The other night, 60 Minutes Australia ran a story on multiculturalism and focused on Islamic fundamentalism. See here for a transcript of the story. The story looked mainly at Islam in Britain and how a group of non-Muslims are fighting for the British way of life against the invasion of Islamic extremism. As evidence of this, 60 Minutes had some secret footage of an Islamic school in Birmingham which showed Muslim children being taught to hate anything non-Muslim.

This sentiment was also shown in the story to exist here in Australia where a similar story of Islamic extremism was told. The thing that got my attention was the response from a young Muslim woman Samah Hadid. Samah was Australia’s youth representative to the UN in 2010. What always seems to happen is that the media here in Australia will go to someone like Samah as a sample of the Islamic community here in Australia for their opinion. Her response to the presence of extremist Islamic ideology amongst the Muslim population was:

SAMAH HADID: I wouldn’t identify with that sort of ideology at all.

MICHAEL USHER: Would many Muslims identify with that?

SAMAH HADID: Absolutely not, not the ones that I know anyway. You know, there was a play about the Cronulla riots…

MICHAEL USHER: Samah Hadid is among the vast majority of Australian Muslims who embrace our social diversity and agree with the Federal Government that multiculturalism has been a stunning success here.

SAMAH HADID: I’d say I’m a product of multiculturalism and so I find it quite interesting when people say that multiculturalism has failed. The majority of young Muslims, Australian young Muslims, that I know do not care for political Islamic or Islamist ideology. They’re just going about their day-to-day existence, trying to contribute to their own professional fields, trying to, you know, make their communities a better place.

MICHAEL USHER: So they’re not out to force Islam on to everyone?

SAMAH HADID: Not the ones that I know and –

MICHAEL USHER: They’re not out to turn Australia into an Islamic state?

SAMAH HADID: Absolutely not. That’s really my representation of the majority of Australian Muslims that I know.

She then goes on to say at the end of the story:

SAMAH HADID: If we ever want to work towards a multiculturalism that works for everyone, we need to stamp out racism and we need to stake a stand on religious prejudices, but also take a stand on those who, you know, do peddle extremist views and say to them very clearly, “You do not represent us.”

While I would much prefer the ideology of Muslims like Samah to be the dominant Islamic ideology in this country – in any country for that matter – I do wonder how reflective her views are of the Islamic community. I don’t know the sample size of people she knows, but my concern is that this kind of reporting seems like a smokescreen designed to distract us from the real possibility that extreme Islam is present, and of considerable concern, in this country.

I also found her last statement quite interesting. The views of these extremist Islamic Muslims may not represent Samah, her friends or even the majority of the Muslim population, but are they representative of the Islamic religion? From my study of the Qur’an, there are ample texts to support “extremist” or “fundamentalist” ideology. So her statement is, perhaps, more revealing than she would have liked. It reveals how nominal her Islamic faith really is. The same is found in Christianity too. Nominal Christians, who associate with the religion but have really no idea of the tenets of that religion. In my opinion, nominal Christians are not really Christians at all and perhaps the same would apply to nominal Islamists.

Personally though, I would much rather be living next to a Muslim like Samah than a Muslim who actually knows and reads their Qur’an, and is committed to carrying out its precepts.

I just read this news article on the Toronto Star earlier today, and it makes me sick thinking about it. They keep saying that Islam is such a peaceful and beautiful religion, yet I simply cannot stomach that claim in light of the reality that Islam intimidates and oppresses religious minorities into defecting into their system? I’m just thankful that God is going to preserve His true children. May He have mercy on these defectors, that they may yet realize the error of their ways and return to the Truth.

LAHORE, PAKISTAN—Dog-eared and tattered, the blue book is an inch thick and sits on a dented metal table in the corner office of Jamia Naeemia, an Islamic school tucked in a scattering of cement-walled homes and roadside shops.

Many believe the book offers the promise of safety and perhaps even a better chance at prosperity.

The book is a registry used to document religious converts to Islam and officials at Jamia Naeemia say business is brisk nowadays.

At least 20 to 25 former Christians adopt Islam each week by pledging an oath and signing a green and white document in which they accept Islam as “the most beautiful religion” and promise to “remain in the religion of Islam for the rest of my life, acknowledging that blessings are only from God.”

Human rights advocates say it’s no surprise some of Pakistan’s 3 million Christians are adopting Islam. These are vexing and dangerous days for the country’s religious minorities.

Read the rest of it here:

• The Star – Some Christians in Pakistan convert fear into safety

According to the Associated Press and Elizabeth Prann from FoxNews.com, Governor Robert Bentley of Alabama took “more than two days … to apologize for controversial remarks he made during a Martin Luther King Day speech.” So what did the governor say during his speech that was so terrible he needed to apologize for it?

There may be some people here today who do not have living within them the Holy Spirit. But if you have been adopted in God’s family like I have and like you have if you’re a Christian and if you’re saved, and the Holy Spirit lives within you just like the Holy Spirit lives within me, then you know what that makes? It makes you and me brothers. And it makes you and me brother and sister.

1. Both the Associated Press and Prann said this comment “condemned the beliefs of non-Christians,” an indictment so irrational it staggers the mind. There is absolutely nothing in Bentley’s comment that condemns anyone of anything. It is a theological matter of fact in Christianity that those who reject Christ are not the brothers and sisters of those who are in Christ. There is an important and substantive distinction in the New Testament between someone who is your neighbor and someone who is your brother or sister, the latter being a matter of adoption into God’s family.

2. They also criticized Bentley for telling “the crowd he is color blind. But just minutes later he went on to say [that] if they don’t have the same ‘daddy’ then they are not brothers and sisters.” Indeed. But now I have a question for you remarkable examples of irrationality: what does the one have to do with the other? Are you so delusional as to also think Bentley’s statement had something to do with race? You do realize that the expression “color blind” is a racial point, right? And that being a brother or sister in Christ is not a racial point but a theological one? No, of course you don’t, because that would require rationality and accuracy, which is not as sensational.

3. Joey Kennedy with the Birmingham News, who followed the reaction to Bentley’s remarks, had this to say: “In the city and the state there are segments of the population who were offended, and others said it was good what he said.” Thank you for such an informative piece of reporting. Kennedy went on to say, “He is not a civilian anymore, he is not a private person anymore. He is the governor of Alabama every day, twenty-four hours a day.” I am sure Captain Obvious will have more to reveal in the coming days that is just as informative.

4. I especially enjoyed how Kennedy decided that context is irrelevant to content. The fact that Bentley was speaking at the King Memorial Baptist Church as a Christian (he is also a Sunday school teacher and deacon at First Baptist Church in Tuscaloosa) about his Christian convictions “doesn’t matter,” Kennedy tells us. It might occur to you to ask Kennedy if he was in attendance at King Memorial Baptist Church that day, as Bentley delivered his speech, to know what the point being made was, but you have to remember that Kennedy thinks context “doesn’t matter” with regard to what Bentley meant and whether or not it was appropriate. The legacy of Martin Luther King was anything but exclusionary, he said, ignoring the fact that Bentley described himself as governor of “all of Alabama—Democrat, Republican, and independent, young and old, black and white, rich and poor,” and Bentley’s director of communications Rebekah Mason who wrote to Fox News, “The governor had intended no offense by his remarks. He is the governor of all the people, Christians non-Christians alike.” Doesn’t matter.

5. William Nigut, a regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, thinks that an apology does not go far enough. “An apology is only meaningful if it is consistent with a sincere understanding of what a person has done wrong,” he said, which assumes that Bentley did something wrong. He wants to know Bentley realizes his error, “that we are all brothers and sisters.” Someone needs to explain to Nigut that Bentley must first do something wrong before he can realize it. And not to put too fine a point on it, but it is Nigut who is wrong; we are not all brothers and sisters, for we do not all have the same parent either genetically or theologically.

6. The executive director of the First Amendment Center, Gene Policinski, said that Bentley needs to keep in mind that his office represents all faiths—which is complete hogwash. The governor’s office does not represent any faith whatsoever; it represents the executive branch of the state’s government, its powers and interests, which has nothing to do with any religious faith. His office governs the state in which people of diverse faiths reside; it does not represent any faith, much less all faiths. It is a little strange to think the executive director of the First Amendment Center, of all things, would need to brush up on his civics education.

7. Policinski also suggested “there is an implication when a particular faith receives favorable or disfavorable treatment.” That may be, but where did the Alabama state governor’s office give a particular faith favorable treatment? Nowhere.

Earlier this afternoon Bentley made a public apology:

If anyone from other religions felt disenfranchised by the language, I want to say I am sorry. I am sorry if I offended anyone in any way.

No, sir, do not apologize—for you have nothing to apologize for. If someone felt offended by your comment, then that is their problem, not yours. It is absolutely impossible to avoid offending someone somewhere of something. If offending people is not allowed, then speaking is not allowed. Consider for example the idea that your apology itself offends a lot people—like a great many Christians. Now what are you to do? Are you to apologize for the offending apology? Then what of those who were originally offended? Will they not be offended that you now apologized for the offending apology?

You know why it is okay to offend Christians? Because we are neither that retarded nor that insecure. Unlike so many others out there, we are rational grown-ups.

• Please sign this petition to have her freed

Mary Jo Sharp just updated via Facebook that all four—Nabeel Qureshi, David Wood, Paul Rezkalla, and Negeen Mayel—have been found not guilty of disturbing the peace. Mayel’s separate charge of failure to obey stuck, though. Their lawyer will appeal.

Update:

State Representative Tom McMillin (R-Rochester Hills) had the following statement regarding the verdicts given in the trial of the four Christian missionaries arrested at the Dearborn Arab American Festival:

Today in Dearborn, the jury got it mostly right in finding Paul, David and Nabeel innocent of disturbing the peace. The city of Dearborn, the Dearborn Police and especially the Dearborn Mayor owe them a huge apology immediately.

However the guilty decision for Negeen Mayel’s charge of failure to obey a police officer is extremely disturbing to me. I met with the ACLU here in Michigan recently to make sure we had good laws protecting citizens’ right to video police officers and their activity and they said we have the model for other states.

But based on today’s decision, it seems that police in Michigan can get cameras turned off before doing questionable things (like making an arrest that was just found to be bogus by the jury). And how did the police have the right to tell Negeen Mayel to turn off her video camera and how can he touch her… for what reason? The video she took made it clear the police stepped way out of bounds.

Now, for all this charade, the city of Dearborn needs to be dealt with firmly—unless they plan to try to secede from the union and have their own laws. This is the United States of America and we here in the USA have something called Freedom of Speech. Dearborn—get used to it!

(HT: Gene Clyatt)

Update:

Marie Wood said, “The judge gave [Mayel] time served for the night she spent in jail after the initial arrest. We will fight this on appeal and all these lying police officers and officials will have to answer for their despicable deceit.”

Update:

Niraj Warikoo for the Detroit Free Press reports (in part):

Dearborn Mayor Jack O’Reilly Jr. said Friday night that he respects the decision but that the missionaries were anti-Muslim bigots pulling a publicity stunt to gain attention on YouTube in order to raise money. … “It’s really about a hatred of Muslims,” O’Reilly said. “That is what the whole heart of this is. … Their idea is that there is no place for Muslims in America. They fail to understand the Constitution.”

You, sir, are a disgrace to public office.

Update:

Nabeel Qureshi posted his thoughts on the trial and verdict. Although the entire post is really quite excellent, the last paragraph is my favourite and very teachable, wherein he not only praises the Lord for their acquittals but also praises the Lord for Mayel’s guilty verdict! “Now to our God and Father be the glory forever and ever! Amen.”

“Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.

(Job 2:10).

Disclaimer: The Aristophrenium does not endorse every single statement that is made by the producer(s) of this video. For instance, it is claimed that “other religious books” have contradictions in them. We do not believe that the Bible has any real contradictions in it and that any apparent contradictions can be explained and harmonized using sound Biblical exegesis. That aside, though, this video does provide good information regarding Islamic sharia law and what the Qur’an says regarding jihad, tolerance and deception. Please pass the information on.

As for those who want the primary sources, here are various quotes from the Qur’an and hadiths (as well as a quote from Ibn Kathir’s commentary) on jihad, sharia and taqiyyah:

Read the rest of this entry

Breaking news from the Assyrian International News Agency:

Muslim Cleric Calls for Jihad, Coptic Christians Attacked in Egypt

(AINA) — On August 13 Sheikh Tobah, Imam of the village of Shimi 170 KM south of Giza, called during Muslim Friday prayers for Jihad against Christians living there. As a result the Christian Copts living in the village were assaulted over two consecutive days. Eleven Copts were hospitalized and many Coptic youths were arrested.

The assaults begain a couple of hours after the Sheikhs incitement. An argument between Copt Maher Amin, who was washing his taxi, and Mohamed Ali Almstaui, a Muslim extremist from the village, escalated into violence as Mohamad assaulted Maher. The altercation was stopped by bystanders. However, after the evening break of Ramadan fast, Ahmad, the brother of the perpetrator Mohamad, who is reported to belong to an extremist organization, together with twenty other men, went to Maher’s family home, breaking down the door and assaulting him and his family with batons, including his old mother and his paralyzed sister, injuring them and breaking their furniture.

Security forces came and took away the Christian victims and kept them at the station in spite of their wounds, to pressuree them into accepting “reconciliation” with their attackers. None of the Muslims were arrested.

Saad Gamal, Egyptian MP for Elsaff, phoned from Gaza, where he is on a visit, and gave orders to the police to force reconciliation on the Coptic parties…

Please read the rest of the article here.

It is sad that these things are happening to our brothers and sisters in Christ, but I guess this is inevitable as long as Muslims take seriously Muhammad’s words in surah 9:29-30. May the Lord be with our brethren and deliver them out of the hands of the oppressors.

For those of us who have been following the unfolding saga about the arrest of the four Acts 17 Apologetics members at the 2010 Arab International Festival in Dearborn, MI, but who are not directly involved with the case, the whole issue should be practically resolved now. (Even in the courtroom, if justice retains any real meaning in the state of Michigan, the matter should be practically resolved.) Acts 17 Apologetics not only did nothing wrong, violating neither the rules of the festival not the laws of the City, but even the incident for which they were arrested and are facing trial, “the Williams incident” that they have released the video footage of, demonstrates no wrongdoing of any kind. As I had indicated to Yahya Snow, they have argued from one video release to the next that they never violated any rules or laws, from the moment they entered the Arab Festival until the moment they were arrested.

When Officer Brian Kapanowski took Negeen Mayel into custody for questioning vis-à-vis the criminal complaint, for no lawful reason the Officer In Charge Sgt. Jeff Mrowka ordered that all four should be arrested immediately for Breach of Peace. He claimed that it was “due to their behavior” and for preventing “a possible riot or some other type of violence from erupting.” For this and other reasons, Acts 17 Apologetics have released numerous videos proving that during their visit and up to their arrest they did nothing wrong and neither riot nor violence was impending (and to refute further accusations against them by others, e.g., Mayor John O’Reilly who alleged that they were blocking a key exit, that they refused to disperse on police orders, and so forth). Sgt. Mrowka took a gamble that the complaint from Williams and the eye-witness testimony of Amal Alslami were factually correct, ordering the arrest of Acts 17 Apologetics. He went ‘all in’, as they say, and his gamble lost. Alslami gave self-contradicting statements to the police and Williams’ version of the events were factually incorrect—as the video evidence shows. The Williams incident was the last card left for their critics to play and, just like every other accusation, it got trumped by the facts.

For a breakdown of the accusations contrasted against what actually happened, please watch the video for yourself. Any commentary from me would only be a repeat of what Nabeel Qureshi has already said.

This excerpt comes from a foxnews story; an August 2008 interview with a man who left Islam and Hamas after becoming a Christian.

JONATHAN HUNT: Do you believe that Israel can ever strike a peace deal with Hamas?

MOSAB HASSAN YOUSEF: There is no chance. Is there any chance for fire to co-exist with the water? There is no chance. Hamas can play politics for 10 years, 15 years; but ask any one of Hamas’ leaders, ‘Okay, what’s going to happen after that? Are you just going to live and co-exist with Israel forever?’ The answer is going to be no … unless they want to do something against the Koran. But it’s their ideology and they can’t just say ‘We’re not going to do it.’ So there is no chance. It’s not about Israel, it’s not about Hamas: it’s about both ideologies. There is no chance.

JONATHAN HUNT: Aren’t you terrified that somebody is going to try to kill you for saying these things — which would be approved of according to parts of the Koran?

MOSAB HASSAN YOUSEF: They got to kill my ideas first, (and) that’s it, they’re already out. So how are they going to kill my idea? How are they going to kill the opinions that I have? … They can kill my body, but they can’t kill my soul.

Throughout the interview Mosab tells how he began to realise that the consequences to the ideas of his former faith were very different to the consequences of Christianity – and this was a separate observation he made from the truth claims of Islam and Christianity themselves. As a Christian, I found the entire interview with Mosab quite edifying. But certainly on the subject of ideaologies, I think he nails it. Ideas have consequences.

__________________________________________________

“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:28)

• POLICE REPORT: “Acts 17 was harassing people, screaming at Muslims, and starting a riot!”
• MAYOR: “Acts 17 just wants to make Muslims look bad!”
• JUDGE: “Give them their cameras back.”
• DAVID AND NABEEL: “Here’s the footage, everyone. We told you they were lying.”
• MUSLIM: “Acts 17 is harassing Muslims? Let’s kill those guys.”
• CITY OF DEARBORN: “Here is David’s home address.”

Thanks, Dearborn. You just keep adding to your lawful conduct. It seems David Wood has discovered that the City of Dearborn has been releasing copies of the arrest reports with personal identifying information removed for everyone—except David Wood.

“Not long ago, someone forwarded me the report being released by the Dearborn Police Department. Nabeel’s address, Negeen’s address, and Paul’s address had all been taken out. My full name and home address, however, were prominently displayed on page six of the report!” Just when you think the City of Dearborn could not make themselves look any worse. They are piling up their legal miscarriages. Click here to read more from David Wood at the Acts 17 Apologetics blog.

Please keep David Wood and his family in your prayers. And remember that the God we serve is almighty and sovereign.

John 19:8-11,

When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, and he went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?”

Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”