Posted on 11/26/2002 6:00:08 AM PST by robowombat
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Robertson pleads for scrutiny of Koran Larry Witham THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published 11/26/2002
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Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson said yesterday the news media and political leaders have failed to educate Americans about violence in the Koran and in Islamic history and wishes President Bush had never said that "Islam is a religion of peace." "He is not elected as chief theologian," Mr. Robertson said.
It would have been better for the president to speak only politically about the Islamic world, and not religiously. "It is leading to needless confusion," Mr. Robertson said in an interview with The Washington Times.
Mr. Robertson's comments in the past year have been a major part of the public debate on how a predominantly Christian nation responds to a foreign enemy with Islamic roots. The public would be better served, Mr. Robertson said, if the media would investigate the content of the Koran and what he says are many passages that incite Muslims to kill nonbelievers. But reporting on that, he said, "is not politically correct."
He said that the violence visited on Christians in many nations, such as Sudan and Nigeria, arises from Shariah, or Muslim law, showing that the violent behavior is tied to Islamic beliefs.
Though Mr. Robertson relinquished his Baptist ordination to run for the Republican presidential nomination in 1988, he has taken it up again and describes his primary work as promoting Christianity. For 18 years, his Christian Broadcasting Network had an Arab-language broadcast station in Lebanon, but he said that "it was overrun by Hezbollah," a terrorist group.
"In terms of Islam, I don't think the issues have been ventilated at all in the press because no one has read the Koran," he said. Still, he said civil liberties in the United States are too important to allow the U.S. government the extra powers of domestic surveillance that it is asking for and that law-abiding Muslim citizens also must have protection. "I have never advocated ferreting out Muslims in America," he said. "They are citizens like I am. But if they are funneling money to Hamas, organizing terrorist cells or holding anti-American rallies, they ought to be deported."
U.S. Muslim groups have organized a yearlong project to put a package of books and a PBS video on Islam, all by American authors, in the nation's 16,000 public libraries to promote understanding of the religion.
The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) reports that supporters have sent in 4,219 "sponsorships" of $150 each to pay for the library package, but the number of libraries accepting them is not yet clear. "It's a yearlong campaign, and it will take a year or so to sort that [number] out," said CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper.
Last week, Mr. Hooper said on a New York radio show that conservative religious leaders such as Mr. Robertson were "equivalent" to Osama bin Laden because they want to divide the world into a religious war.
When asked whether Christian leaders would urge killing members of a different faith as bin Laden has done, Mr. Hooper said: "Given the right circumstance, these guys would do the same in the opposite direction." Though CAIR often demands apologies from groups that criticize Islam, Mr. Hooper would not apologize for his radio comment.
He also confirmed reports that a Saudi billionaire, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz al Saud, donated $500,000 to CAIR for the educational push. "I think most of it is going for the library project," Mr. Hooper said.
The report about the Saudi money prompted conservative activist Paul Weyrich, chairman of the Free Congress Foundation, yesterday to say that while libraries have intellectual freedom, the library packages "present a highly misleading view of Islam, spray-painting over the religion's long history of animosity to Western values."
He called for the American Library Association to issue a statement on the problems with stocking a one-sided view of Islam and urged the use of materials written by his foundation's staff. Mr. Hooper said a positive image of Islam is important to protect the civil rights of Muslims in the United States. He cited the FBI report yesterday that "hate crimes" against people of Middle Eastern ethnicity had increased from 28 in 2000 to 481 in 2001 across the country.
Mr. Robertson said he opposed as "bad law" the government's plans, even in a time of war, to electronically track the lives of all Americans. "As the war on terrorism is going forward, the thing I'm concerned about is how much government control they'll have" on Americans' domestic life, he said.
Meanwhile, he said his main business is not Islam but Christian evangelism. "I don't want to change my ministry and become some kind of Muslim fighter," he said. "I don't want to alienate Muslim people around the world," whom he believes want more information about the West and even Christianity.
But Islam is "a deeply held religious belief pushed by mullahs all over the world" as a basis for attacking Jews and Christians, he said. "Maybe we can counter it by American propaganda. Maybe we can counter it by love."
Copyright © 2002 News World Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
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I prefer massive firepower myself
Yes, and Pat was not elected to anything either. Leave politics to politicians, Pat. All you'll do is incite muslims. Anyone who is conscious knows that Islam is Violence Inc. No debate about that whatsoever. So why state the obvious? Mind your flock and please shut up. In the multitude of words, sin is NOT lacking......
LOVE. (L)ots (O)f (V)iolent (E)xplosives. LOVE
Anyone who is conscious knows that the Soviet Union is the Evil Empire. No debate about that whatsoever. So why state the obvious?
Because the victims need to hear it, because the peace freaks need to hear it, because the weak-kneed and wavering need to hear it, because those behind enemy lines who are with us in spirit need to know that we are with them and not with their governments.
That film should be required in every college in the nation. There is a whole lot to fear from Islam.
BINGO!
I disagree. Pat Robertson may be a flawed messenger but I would bet that anyone in public life who made these statements would be attacked on some level. As for his not being an expert; Pat Robertson has spent his life as a religious man and unlike most of us he's actually studied the Koran, which is his point. Few non-Muslims have and the media ignores the intolerant and even violent aspects of Islamic teaching, leaving many Americans ignorant about the violent overtones in Islam and buying the 'religion of peace' mantra churned out by the media.
The 'big picture' in the mid-east isn't the point here. Understanding the violent nature of Islam, is. Robertson is simply pointing it out and reminding the average person that we have a distinct enemy in Islam, not a peaceful religious partner. He takes pains to point out that he's not against all Muslims, just that we need to understand that their religion encourages war with non-Muslims and is not 'a religion of peace'. It's a slap at President Bush but Robertson stands on factual ground when he says it, 'big pictures' aside.
I didn't realize "Holy War, Holy Terror" was done by PBS. It was very good anyway.
When asked whether Christian leaders would urge killing members of a different faith as bin Laden has done, Mr. Hooper said: "Given the right circumstance, these guys would do the same in the opposite direction." Though CAIR often demands apologies from groups that criticize Islam, Mr. Hooper would not apologize for his radio comment.
Well, let's see, now: The United States, a nation 74% or whose citizens are Christian, is also the world's sole superpower, heavily enough armed to subjugate the entire Muslim world by force. So why hasn't it happened, Mr. Hooper? Have Christian militants even flown any airliners into office towers in Muslim nations yet?
Why would our Chief Executive, a devout Christian, be (misguidedly) preaching to us all about Islam being a "religion of peace" if the Christian aim were to exterminate Islam?
Why has more aid money been funneled to Afghanistan since the Afghan War began than before it?
Take your time, Mr. Hooper. You'll need it.
Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
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