The End of Christian America

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Hawaii Lawmakers Pass Bill to Create 'Islam Day'

Hawaii's state Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill Wednesday to celebrate "Islam Day" -- over the objections of a few lawmakers who said they didn't want to honor a religion connected to Sept. 11, 2001.

AP
Wednesday, May 06, 2009


HONOLULU -- Hawaii's state Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill Wednesday to celebrate "Islam Day" -- over the objections of a few lawmakers who said they didn't want to honor a religion connected to Sept. 11, 2001.

The Senate's two Republicans argued that a minority of Islamic extremists have killed many innocents in terrorist attacks.

"I recall radical Islamists around the world cheering the horrors of 9/11. That is the day all civilized people of all religions should remember," said Republican Sen. Fred Hemmings to the applause of more than 100 people gathered in the Senate to oppose a separate issue -- same-sex civil unions.

The resolution to proclaim Sept. 24, 2009, as Islam Day passed the Senate on a 22-3 vote. It had previously passed the House and now goes to Republican Gov. Linda Lingle.

The bill seeks to recognize "the rich religious, scientific, cultural and artistic contributions" that Islam and the Islamic world have made. It does not call for any spending or organized celebration of Islam Day.

"We are a state of tolerance. We understand that people have different beliefs," said Sen. Will Espero, a Democrat. "We may not all agree on every single item and issue out there, but to say and highlight the negativity of the Islamic people is an insult to the majority" of believers "who are good law-abiding citizens of the world."

But Republican Sen. Sam Slom argued that the United States has become too sympathetic toward Islamic extremists.

"I don't think there's any country in the history of the world that has been more tolerant than the United States of America, and because of that tolerance, we've looked the other way a lot of times, and many thousands of our citizens have been killed by terrorists," said Slom, a Republican.

The lone Democrat voting against the bill opposed it on church-state separation fears.

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Thursday, May 07, 2009

Tancredo: Obama 'truly a cult leader'

Former GOP congressman takes on swine flu response, amnesty, free speech

Posted: May 07, 2009
1:00 am Eastern

WorldNetDaily

Swine flu has been confirmed by laboratory tests in 1,516 patients in 22 countries, according to the WHO. Mexico has reported 942 cases, including 29 deaths, while the U.S. has 403 cases and two deaths.

Despite the increasing number of U.S. cases, President Obama is solidly against closing the U.S.-Mexico border to contain the outbreak, likening such a move to "closing the barn door after the horses are out."

Former Republican Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado disagrees: "The problem is you cannot necessarily contain it, but what you're trying to do is minimize the impact, of course, and reduce the number of people coming into the country with it."

Tancredo believes the administration's refusal to act is also indicative of a "desire on the part of many people to eliminate borders."

"I know it sounds strange, but I assure you that there are people committed to a North American Union just like a European Union, where you have not just an economic arrangement – low tariffs or no tariffs – but you actually have a political arrangement like the European Parliament, which now collects taxes and passes laws."

Tancredo spoke with Greg Corombos of Radio America/WND. The audio of the exchange is embedded here:

Tancredo, an outspoken opponent of illegal immigration, is also concerned about Obama's plans for immigration "reform" and the popular president's desire to facilitate "amnesty" for millions of illegal aliens living in the U.S.
"You have to admit, he is a cult leader and the cult will go with him anywhere he wants to go.

"You just don't know about the size of the cult, how big it is, if it's shrinking or growing, but he is a cult leader and you have to realize that he's not just a political figure, he is truly a cult leader."

And what does Tancredo think about a recent protest by college students that forced him to shut down his speech at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill?

"It says that the people who have always claimed to be for the right to free speech are anything but ... they are total hypocrites."

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Muslim Demographics

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'Patriot pastors' called to crush 'hate crimes' bill
Ministers ordered to fight for freedom, against criminalization of Christianity

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Posted: May 19, 2009
8:05 pm Eastern

By Chelsea Schilling
© 2009 WorldNetDaily

Pastor Paul Blair

America has become a morally ]bankrupt society that embraces intolerance against Christians, including a new push for "hate crimes" legislation, according to one pastor who believes it's all because church leaders have failed to do their jobs.

But this Memorial Day weekend he is calling ministers to fight for those freedoms – from their pulpits.
"Pastors, if you wonder who is to blame for America's slide from the 'Ozzie and Harriet' morality of yesteryear to the 'Brokeback Mountain' immorality of today, look in the mirror," said Pastor Paul Blair of Fairview Baptist Church in Edmond, Okla.

Blair is founder of a group called Reclaiming Oklahoma for Christ, an outreach to pastors that encourages church leaders to take a stand against the spread of immorality in American culture. He is urging pastors across the nation to stop being silent and muster the courage to speak out against efforts to criminalize Christianity. He said church leaders have abandoned the prophetic call and have chosen instead to be CEOs of competitive church businesses rather than proclaiming "faith in Christ alone and repentance from sin."

Concerned individuals may contact elected officials, sign a petition against hate crimes legislation and participate in WND's FedEx campaign to send thousands of letters to senators by overnight delivery.

"Pastors used to speak strongly about issues – like when Billy Sunday led a crusade, and the next thing you know, liquor was outlawed. So they made a difference," he said. "The year 1954 is when pastors began to grow timid because, all of the sudden, they had this misguided notion that they might lose their tax exemption if they made too much noise."

Shortly after ministers grew silent, prayer and Bible reading were taken out of schools. The sexual revolution immediately followed, along with Roe v. Wade. Now, he said, attacks on Christian liberty and morality have become more brazen and coordinated than ever – with widespread movements to legalize homosexual marriage, the Department of Homeland Security's efforts to profile Christians as "potential terrorists" and strategies to silence pastors through hate crimes legislation.

Blair's video on the criminalization of Christianity may be seen below.

As WND has reported, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Act of 2009 would provide special protections to homosexuals but leave Christian ministers open to prosecution should their teachings be linked to any subsequent offense, by anyone, against a homosexual.

A hearing on the act, already approved by the U.S. House as H.R. 1913 and pending in the Senate as S. 909, is expected in the Senate Judiciary Committee soon.

Under a comparable law in Sweden, a minister was sentenced to 30 days in jail for preaching from Leviticus. Similar state laws have resulted in similar results. In Philadelphia several years ago, a 73-year-old grandmother was reported to have been jailed for trying to share Christian tracts with people at a homosexual festival.

WND columnist Dave Welch, founder and executive director of the U.S. Pastor Council and Houston Area Pastor Council, has warned, "Hate crimes legislation, which assigns different levels of punishment for the same crime, is a perversion of equal justice on its face. Compound that injustice by criminalizing the preaching of Scripture as "hate speech" and therefore evil, while protecting unimaginable and abominable sexual behaviors as good, and we are building a perfect storm for national calamity."

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of letters have been dispatched to members of the U.S. Senate suggesting that the bill is the wrong way for the country to move. WND columnist Janet Porter, who also heads the Faith2Action Christian ministry, launched the campaign to send thousands of letters to every senator by overnight delivery.

To date, at least 4,500 people have participated, dispatching 450,000 letters to members of the Senate.

But now Blair is stepping up the effort by calling on "patriot pastors" to lead their congregations in three areas: 1) evangelizing and leading people to Christ to change the culture 2) educating people about the truth of America's Christian heritage and real threats like the Hate Crimes Prevention Act and 3) contacting elected representatives by writing letters and participating in petition drives.

His church is planning a special Memorial Day weekend sermon where he will bring in a 150-foot crane to fly the American flag as he warns his congregation of attacks on freedom.

"We absolutely will be addressing the fact that freedom isn't free," he said. "We'll talk about the great sacrifice that was paid for the liberty we enjoy and how there are attacks on that liberty not just abroad, but here at home."

Fairview Baptist Church in Edmond, Okla.

Ministers should never underestimate their roles in preserving America's freedom, Blair said. According to President John Adams, colonial pastors were the single group most responsible for America's independence.

"They were the best educated of citizens, understood the precious value of liberty from tyranny and taught their congregations a true biblical worldview," he said. "As Pastor John Witherspoon, a signer of the Declaration and member of Congress, recognized, 'There is not a single instance in history, in which civil liberty was lost, and religious liberty preserved.'"

Patriot pastors led in the great spiritual revival of the 18th century known as the Great Awakening, Blair noted. And patriot pastors educated their communities and led them in the fight for liberty in America.

"Thank God that our patriot pastors of yesteryear weren't trained with a modern seminary education," he said.

Representatives told Blair if they get five calls on a particular issue, they take notice. So, he would like to see what would happen if hundreds or thousands of people called lawmakers.

"Just think, if pastors would get up on their pulpits and teach folks about how the issues of today are going to affect them and then lead them, we can make a difference," he said. "The problem is we don't hear the truth. We don't hear it in the media, we don't hear it in schools and our pastors have been taught to remain silent."

But Blair said he intends to change that.

"Brethren, it's our turn," he said. "As we reflect this Memorial Day weekend on the great price paid for the liberty that we enjoy, let us not lose that same liberty on ourwatch. Join with a group of patriot pastors across our nation and teach your flock about this dangerous hate crimes legislation and lead them in combating this brazen effort to criminalize Christianity in America."

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Obama Says U.S. Could Be Seen as a Muslim Country, Too

June 2, 2009, 7:39 pm

By Jeff Zeleny

HAHN, Germany — As President Obama prepared to leave Washington to fly to the Middle East, he conducted several television and radio interviews at the White House to frame the goals for a five-day trip, including the highly-anticipated speech Thursday at Cairo University in Egypt.

In an interview with Laura Haim on Canal Plus, a French television station, Mr. Obama noted that the United States also could be considered as “one of the largest Muslim countries in the world.” He sought to downplay the expectations of the speech, but he said he hoped the address would raise awareness about Muslims.

“Now, I think it’s very important to understand that one speech is not going to solve all the problems in the Middle East,” Mr. Obama said. “And so I think expectations should be somewhat modest.”

He previewed several themes and objectives for the speech, which aides said the president intended to tinker with — and rewrite — aboard Air Force One during his 12-hour flight to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

“What I want to do is to create a better dialogue so that the Muslim world understands more effectively how the United States, but also how the West thinks about many of these difficult issues like terrorism, like democracy, to discuss the framework for what’s happened in Iraq and Afghanistan and our outreach to Iran, and also how we view the prospects for peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians,” Mr. Obama said.

The president said the United States and other parts of the Western world “have to educate ourselves more effectively on Islam.”

“And one of the points I want to make is, is that if you actually took the number of Muslim Americans, we’d be one of the largest Muslim countries in the world,” Mr. Obama said. “And so there’s got to be a better dialogue and a better understanding between the two peoples.”

The speech on Thursday has many intended audiences, but among them are the young people in Cairo and beyond.

“I think the most important thing I want to tell young people is that, regardless of your faith, those who build as opposed to those who destroy I think leave a lasting legacy, not only for themselves but also for their nations,” Mr. Obama said. “And the impulse towards destruction as opposed to how can we study science and mathematics and restore the incredible scientific and knowledge — the output that came about during centuries of Islamic culture.”

The president is flying Air Force One directly from Washington to Riyadh. The White House press corps — traveling on a chartered United 767 — is refueling in Hahn, Germany.

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UCLA Prohibits Student from Saying 'Jesus' in Graduation Speech

LOS ANGELES, June 5 /Christian Newswire/ -- A professor at the government-funded University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) has prohibited a graduating student from saying "I want to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ," in her own graduation speech.

Christina Popa just posted the proof emails on her facebook page, showing how other students are permitted to have their speeches read aloud at a pre-graduation ceremony, and Christina would also be allowed, but only if she didn't mention Jesus.

Instead, UCLA Biology Professor Dr. Pamela Hurley deliberately censored Christina's proposed speech, and emailed back to Christina saying: "UCLA is a public university where the doctrine of separation of church and state is observed," and the professor proposed a censored version of Christina's proposed speech, deleting any reference to Jesus Christ.

When Christina objected, Dr. Hurley threatened, "If you prefer, Christina, I can read none of what you wrote. I am very sorry that this is a problem for you."

Links to the proof emails, and a petition to the UCLA Chancellor, Gene Block and Provost, Scott Waugh (for concerned citizens to sign and forward widely), may be found at this web-site:

http://prayinjesusname.org/blog_post/show/32

Christina Popa has consulted attorneys but is not yet available for public comment.

Chaplain Gordon James Klingenschmitt, the former Navy Chaplain who was punished for praying publicly "in Jesus name" (but was later vindicated by Congress), issued the following statement:

"I am not Christina's personal spokesman, but I admire her courage. Jesus is not an illegal word, and UCLA has no business censoring her speech, especially if they claim to celebrate 'academic freedom.' Instead, Dr. Hurley has terribly misapplied her own twisted idea of the separation of church and state. As a Government school, UCLA has absolutely no right to prohibit Christina's freedom of religious expression, and she's earned the right to speak her own words at her own graduation. UCLA is crossing the line of separation, not Christina, and we pray UCLA will repent of their anti-Christian discrimination."

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Bill Clinton: United States Growing More Diverse

Bill Clinton Urges Americans (Christians) To Be Mindful Of The Country's Growing Diversity

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WASHINGTON, Jun. 14, 2009

(AP) Former President Bill Clinton said Saturday that Americans should be mindful of the nation's changing demographics, which led to the election of Barack Obama as president.

He told an Arab-American audience of 1,000 people that the U.S. is no longer just a black-white country, nor a country that is dominated by Christians and a powerful Jewish minority, given the growing numbers of Muslims, Hindus and other religious groups here.

Clinton said by 2050 the U.S. will no longer have a majority of people with European heritage and that in an interdependent world "this is a very positive thing."

Speaking in a hotel ballroom to the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee during its annual convention, Clinton also praised Obama's speech in Cairo, Egypt, that was focused on the Arab world.

Clinton told the audience that it's important that they push government leaders for a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He cited an experience in 1993 when he failed to persuade many Jewish-American and Arab-American business people to invest in the Palestinian areas because violence and bombings had deterred them.

"It just took one more bus bomb or one more rocket or one more incident and then people got scared of losing their money," he said.

As the U.S. continues to push for peace in the area, "I think it's really important to give the Palestinian people something to look forward to," Clinton said to loud applause.

Clinton, who wasn't paid for his speech, spoke in a wide-ranging 35-minute address that focused on people's identity in an interdependent world. He said the U.S. can't rely on its military might in global relations. "It has to begin by people accepting the fact that they can be proud of who they are without despising who someone else is," he said.

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Phoenix Police Raid a Local Pastor’s Home For Holding Church Services

By Sarah Fenske

Published on June 16, 2009 at 3:19pm




Last Thursday, a swarm of police officers descended on Michael Salman's northwest Phoenix home. Armed officers herded Salman, his wife Suzanne, their five young daughters, and their visiting friends into the living room — and kept them under watch for 90 minutes while other city officials searched the grounds.

And here's the crazy part: The officials weren't looking for drugs, weapons, or stolen property.

They were looking for evidence that Michael and Suzanne Salman are holding church services in their backyard.

Sounds unbelievable, right? The First Amendment assures us that the government cannot interfere with the "free exercise" of religion.

Surely, it's none of the city's business who worships where, or when.

But that's exactly what the city of Phoenix was investigating last week.

One of the visitors in the Salmans' home that day, Sam Atallah, came here from Syria for graduate school and now has a Christian ministry focusing on his fellow Middle Easterners. Atallah couldn't believe his own eyes: Seven or eight police officers held the family and their guests at bay. When Suzanne had to leave the room to change her baby's diaper, she was escorted by a cop. When Michael Salman initially demurred at producing a key to an outbuilding, the cops threatened to break down the door.

All because they're holding church services?

"If you tell somebody in the Middle East that this happened, they can't believe you," Atallah says. "We came to America to get away from this kind of persecution."

Even some officers on the scene seemed uncomfortable.

"In the 12 years I've been a police officer, I've never been on an administrative search warrant like this, okay?" one officer told the Salmans that day, according to a videotape of the incident. "They had to take it to this level, which I've never seen before."

Police Detective James Holmes was on the scene. He tells me the police were summoned by zoning officials to help serve an administrative warrant. Typically, the city would take that step only if it had previously been denied access by the homeowner, he says.

But Salman says he never turned city officials away from his home — a fact that a city spokesman ultimately confirmed. That makes the warrant, and the police presence, reek of overreach.

As is usually the case, the backstory is more complicated. After talking to city officials, touring the property, and looking at records, it's pretty clear that this is not just an issue of religious freedom. It may well be that — but it's also an issue of municipal zoning, and the Salmans' attempts to manipulate it.

Indeed, your perspective on this story shifts dramatically depending on whether you take a micro or macro view.

To the city, the question is simply whether the Salmans are holding services in a building that's permitted only for residential use. The services, they say, hold a genuine safety risk.

But for the Salmans, the questions are as big as the Constitution itself.

What exactly is a church? And what is a group of people who meet once a week to celebrate their faith? Should the government really be in the business of delineating?

After all, if it's okay to have friends over every week for game night, why isn't it okay to have them over to worship God?

For the past year and a half, the Salmans jumped through the hoops required by City Hall for construction of a 2,000-square-foot outbuilding in their backyard. It took engineers, architects, and roughly $80,000, but the city ultimately signed off on everything.

The problem is that the Salmans told the city they planned to use the building as a personal "game room." Instead, they're using it as a church.

They won't come right out and say that, of course. But when I visited the Salmans' home in the quiet North Glen Square neighborhood last Friday, a day after the unannounced police visit, the couple acknowledged that they are using the building for worship.

In fact, it was clear to me that worship is the building's only use. The interior looks like any number of the Valley's small, Bible-based churches, from the altar to the neat rows of blue-quilted chairs to the reproduction of da Vinci's The Last Supper on the wall.

"Look, I'm inviting my friends and my family to do the most important thing in my life — which is worship God," Suzanne Salman says. "What's the difference between that, and if I had them over for movie night? Is the city now going to come to the neighbors and say you can't have a movie night every week?"

To anyone not familiar with evangelical churches, that might sound stupid. Of course a group of people that meets regularly to worship is, by definition, a church.

But to anyone familiar with evangelical churches, and their myriad home-based groups, the argument is bit more complicated. After all, a "church" in the old-school Biblical sense isn't a building; it's people. Often, those people do their best worshipping outside a formal structure, in loosely organized home groups.

That is exactly the kind of meeting we can't allow the government to interfere with.

hen I was a kid, my parents held a Bible study in their home. Every Monday night for more than 20 years, our narrow suburban street was packed with cars on both sides. The worship itself was no quiet undertaking: My parents' brand of born-again Christianity leaned heavily toward the euphoric, with guitars and tambourines and shouts of exhortation to Jesus. I used to walk my younger brother in his stroller and marvel at how far we had to go to escape the sounds of fervent worship blasting from our living room.

My parents were lucky, I realize now, in that our neighbors were incredibly tolerant. We never got so much as a phone call asking them to turn down the music. In fact, when the parking situation got really awful, the spinster two doors down actually volunteered her driveway for the overflow.

But what if we'd had different neighbors? What if they hadn't put up with our noisy worship? I cringe to think that we could've been visited by cops armed with a search warrant, insisting that if we drew 75 people every week, we would qualify as a church under municipal ordinances. It seems absurd.

In reality, the Salmans' enterprise appears to have far less impact on their neighborhood than my folks' Bible studies used to. The Salmans' house is behind a gate, and Michael and Suzanne tell me they draw a dozen cars, maximum. They all park behind the gate.

Frankly, I think the trouble at the Salmans' is less about the impact of a dozen cars every week and more about the relationship between Michael Salman and his neighbors.

I wrote a cover story more than a year ago about the dispute between Salman and his neighbors. At the time, Salman publicly spoke of building a big church in his backyard; he was thinking 4,200 square feet.

Petrified about the impact that such a big project could have on property values, the neighbors did whatever they could to stop him, from lobbying City Hall to hiring a lawyer.

The neighbors dug up Michael Salman's criminal history — he did time for a drive-by shooting before finding Christ while in prison — and accused him of preaching at a neighborhood park with a megaphone, aiming the speakers toward their homes. He fired back by producing witnesses who attested that Councilman Claude Mattox had branded him a "religious zealot" at a neighborhood meeting. It was bad blood all around.

Things have only gotten worse.

In April, a pickup belonging to one of Salman's most vocal critics was set on fire. It's being investigated as arson — and, as Salman acknowledges, he's been accused by some neighbors as a "person of interest." (For the record, Salman says he had nothing to do with the blaze; the Phoenix Fire Department didn't return a call seeking comment.)

Last week, two neighbors asked for restraining orders in Maricopa County Superior Court, saying Salman has been harassing them. Salman plans to dispute those charges in court.

The neighborhood's ire clearly triggered the police visit last week. As Detective Holmes points out, the outbuilding is impossible to see from the road, but the Salmans say the neighbors have been videotaping people as they show up for Sunday services.

The neighbors surely aren't happy that, even after they effectively blocked construction of a real church, they still have a congregation in their midst. And even if their response to the weekly gatherings is an overreaction, they may well have municipal law on their side.

And that's because the Salmans have been trying to have it both ways.

Last year, when the Salmans realized that they couldn't meet the city's commercial requirements for a church building, they went ahead with constructing the game room. They tell me they were planning all along to use it for religious activity. But they weren't exactly straightforward about their intentions.

Interestingly, both city officials and Michael Salman referred me to the same set of e-mails to buttress their positions. In the e-mails, sent in April just before the city signed off on final construction, city officials pointedly explained that the building can't be used for church assembly.

"A church assembly use is not allowable under City Code unless the site is developed as a commercial project," a staffer wrote.

Salman responded, agreeing that the building "will not be used for a public place of worship. It is for private use. Yes, we are not planning to convert the 2,000-square-foot building into a public place of worship and do understand that if we want a public place of worship that we will have to adhere to the building codes and such."

Sounds clear-cut, right?

Not to Salman. He may have assured the city he wasn't building a public place of worship, but his emphasis was on public.

"This is for private, personal use," Salman says. "We're not going to put signs up there with worship service times. We don't advertise anywhere. We have gatherings at our house. That's not against the law."

That's a distinction the city isn't buying.

City spokesman David J. Ramirez says the issue isn't the nature of the assemblies. It's safety. There are no sprinklers in the outbuilding and no emergency exits, yet the room features 145 chairs. "It's a hazard to pack 145 people into a space like that," Ramirez says.

So last Thursday, no fewer than seven officers showed up at the Salman home, escorting a group of zoning officers with an administrative warrant. While the Salmans have yet to be cited for a crime, the cops did leave behind a "notice of code violation." It reiterates that the outbuilding may be used only for residential use.

Indeed, for all the protestations that they aren't hosting church services, the Salmans are, at best, walking an incredibly fine line. Unlike most small, home-based fellowships, they've got all the trappings of a church. A sign on their gate announces "Harvest Christian Community Church." Advertisements for the fellowship's Web site, www.hcfaz.org, pepper the family's two vans. And, of course, Salman goes by "Pastor."

The main difference between their group and any other start-up church is the Salmans' insistence that they chose to be "private."

Does that matter? Should it? Really, what can the city do? Bad enough that they sent a half-dozen officers last week to do the work of city bureaucrats. Shut down a religious service, and they will have triggered all sorts of constitutional issues.

The Salmans aren't stupid. They realize this. So despite the officers' arrival on Thursday, on Sunday, the Salmans invited some friends and family into their "game room."

They didn't play poker or pool or Pictionary. Instead, they worshipped God, exactly as they'd planned.

The police were nowhere in sight. Not this Sunday, anyway.
Next Sunday is anyone's guess.

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Pentagon says "no" to fly over for God and Country Family Festival (because of word "God")

Video: http://www.ktvb.com/news/localnews/s...r.60a08ee.html

More than four decades of decades of tradition were changed this year at the God and Country Family Festival in Nampa, Idaho.

Typically, a military flyover is a highlight of the event, but this year it did not happen.

To make a fly over happen you have to get permission from the Pentagon.

It hasn't been a problem in the past but this year it was --all because of the word "God."

"We found out the routes you were supposed to take so we filled out all the paperwork, we got approved from the FAA, and then just had to forward it on, and that goes to the Pentagon," said Patti Syme, board member.

A request for a military flyover is a tradition at the God and Country Family Festival, but that tradition was put on hold this year.

When the Pentagon responded in an e-mail to board member Patti Syme that her request had been denied.

"It says, we prohibit support for events which appear to endorse selectivity benefit or favor any special interest group, religious or ideological movement," said Syme.

"What was your response? asked NewsChannel 7.

"I called him immediately and just said, you know hey we've been doing this for 42 years, we've had flyovers, what is the problem? And he said, well we have looked up your Web site and everything on your Web site seemed to focus on Christianity, ministry booths. And he said, in fact, ma'am it sounds like it focuses on Christianity. And he said, in fact, it would be great to go to, in fact, if I personally, could come I would, but we can't endorse such an endeavor, so they couldn't do the flyover," said Syme.

"There are statements on the Web site, because it truly a God and Country Festival founded on the principles that our country was founded on and the military part of it, obviously is a huge part of the event," said Canyon County Commissioner David Ferdinand.

Ferdinand says every year a request was submitted it was granted and he believes this was simply a mistake.

"We've had A15, A10s, we have even had a B-1 bomber from the U.S. Air Force," said Ferdinand.

Ferdinand says the flyover is a salute to the service men and women, and is a cherished part of the night for the more than 10,000 that attend.

"This thing is a patriotic event and in our opinion, why it started and where it started, we need to continue that tradition," said Ferdinand.

The rejection hurt the group but they say they will try again to bring it back next year.

"We are going to pursue the flyover, that's what it is for to honor those active, those serving," said Syme.

NewsChannel 7 made calls to the Pentagon today to get their side of the story, and specifically asked for the officer who spoke with Patti Syme.

But this is a holiday and we're unable to get a response for now. A new addition to the God and Country Family Festival was the swearing in of members from four military branches -- 79 men and women represented the Marines, Navy, Air Force and Army.

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US mosque calls on Americans for first nationwide prayer

American Muslims organized a nationwide prayer which is scheduled for Sept. 25, gathering tens of thousands of Muslims.

Monday, 14 September 2009 13:27

World Bulletin / News Desk

American Muslims organized a nationwide prayer which is scheduled for Sept. 25, gathering tens of thousands of Muslims.

Dar Al-Slam mosque in Elizabeth, Dar-ul-Islam, is spearheading a national prayer gathering next month in Washington, D.C., that organizers are billing as the first event of its kind outside the U.S. Capitol building.

50.000 worshippers are anticipated.

Hassen Abdellah, president of Dar-ul-Islam and a main organizer of the event, said that The event will not include political speeches or placards, just prayer.

Organizers have considered the Jummah Prayer on Capital Hill as a Day of Islamic Unity.



The organizers said on website that "the objective of this gathering is to invite the Muslim Communities and friends of Islam to express and illustrate the wonderful diversity of Islam. "

They said that thay intend to manifest "Islam's majestic spiritual principals" as revealed by Allah to Islmaic prophet Muhammad.

They intend to inspire a new generation of Muslim to work for the greater good of all people. We shall serve all people, regardless of race, religion or national origin, they also said.

Over 500 buses were reserved to transport attenders from local Masjids to Elizabeth mosque.

There will be also Qoran Recitation By Sheik Muhammad Jebril and Sheik Ahmed Dewidar

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Obama ignores the National Day of Prayer, but he will allow the Muslims to use the site of his Inauguration to chant Islamic Prayer through loudspeakers in Washington, DC?

ISLAM ON CAPITOL HILL




ISLAM & AMERICA

IN THE NAME OF ALLAH....

The objective of this gatheringis to invite the Muslim Communities and friends of Islam to express and illustrate the wonderfuldiversity of Islam. We intend to manifest Islam's majestic spiritual principals as revealed by Allah to our beloved prophet

Muhammad (PEACE BE UPON HIM) of Arabia. Likewise; we intend to inspire a new generation of Muslim to work for the greater good of allpeople. We shall serve all people, regardless of race, religion or national origin.


ON THIS DAY....

• The Athan will be chanted on Capitol Hill, echoing off of the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument and other great edifices that surround Capitol Hill
• Thousands of Muslims from all races, creeds, colors and ethnicities will gather for the sole purpose of prayer
• Bonds of friendship will be formed between those in attendance, both Muslims and Non-Muslims
• Muslim youth will experience tours of the Library of Congress and the Supreme Court.
• The peace, beauty and solidarity of Islam will shine through America's capitol.

OUR TIME HAS COME

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Muslim Demographics



Islam will overwhelm Christendom unless Christians recognize the demographic realities, begin reproducing again, and share the gospel with Muslims.

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Community Organizers Pray To Obama

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A DATE WHICH WILL LIVE IN INFIDELS
Pearl Harbor 'blasphemy!'
Americans 'incensed' by U.S. calendars promoting Islamic New Year Dec. 7th

Posted: January 10, 2010
5:07 pm Eastern

By Joe Kovacs
© 2010 WorldNetDaily



Dec. 7, 2010 marks the Islamic New Year, but not Pearl Harbor Day on all calendars produced by Blue Mountain Arts of Boulder, Colo. (WND photo / Joe Kovacs)
"A date which will live in infamy."

That's how President Franklin Roosevelt immortalized Dec. 7, 1941, the day forces stunned the U.S. with a sudden attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, prompting the U.S. to jump into the Second World War.

Just don't expect to find any mention of that on your calendar this year.

Nearly seven decades after the onslaught, many U.S. calendars produced by American companies are ignoring Pearl Harbor Day, and are displaying instead the Islamic New Year on Dec. 7.

Even calendars promoting the Holy Bible take note of the Muslim observance, while completely omitting the day on which more than 2,000 Americans lost their lives in the surprise attack.

"I have a Psalms calendar, which has a Bible verse on each month's picture, made by BrownTrout Publishers, Inc., and it also has Dec. 7 as the Islamic New Year. No mention of Pearl Harbor Day," said Donna Brandt of Marshalltown, Iowa. "I am incensed and will be giving the BrownTrout Publishers a piece of my mind! Thank you for calling my attention to this blasphemy."

Jim Jones of Waco, Texas, also bought a BrownTrout calendar, and says, "We are going to get rid of it. I think I am going back to the store where we bought it (Petsmart) and ask for my money back. I do not want to honor a bunch of fanatics who are trying to kill us infidels. My thinking is all Islamists, if they believe and follow the Quran, are fanatics, and I have no use for them."



All calendars produced by the world's largest caledar company, BrownTrout Publishers of San Francisco, make no mention of Pearl Harbor Day, but instead cite Dec. 7, 2010 as the Islamic New Year. (WND photo / Joe Kovacs)

WND obtained several calendars from a variety of publishers, including San Francisco-based BrownTrout, which bills itself as the largest calendar publisher in the world, producing about 1,000 separate varieties each year.

In its 2010 Bible calendar, which features a 1563 painting of the Tower of Babel on its cover, the Dec. 7 entry specifies "Islamic New Year," with Pearl Harbor Day completely absent.

Perusing the rest of its December page, the BrownTrout calendar notes Dec. 23 is the "Emperor's Birthday" in Japan, Dec. 26 is when Kwanzaa begins as well as St. Stephen's Day in Ireland, and Dec. 27 is a "Bank Holiday" in the United Kingdom. Popular observances such as Christmas Day and New Year's Eve are also included on Dec. 25 and 31, respectively.

"Pearl Harbor day is not a federal holiday," said Mrs. Wendover Brown, owner of BrownTrout, which excludes mention of Pearl Harbor from all its datekeepers. "It's a day of mourning which is not normally indicated as a holiday."

She admitted, "We've had many, many letters questioning our patriotism," and called it an "unfortunate overlap" that Islamic New Year, which is a floating, lunar-based observance, happens to fall on Dec. 7 of this year.

"I apologize to anyone who feels we were unpatriotic or dismissive of Pearl Harbor Day. We're not," she told WND. "We're a very patriotic company and we're very American. Tolerance is a good quality of the plurality of our country."

"We feel that the purpose of a calendar is to alert people when regular is closed," she continued. "We certainly don't have a political agenda to impose. We apologize if our products have not reflected the wonderful country we all enjoy. We will be reviewing holiday citations on our products for future editions. We will promise to be responsive to what our consumers tell us."
Brown, 56, says her own brother is a 27-veteran of the U.S. Marines, and is about to next month from his post at the Pensacola Naval Air Station in Florida.

She also points out that within 10 days of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on America, her company produced two special calendars to raise some $741,000 for the Uniformed Firefighters of Greater New York to help families of the heroes killed in the line of duty.

"We gave so much money to that they said they couldn't take any more because they were having trouble distributing it," she said.


BrownTrout, founded in 1986 by Wendover and her husband, Marc Brown, previously did include Pearl Harbor Day when it was just a dealing with American clients. She says as the firm expanded, its calendars became more international-oriented, and Pearl Harbor Day became a victim of the globalization.

Regarding which days are included and which are not, she says there's an eight-week process editors go through from Jan. 1 every year through the end of February, when they do a thorough polling of major buyers, bookstores, pet stores as well as public comments throughsuch as Twitter and Mrs. Brown says the 2011 calendar is already being printed and does not include Pearl Harbor Day on Dec. 7, so the next possible chance to include it would be for the 2012 edition. The company does provide refunds to those who request them.



Blue Mountain Arts has never noted Pearl Harbor Day in any of its calendars, but mentions Islamic New Year Dec. 7, 2010. (WND photo / Joe Kovacs)

Meanwhile, popular 2010 calendars published by Blue Mountain Arts of Boulder, Colo., including "A Sister's Love is Forever" and "Mom, I Love You So Much," all cite Dec. 7 as the Islamic New Year without any citation for Pearl Harbor Day.

Bob Gall, president of the company, was initially unsure when WND first asked why Pearl Harbor Day is not included, saying it was "really interesting why we don't. I question the same thing. It is a significant event in our lifetime. Good question. I don't know."

After investigating the matter, he discovered the company has never included Pearl Harbor Day in its publications, but added, "we probably will in the future," since many other days have been added over the years.

Other observances Blue Mountain Arts currently deems worthy of inclusion are:

March 1: National Women's History Month begins
April 11: Holocaust Remembrance Day
April 21: Administrative Professionals Day
April 22: Earth Day, as well as Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day
May 1: May Day
May 4: National Teacher Day
May 5: Cinco de Mayo
Aug. 11: First Day of Muslim Ramadan
Aug. 26: Women's Equality Day
Sept. 21: U.N. International Day of Peace
Nov. 16: The Muslim Eid-al-Adha
Dec. 26: First Day of Kwanzaa, Boxing Day, St. Stephen's Day in Ireland

The company did not completely ignore the military, though, as Armed Forces Day is noted on May 15 in addition to federal holidays such as Memorial Day and Veterans Day.
Gall admits the company has made errors in the past, such as producing a calendar displaying Nov. 31, when such a date does not exist. He says a bride-to-be contacted the company complaining, "I scheduled the wedding for Nov. 31 based on your calendar."

"The fun of calendars became a reality where you just can't make a mistake," Gall said.



Susan Polis Schutz, co-founder of Blue Mountain Arts
Blue Mountain Arts was co-founded by anti-war activist Susan Polis Schutz, the director and executive producer of "Anyone and Everyone," a film about parents of homosexual children.

Concerning her film, she stated, "It is a lot easier for gay people to come out now than it was 15 years ago. However, there is still prejudice. In some cases the prejudice is flagrantly overt, in other cases through more subtle biases of the mind.

And there remain antiquated laws and unequal rights that inhumanely and negatively affect gay people all over the world."

She created Blue Mountain Arts with her husband, Stephen, and employed her son, Rep. Jared Schutz Polis, D-Colo., the first openly "gay" congressman elected as a freshman to the U.S. House. Jared actually changed his last name to Polis to honor his mother's maiden name.

According to Denver's Westword, Jared Polis in recent years has donated heavily to Democratic campaigns and left-leaning organizations, including giving $200,000 to MoveOn.org.

As WND first reported last week, Publix Supermarkets, a major chain in 5 Southeastern states, pulled its free, 2010 calendar from shelves after outraged customers flooded the company with complaints for citing the Islamic New Year at the expense of Pearl Harbor Day.



The forward magazine of USS Shaw explodes during the 2nd Japanese attack wave on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Dec. 7, 1941. To the left of the explosion, Shaw's stern is visible, at the end of floating drydock. At right is the bow of USS Nevada, with a tug alongside fighting fires.

A South Florida radio station, WFTL, brought the matter to light with its midday hosts, Joyce Kaufman and Jeff Katz, urging listeners to bombard Publix with their concerns.

Ironically, while Publix did not include Pearl Harbor Day, it did find space for National Boss Day and Administrative Assistant's Day.


Kimberly Jaeger of Publix

The inclusion of those non-holidays contradicts a statement last Wednesday by Publix spokeswoman Kimberly Jaeger who explained, "Traditionally, our calendars have solely noted holidays. Due to the number of holidays in a calendar year, days of remembrance have not been noted."

By Friday, another statement isssued by the chain claimed those non-holidays were added "based on customer requests."

Publix also found room to list independence days for many foreign countries such as Antigua, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Central America, Cuba, Haiti, Mexico, Paraguay, Uruguay and Trinidad and Tobago.

In the wake of WND's national exposure of the matter, the supermarket has taken on a more apologetic telling its customers, "We would never knowingly disappoint you. We truly regret and apologize for having done that. Our intent was never to exclude important dates or to reduce the importance of any one day. Since our customer base is very diverse, we make every effort to do the right thing, for the most people."

Concerning the calendar flap, Kathleen Riley of Rochester, Mich., wrote WND to the bigger issue, in her opinion, is that immigrants must assimilate into American culture, not Americans into foreign cultures.

Little by little, inch by inch, the folks from the Middle East countries are promoting their values, ideals and culture on us, some by force, some by insistence, some by their clothing style, and some merely by perseverance. (I live in the Detroit area; first they took over Dearborn, then Hamtramck and now are flooding Southfield. The Dearborn schools stop for prayers six times a day, creating an uncomfortable situation for anyone non-Muslim. Consequently, people move out of the area and sell their homes to other Muslims. ... This is the impact of adding their holidays to our calendars. Excuse me, but the last time I looked (despite what Obama tells the world), the United States of America is a Christian country. This multi-culturalism hoax must go away.

According to WND readers, another calendar maker citing the Islamic New Year over Pearl Harbor Day is Myron Corp. of Maywood, N.J.

But not all publishers have omitted the World War II attack. The National Pen Co. of Shelbyville, Tenn., as well as the National Rifle Association are among those who take note of Pearl Harbor Day, while excluding the Islamic New Year for 2010.

According to the Naval History and Heritage Command, Americans losing their lives on Dec. 7, 1941, numbered 2,403, including 68 civilians, most of whom were killed by improperly fused anti-aircraft shells landing in Honolulu. There were 1,178 military and civilian wounded.

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BRAVE NEW SCHOOLS
WorldNetDaily
Legendary Christian coach canned after student converts
Muslim principal allegedly irate that wrestler left Islam to be baptized

Posted: July 27, 2009
11:41 pm Eastern

By Drew Zahn

WorldNetDaily

Fordson High School, Dearborn, Mich.

A high school hall-of-fame and Christian wrestling coach in Dearborn, Mich., claims he was muscled out of his long-tenured coaching job by the school's principal, a devout Muslim, because the administrator was furious over a student wrestler who had converted to Christianity from Islam.

Gerald Marszalek has coached wrestling for 35 years at Dearborn Public Schools, amassing more than 450 wins and, in addition to being added to the Michigan High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame, was named "Sportsman of the Year" by the All-American Athletic Association.

Despite Marszalek's success, however, Principal Imad Fadlallah of Dearborn's Fordson High School ordered the administration not to renew the coach's contract, allegedly in retaliation over the student's conversion and to continue a campaign of flushing Christianity out of the school.

"We are getting a glimpse of what happens when Muslims who refuse to accept American values and principles gain political power in an American community," said Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, which is representing Marszalek. "Failure to renew coach Marszalek's contract had nothing to do with wrestling and everything to do with religion."

Marszalek is suing both the principal and the school in the U.S. District Court of Eastern Michigan, seeking back pay, injunctive and declaratory relief, damages, and to be reinstated as coach of the wrestling team.

According to lawsuit documents, Principal Fadlallah's retribution against the Christian coaches serving Fordson High began in 2005, after Marszalek's volunteer assistant coach, Trey Hancock, led a non-school sanctioned and independent summer wrestling camp.

Hancock, who is also pastor of the Dearborn Assembly of God and parent to one of the wrestlers, reportedly shared his beliefs at the camp and baptized a Muslim Fordson student into the Christian faith.

That fall, Fadlallah fired Hancock and ordered the volunteer coach not to have further contact with the student wrestlers.

"Subsequently, in full view of students and faculty," the lawsuit states, "Fadlallah approached the young Fordson student who had chosen to be baptized a Christian at Hancock's summer wrestling camp, punched the student and advised the student he had 'disgraced his family' by converting to Christianity from Islam."

According to a statement from the Thomas More Law Center, Dearborn is one of the most densely populated Muslim communities in the United States. An estimated 30,000 of its 98,000 residents are Muslims, and roughly 80 percent of the student population of Fordson High School is Arabic, many of whom are also Muslims.


Fordson Principal Imad Fadlallah

Furthermore, the lawsuit alleges, Fadlallah then banned Hancock from entering the school, ordered Marszalek to "keep Hancock out of the building" and even banned the Hancock family from helping out at school concession stands, even though Hancock's son was an All-State wrestler on Fordson's team.

On or about Thanksgiving Day 2007, Hancock came to the school to register his son for an activity, an offense against Fadlallah's orders, the lawsuit claims, which led to a vocal confrontation between the principal and Marszalek, who was allegedly accused of failing to enforce Hancock's banishment.

When the 2007-2008 wrestling season concluded, the lawsuit states, Fadlallah instructed the school's athletic director to be rid of Marszalek too, by refusing to even process the Christian's yearly renewal application for the coaching position, saying, "Gone. I want him gone. No appeal."

Another assistant coach, who had made no application for the head coaching position, was chosen by the school to take Marszalek's place.

According to the lawsuit, however, Marszalek's treatment by Fadlallah isn't isolated, but part of an intentional eradication of Christianity from the school.

"Fadlallah, since assuming duties as Fordsons' principal in 2005, has systematically weeded out Christian teachers, coaches and employees and has terminated, demoted or reassigned them because of their Christian beliefs," the lawsuit continues. "Fadlallah has publicly stated 'he sees Dearborn Fordson High School as a Muslim school, both in students and faculty, and is working to that end.'"

David Mustonen, a spokesman for Dearborn Public Schools, told the Detroit Free Press earlier today that the district had not yet seen the lawsuit and would therefore have to review it before making any comment.

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Our Last “Christian” President?

George W. Bush

For all his faults and not-so-true conservative bones, George W. Bush was indeed a man of some character and one who displayed the fruit of the Spirit. While one of our most humble leaders—he was not by any means perceived as weak by our enemies or disloyal by our allies.

He actually read the Bible, attended church, and knew (on the question of the sanctity of life) that life began at conception and abortion was murder. He prayed, attended church, and sought advice from other believers.

You could argue about some of his “liberal” decisions or his strategy in Iraq which produced far reaching results for an oppressed people.

His graciousness during the transition to the Obama administration was one of eagerness to help even to the point of serving the incoming president. He was for many Christians a good example of real “fruit” produced by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance.

Now before I am swamped by those who think I am trying to canonize Mr. Bush, let me say that I am simply pointing out many of the qualities I perceived of him during his eight years in the White House.

As far as I can remember, Mr. Bush never perceived the United States as not being a Christian nation. He didn’t view the Constitution as something archaic and to be shredded. He was an interesting leader in that he suffered the heap of criticism from the MSM—that relentless, overbearing, at times criminal display of contempt and hatred—with incredible grace and longsuffering. He wasn’t a great orator and often he ‘invented’ words that became known as ‘Bushisms’. But he never complained (at least publicly) about the harsh treatment, and never boasted of the fact that he had “won” the presidency. And I don’t recall him using a teleprompter when he visited any classroom in America!
He is an imperfect man who displayed Christian fruit while holding the world’s most demanding job. Say what you want about George W. Bush, but I have no doubt he is indeed a true Christian. Was he our last Christian president?

I only ask this in light of today’s definition of what a Christian really is based on research from George Barna and the Pew Research surveys.

Christians used to have a biblical worldview—but now a great number of those who identify themselves as ‘Christian’ have ambivalence about abortion, same sex marriage, sexual promiscuity, and sound doctrine. We live in a post-modern, post-Christian world in which the worldview is shaped more by the many colors of our culture than the black and white of God’s word.

Whoever leads this nation and professes their Christianity while not challenging those laws and morays which are an anathema to God cannot be truly born again. It’s easy, though, in America today, to have it both ways. You can sew the label of Christ on your garments but that doesn’t mean you are clothed in the grace of Jesus Christ and bearing the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

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Yep,

Just need the rest of the country to come to the same conclusions before we find ourselves in unrecoverable territory.

Many believe we are already past the point of no return...well, at least the America we used to know.

They want to stop fishing and ban hunting.

After you fundamentally transform America and the economy collapses Cloward and Piven style and they reboot America into Socialism.

Why Democrats Don’t Care about $9.7 Trillion Debt

The Mayor Of Detroit’s Radical Plan To Bulldoze One Quarter Of The City

Detroit looks at turning vacant lots into farmland to save city: Now, a city of nearly 2 million in the 1950s has declined to less than half that number. On some blocks, only one or two occupied houses remain, surrounded by trash-strewn lots and vacant, burned-out homes. Scavengers have stripped anything of value from empty buildings.

How do you control the masses?

THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND

Words and music by Woody Guthrie

In the squares of the city - In the shadow of the steeple
Near the relief office - I see my people
And some are grumblin' and some are wonderin'
If this land's still made for you and me.

I guess the ones asleep will finally wake up with everyone else when we all arrive at the Government relief office.

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FAITH UNDER FIRE
WorldNetDaily Exclusive

Banished! City forbids Bible studies in homes
'This letter will serve as a 10-day written notice to quit such use'

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Posted: March 13, 2010
12:20 am Eastern

By Bob Unruh

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WorldNetDaily
The city of Gilbert, Ariz., has ordered a group of seven adults to stop gathering for Bible studies in a private home because such meetings are forbidden by the city's zoning codes.

The issue was brought to a head when city officials wrote a letter to a pastor and his wife informing them they had 10 days to quit having the meetings in their private home.

The ban, however, prompted a response from the Alliance Defense Fund, which filed an appeal with the city as the first step in its campaign to overturn a provision it describes as illegal.

"The interpretation and enforcement of the town's code is clearly unconstitutional, " said Daniel Blomberg, a member of the litigation team for ADF. "It bans 200,000 Gilbert residents from meeting in their private homes for organized religious purposes – an activity encouraged in the Bible, practiced for thousands of years, and protected by the First Amendment."

The appeal was filed on behalf of the members, all seven, of the Oasis of Truth Church.

Pastor Joe Sutherland had been told in a letter from code compliance officer Steve Wallace that the people were not allowed to meet in a home for church activities under the city's Land Development Code.

There had been no complaints about the meetings, which had been rotating among members' homes before the officer wrote the letter and ordered the group to "terminate all religious meetings … regardless of their size, nature or frequency," because he noticed signs about the meetings.

The town interprets its law so that "churches within its borders cannot have any home meetings of any size, including Bible studies, three-person church leadership meetings and potluck dinners," ADF said.

A city letter confirmed, "Given that the church is considered to be religious assembly, and given the LDC provisions prohibiting that use on Local streets without Use Permits and prohibiting it in single family residential structures, it follows that the church meetings cannot be held in the home."

"The assembly activities associated with the church, including Bible studies, church leadership meetings and church fellowship activities are not permitted," wrote Mike Milillo, the city's senior planner.

"This ban is defended based upon traffic, parking, and building safety concerns. However, nothing in its zoning code prevents weekly Cub Scouts meetings, Monday Night Football parties with numerous attendees or large business parties from being held on a regular basis in private homes," the ADF said.



The few adults in the church had met for a few hours weekly in members' homes.

The ADF argues such bans violate the Constitution's free-exercise clause, and even the state's Free Exercise of Religion Act protects such meetings.

Further, the restrictions imposed by the city violate the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, which grants significant authority for churches to pursue their ministry goals.

Finally, Blomberg said, "the First Amendment's free-speech clause prevents the town from stopping the church from holding its meetings on the public sidewalk outside the pastor's home, yet the town won't allow him to hold the same meetings just a few feet away in the privacy of his own living room."

The small church has been forced to halt its regular meetings. It meets now in a local school but only can afford the rental once a week.
A spokeswoman for the city of Gilbert told WND city officials were aware of the concern and planned to address it.

Vice Mayor Linda Abbott told WND the code apparently was adopted years earlier, and there was considerable concern on the city council because of the current issues.

"I'm not in favor of that code. That is something we would want revisited," she said.

WND reported a similar situation in San Diego County. In that case, officials eventually withdrew a warning letter and a cease-and-desist order they had issued against a pastor who had been holding a weekly Bible study in his home.

"I want to offer my apology to you, your wife and your congregation for the unfortunate events of the past several weeks," said the letter from Walter F. Ekard, chief officer of the county. "My review of the situation shows that no administrative citation warning should have been issued and that a major use permit is not required for the Bible study you have in your home."

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Glenn Beck warns of creeping Christian 'communism'

Posted: March 12, 2010, 1:23 PM by Gillian Grace Charles Lewis, Christianity, Catholicism, Glenn Beck, social justice


Charles Lewis, National Post

Glenn Beck, the Fox News commentator known for his tearful rants in defence of American liberty and against the evils of liberalism, has told his audience that it may be time to abandon most of the Christian churches.

In recent radio show, that was broadcast on more than 400 affiliates, he told his listeners to leave any church that uses the phrases “social justice” or “economic justice." “I beg you, look for the words ’social justice’ or ‘economic justice’ on your church Web site,” he said.

“If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words. Now, am I advising people to leave their church? Yes!” He went on to say, “If you have a priest pushing social justice go find another parish. Go alert your bishop and tell them. [Ask them] are you down with this whole social justice thing?”

Later, on his Fox television broadcast, he noted that both the communists and Nazis subscribed to the philosophy of “social justice.” While social justice is part of many Protestant and Jewish traditions, Catholic commentators felt Mr. Beck’s remarks were specifically targeted at their church.

“What he said was dangerous because it’s a continuation of the idea that charity is equivalent to socialism and addressing the structures that keep people poor is equivalent to communism — when in fact it’s a constitutive part of Christianity,” said Father James Martin, an editor at the Jesuit magazine America and the author of the just released The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything.

“[Mr. Beck] is a major figure with a huge following radio and television on a popular network; he’s not some fringe figure with a tiny little blog. So what he said calls for a response.”

In his commentary, Mr. Beck implied that the phrases “social justice” and “economic justice” would not be part of the New Testament. But Fr. Martin said that Jesus spoke specifically about social justice without having to use the exact term. “When Jesus tells his followers [in Matthew] what it’s going to take to get into heaven, he doesn’t talk about what church you go to or how you pray or how often. He talks specifically how you treat the poor.” Over the past 150 years, Fr. Martin noted, successive popes have written encyclicals specifically on economic and social justice.

In the Huffington Post, Fr. Martin posted a piece titled, "Glenn Beck to Jesus: Drop Dead." In the article, Fr. Martin wrote:

“Glenn Beck’s desire to detach social justice from the Gospel is a move to detach care for the poor from the Gospel. But a church without the poor, and a church without a desire for a just social world for all, is not the church. At least not the church of Jesus Christ. Who was, by the way, poor.”

Joe Carter, an editor at First Things, a magazine that expresses orthodox Catholic, Protestant and Jewish views, also felt that the Mr. Beck’s commentary was a broadside against Catholicism.

Mr. Carter noted that the Church’s own document, the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, states that “a large part of the Church’s social teaching is solicited and determined by important social questions, to which social justice is the proper answer.” The Catechism of the Catholic Church also gives a chapter to the issue of social justice, he added.

“Could Beck’s claim be construed as anti-Catholic? Yes and no,” Mr. Carter wrote. “I think if anyone else had made the remark it would have been hard to dismiss the anti-Catholic undertones. But Beck is a special case: He is too prone to say any dumb thing that pops into his head and too ignorant about history and religion to truly understand the implications of his statement. This doesn’t excuse him, of course, but it certainly is reason not to be too shocked when aself-professed ‘rodeo clown’ advises people to leave their churches over Catholic ‘code words’ like social justice.”

Richard Land, a major conservative spokesman and the head of the president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, said most Christians should be troubled by Mr. Beck's words.

"Did he ever hear of, Do unto others as they would do to you? Or, Love your neigbour as you love yourself? I mean those are fairly basic. The story of the Good Samaritan [in the New Testament] is clearly about our obligation and responsibilities to those who are less fortunate and those who are victims."

He said his own denomination also stresses Baptists to work for the good of the social order.

"When hearing about social justice, anybody my age would think about Martin Luther King. Dr. King was all about social justice. And thank God he was."

National Post
clewis@nationalpost.com

(Photo: Glenn Beck gestures to the crowd at the Rally for America event on May 24, 2003 in Huntington, West Virginia; Photo by Shaun Heasley/Getty Images)

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I agree that Beck was taking aim and hitting at the Roman Catholic Church, and I also agree that those are code words long used by liberal "pro-death" and homosexual supporters. RealCatholicTV is the place that Catholics can educate themselves on what has been going on with the Holy Catholic Church being infiltrated by Alinski socialists. All of the Catholics who I know of who live a liberal lifestyle are ignorant and deceived, not aware that they have bought the lies fed to them in college and the nightly meal of so-called news.