cadets complained about Boykin's beliefs. The message to this elite, three-star warrior was obvious: You and your faith aren't welcome.

General Boykin is an American hero. There are few who would be more qualified to speak at a West Point prayer event. A former Delta Force leader who has faced danger for his country on missions in places like Iran, Somalia, and Grenada, General Boykin is also a man of deep Christian conviction. It is his outspoken faith that has made him a target of groups like the Council on American Islamic Relations, who lodged a complaint with West Point, which led to Boykin not speaking at the event.

This isn't the first time that an outspoken Christian has been booted from military events. Just over a year ago, I was disinvited from an event at Andrews Air Force base because of my biblical views. Before that, evangelist Franklin Graham's invitation to a Pentagon prayer service was rescinded because he too spoke the truth about his faith. These high-profile snubbings of religious expression are only the tip of the iceberg. The Obama Administration is advancing an environment of religious disarmament among the military -- and it must be stopped quickly for the sake of our soldiers' spiritual lives.

You can help the brave men and women of our military. Please join with me in signing our petition that calls on Congress and the Obama Administration to take action to ensure that America's brave warriors have access to free and full expression of their faith.

Jerry Boykin appeared on American Family Association spokesman Bryan Fischer’s radio show Focal Point today to discuss his decision to withdraw from a prayer breakfast at West Point when his radical anti-Muslim views and conspiracy theories became a lightning rod for criticism. While Boykin said the decision to withdraw was his and his alone, he spent most of the time on Fischer’s show suggesting that the Obama administration is out to “destroy” the “Judeo-Christian base upon which we were founded” and has “denigrated both Christianity and Judaism.” Last year on Fischer’s show, Boykin called for the banning of mosques in America and said “Islam is a totalitarian way of life.”

Fischer: Your concern is about encroaching sharia law, grave concern that I have, a lot of Americans have, and it looks to me like sharia law now is being enshrined in the United States military kind of by default if guys like you, Tony Perkins, Franklin Graham can be disinvited from prayer events because of the truth that you have told about Islam, looks to me like sharia law is gaining a preferred place in the United States military. Your reaction?

Boykin: First of all remember one of the tenets of our form of government is civilian control of the military, so a lot of what you see coming out of the military in terms of policies and procedures are because of the influence of the administration. I don’t think there is any question that the administration has shown favor to Islam at the same time that they have denigrated both Christianity and Judaism, for example, having an Eid dinner in the White House in the same week that they would not have an event for the National Day of Prayer. So I think that the military reflects the leadership of the country.... It’s a bad situation now that we are seeing so much effort to not only destroy the identity of the roots of the nation which is the Judeo-Christian base upon which were founded, but also the growing influence of Islam.

While Fischer was correct in saying that Franklin Graham was disinvited from the Pentagon after calling Islam “a very evil and wicked religion,” Family Research Council president Tony Perkins had his invitation rescinded to an event at the Andrews Air Force base not because of his anti-Muslim statements but as a result of his criticism of President Obama’s effort to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.

Todd Starnes of Fox News talked to both Boykin and Perkins about the controversy, and Perkins accused the administration of trying “to sweep Christianity off the face of military bases.” The Fox News article also failed to mention any of Boykin’s anti-Muslim diatribes since leaving the military:

Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council, was outraged by the decision.

“This has gone too far,” Perkins told Fox News & Commentary. “This is a troubling trend that we are seeing under this administration.”

Under the Obama Administration both Perkins and Franklin Graham were disinvited from speaking at military prayer services.

“When you talk to military leaders on the base, they don’t like this,” Perkins said. “There seems to be pressure coming from within the administration to sweep Christianity off the face of military bases.”

Boykin said he doesn’t believe the Obama administration has stood with the traditional values of the nation and he said the incident at West Point should serve as a wakeup call to Christians.

“The message is that people of faith and conservative Americans are losing our voice to a very well-organized and very well-funded group of very passionate people – those being the atheists and the Muslims,” Boykin said. “They want to change the nature of our culture – and they are succeeding.”

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Boykin accused the Obama administration of not standing with people of faith – “certainly not people of the Christian faith or Jewish faith.”

“If there has been support in this administration for faith it has been more skewed towards the Islamic faith than anything else,” Boykin said.

Yesterday, Gingrich appeared on The Janet Mefferd Show, where as we reported, he dabbled in anti-Muslim conspiracy theories that the Justice Department may censor speech targeted at Islam and that the nation’s “elite” has a bias in favor of “radical Islam over Christianity and Judaism.”

Later in the interview with Mefferd, Gingrich once again equated secular Americans with radical Islamists. “We are under attack from two directions: we have secularists who want to eliminate all reference to God in public life, and we have people in the radical Islamic world who want to find a way to impose on us a world that we don’t want to live in,” Gingrich said, “I think both of those are very genuine threats to us”:

Gingrich also told Mefferd that Obama has a “destructive” attitude towards Congress and is “pretty willing to capriciously break things up” because he doesn’t “respect anybody but his own judgment.” Such remarks are especially ironic coming from Gingrich, who is not known for modesty and has a long history of ethics troubles:

Mefferd: Many people think that there has been a flagrant abuse of power in the executive branch under this president, how will you conduct yourself differently if you end up being elected?

Gingrich: Well first of all I am going to try to work with Congress, not just run over it. I think that he has adopted an attitude which is very destructive. So start with that. I was in Congress for twenty years; I respect the Congress as an institution. My sense is that Obama doesn’t actually respect anybody but his own judgment and he doesn’t understand the idea of a larger system that has lasted for 230 years and that has an importance and a power beyond any one fight or beyond any one person and so he is pretty willing to capriciously break things up.

Mefferd’s show is a curious platform for Gingrich, as Mefferd in the past has claimed that “The Enemy” has LGBT people in “bondage,” defended countries that criminalize homosexuality and maintained that homosexuality is “an excuse of the pagan mind” to “wipe out Christianity” and “destroy marriage.” Mefferd has also attacked Mitt Romney over his Mormon faith, defending the labeling of Mormonism as a cult while warning that Romney may not care about facing scrutiny during the campaign because he thinks he will “one day rule [his] own planet as a god” and claiming that Romney has a “bias against evangelicals.”

The veterans group VoteVets is asking the US Military Academy Chaplain’s Office to disinvite retired Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin from their upcoming National Prayer Breakfast, Think Progress reports, noting the danger of endorsing Boykin’s extreme views of Muslim Americans. Boykin earned a reprimand from President George W. Bush for making speeches while in uniform that depicted the US military as part of a religious war against Islam, and after leaving the military, has raised bizarre conspiracies about President Obama and called for the government to ban mosques and strip Muslims of their First Amendment rights.

Jon Soltz and Richard Allen Smith, veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, respectively, said that Boykin’s “views are inconsistent with the values of the Army as an institution” and contradict “current Army doctrine” which “instructs Army leaders to respect the Muslim culture as a part of counterinsurgency operations.” Soltz and Smith note that the military makes clear that anti-Muslim “remarks threaten our relationships with Muslims around the world, and thereby, our troops serving in harm's way,” and having Boykin lead this event would not only damage the military but also show disrespect to Muslim American service members who “have fought and died in the uniform of the American Soldier in post-9/11 combat, as well as in previous eras”:

These remarks are incompatible with the Army values, and a person who is incompatible with Army values should not address the cadets of the United States Military Academy. As has been articulated by GEN Petraeus, these remarks threaten our relationships with Muslims around the world, and thereby, our troops serving in harm's way. LTG Boykin's values are inconsistent even with current Army doctrine that is taught at the Joint Readiness Training Center, National Training Center and the Combined Arms Center which instructs Army leaders to respect the Muslim culture as a part of counterinsurgency operations. It is counterproductive for our future Army leaders to hear the views of LTG Boykin, a man who's views are inconsistent with the values of the Army as an institution.

Not to mention, many Muslim Americans have fought and died in the uniform of the American Soldier in post-9/11 combat, as well as in previous eras. To allow LTG Boykin to address the corps of cadets would be disrespectful to the Muslim cadets currently enrolled at West Point. It would be a slap to the face to Muslim Americans who have served their country, not to mention those who gave the fullest sacrifice for their nation and their comrades.

Sir, as Veterans, we have the utmost faith in your leadership. As Veterans of these wars and men who have served in combat alongside Muslim Americans, we respectfully request that you retract LTG Boykin's invite to the USMA Prayer Breakfast. The presence of LTG Boykin at West Point would violate Army Values, as well as potentially be used as propaganda by the enemy and endanger our troops in combat.

With Jerry Boykin set to keynote the Mayor’s Prayer breakfast in Ocean City, Maryland on Thursday, pressure is increasing on city officials to drop the controversial speaker. Boykin routinely spouts extremist views, including calling for the U.S. to ban mosques and strip Muslims of their First Amendment rights. People For the American Way sent a letter to members of the city council and mayor Rick Meehan asking them to rescind Boykin’s invitation, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Auburn Theological Seminary, the Unitarian Universalist Association’s Standing on the Side of Love campaign and Faith in Public Life have also raised questions about Boykin’s appearance.

The mayor has so far stood by Boykin, absurdly claiming that “Boykin has not said anything controversial in his recent public appearances.” Boykin, however, recently maintained that the Council of Foreign Relations and George Soros are creating a global Marxist government. He has also claimed that President Obama is using the health care reform law to build a Marxist dictatorship with a personal “Brownshirt” army. Boykin himself bragged, “I am intolerant,” and demanded Christians “go on the offensive” against Islam.

ABC Baltimore covered the controversy surrounding Boykin last night, including Boykin’s record of religious bigotry:

The Baltimore Sun also looked into Boykin’s appearance, noting that he was reprimanded during the Bush administration for making speeches in uniform in which he claimed that the U.S. military is involved in a religious war against Islam:

Michael Keegan, president of People for the American Way, said his group wants the mayor to refuse to attend to the event, or to force the organizer to revoke Boykin's invitation. More than 700 people have emailed Meehan and town officials since Monday through a tool on its website to protest the gathering, according to the group, which says its mission is to advocate for equality, free speech and freedom of religion.

"Ocean City works hard to maintain its reputation as a family-friendly destination open to all-comers," Keegan said in a statement. "An official endorsement of Jerry Boykin would send the wrong message about what the city stands for."

Boykin did not respond to requests for an interview. He travels the country for speaking engagements and was near Charleston, S.C., earlier this month to introduce GOP presidential contender Rick Santorum aboard the U.S.S. Yorktown.

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Boykin was rebuked by President George W. Bush in 2003 after Boykin publicly described a U.S. Army battle against a Muslim warlord in Somalia in 1993, saying: "I knew my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol." He also gave unauthorized speeches at evangelical church functions while serving as deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence and war-fighting. The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations has said Boykin has a "long, shameful history of extreme and bigoted views."

Meehan did not respond to a request for an interview. Spokeswoman Abbott said the mayor was tied up in budget meetings Tuesday.

Meehan is hopeful that Boykin's remarks will be respectful, Abbott said.

"We have been assured that remarks made will not be divisive or inflammatory remarks," she said. "He wants to allow the speaker to have his say, and we have been given no indication that the topic will be anything but inspirational."

The breakfast's organizer, Bruce Spangler, did not return a call for comment. Spangler, however, told The Dispatch newspaper in Ocean City earlier this month that he was excited about Boykin's appearance, calling Boykin an expert on Islamic history and saying his "testimony" would be too exciting to miss.

"This country was founded on biblical values, and we are getting away from that," Spangler told The Dispatch.

The tea party group Constituting Michigan is bringing a hoaxer who claims to be a former terrorist to Allegan High School in Allegan, Michigan, to warn guests of the danger of creeping sharia law. The speaker, Kamal Saleem, was in Michigan late last year for The Call: Detroit, where he denounced Islam as demonic, and continues to work with the Oak Initiative and its state chapter Transformation Michigan. But Saleem isn’t your usual anti-Muslim speaker, as he claims to have been an Islamic terrorist until he converted to Christianity and found work at Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network and James Dobson’s Focus on the Family.

However, Focus on the Family has since distanced itself from Saleem, whose real name is Khodor Shami, and Calvin College professor Doug Howard writes that not only was Saleem misrepresenting Islam with blatant “absurdities” but was also misrepresenting his own background in his book The Blood of Lambs, which Howard called “obsessively, sadistically violent.” “Suffice it to say that if the subject were Jews, this book could not have been published.” CNN also looked into Saleem’s background and found no evidence backing up his claims of having been a terrorist, and Haroon Moghul of Religion Dispatches wonders how anyone who once claimed to be a devout Muslim could claim, like Saleem, to have been “allergic to Jesus” since Muslims consider Jesus the Messiah.

Dawud Walid of CAIR-Michigan pointed out that Saleem is a “complete fraud,” but event organizers say any criticism of Saleem is simply “the result of media bias”:

Allegan County political organization Constituting Michigan-Founding Principles will host a self-proclaimed former terrorist on Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Allegan High School Events Center.

Kamal Saleem claims to have been a former Islamic radical and terrorist before converting to Christianity. He has since published a book detailing his experiences and makes regular tours speaking about his life and views.

”He had entered the U.S. and gotten in an accident, and received medical care,” said Carol Dannenberg, of Constituting Michigan-Founding Principles. “He thought, ‘Wait a minute, I don’t want to hurt these people.’ He was raised to believe that there was no hope, that killing was a good thing.”

”I met Saleem in my travels to Lansing,” said Bill Sage, one of the co-founders of Constituting Michigan. “He’s here to talk about keeping American law in American courts, to make sure that the Constitution is what we’re drawing from.”

Sage characterizes the organization’s main focus as education reform and a return to focusing on the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights in schools. Sage will also be speaking at the event, as will state Rep. Dave Agema, according to organizers. Agema is one of the sponsors of House Bill 4769, which seeks “to restrict the application of foreign laws” in Michigan. Opponents have characterized the bill as discriminatory towards Islam.

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”He’s profiting off the cottage industry of Islamophobia,” Walid said. “If he thinks that I’m lying, that I’m trying to falsely discredit him, he should sue me for defamation.”

Sage claims much of the controversy surrounding Saleem is the result of media bias.

”People don’t like his message, they don’t want him out there,” said Sage. “But if you listen to Kamal, you’ll understand.”

Gordon “Chaps” Klingenschmitt is joining other right-wing activists in defending the Florida Family Association and Lowe’s, which bowed to the extremist group’s pressure to stop advertising on TLC’s All-American Muslim. Klingenschmitt prayed for God to “grant Lowe's their greatest financial profits” and asked God to bless the FFA for “exposing the deeds of darkness.” He also labeled All-American Muslim “Islamic propaganda” and said people who oppose FFA’s pressure campaign against the reality show’s advertisers are “terrorist sympathizers.”

Klingenschmitt: Almighty God, please bless Lowes Home Improvement stores for their wise decision to stop advertising for the TV show All-American Muslim, which is nothing but Islamic propaganda designed to whitewash the fact that practitioners of militant Islam not only slaughtered over 3000 American civilians, but routinely kill millions of Christians worldwide. Bless the Florida Family Association who led the way by exposing the deeds of darkness, from Ephesians 5:11, and grant Lowe's their greatest financial profits for standing against real violent hatred, not the fake “hate” and “bigotry” they are now accused of by terrorist sympathizers.