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On September 17, 2001, President Bush paid a visit to the mosque in Washington. There he was photographed flanked by Nihad Awad, the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

CAIR has long been an admirer and public defender of terrorist organizations whose attacks against even innocent women and children it sees as legitimate acts of "liberation." Awad has personally declared, "I am a supporter of the Hamas movement." o Also in the picture with President Bush at the mosque was Khaled Saffuri, currently chairman of an organization called the Islamic Institute, which he co-founded with conservative activist Grover Norquist.

Bush's scary CAIR friends
by Debbie Schlussel
Too bad Patrick Henry isn't around to advise President Bush.
"We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth," Henry remarked. "For my part, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst; and to provide for it."
Though Henry never faced modern-day Islamic terrorists, he was around for other miscreants, known as pirates. And unlike Bush and Colin Powell, neither he nor our other founding fathers consorted with the pirates' representatives and pro-pirate "civil rights" groups in America. In those days, our leaders didn't make "Coalitions Against Piracy" with the countries who hosted and harbored pirates. And they didn't make statements saying that this was not about piracy and pirates, a peaceful group who just wanted to plunder, rape and pillage.
But, unfortunately, as I've described in my recent columns, President Bush has invited representatives of the most radical, pro-terrorist Islamic groups in America to pray with him at the National Cathedral, to pray with him at the Washington, D.C., mosque, to sit near Mrs. Bush at the big speech to Congress and to hold hands with him at the White House.
One of those groups, CAIR, the Council on American Islamic Relations, is among the most dangerous to American security. CAIR is an outgrowth of Hamas front group the Islamic Association of Palestine. Oliver "Buck" Revell was the FBI's associate director in charge of Investigative and Counter-Intelligence Operations from 1985 to 1991, in charge of all FBI terrorism investigations. "[The Islamic Association of Palestine] is an organization that has directly supported Hamas military goals," he told Capitol Hill newspaper, "The Hill." "It is a front organization for Hamas that engages in propaganda for Islamic militants. It has produced videotapes that are very hate-filled, full of vehement propaganda. It is an organization that has supported direct confrontation." It is also an organization that exists without impingement in Texas.
CAIR's founder and executive director, Nihad Awad, was IAP's public relations director ("Muslim-Americans in Mainstream America," The Link, February-March 2000). Islamic Association of Palestine's publications, including Muslim World Monitor – of which Awad was contributing editor – and Al-Zaitonah, frequently praise terrorist actions.
Awad was the gentleman with the neatly trimmed beard, sitting a couple seats from Mrs. Bush at the president's big speech to Congress and standing next to Bush at several events, including the D.C. mosque and National Cathedral services. IAP and CAIR, according to Revell, had "intertwined membership" and CAIR used IAP propaganda materials.
Incidentally, Awad – for mysterious reasons – appears to have changed his name. On CAIR's 1994 IRS form 990, he is listed as "CAIR Executive Director Nehad A. Hammad." And then there is the similarity in staff.
Besides Awad, CAIR Director of Communications Ibrahim Hooper also worked for IAP. Rafeeq Jaber, IAP's current president, was a founding director of CAIR.
CAIR's funding comes from groups like the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development. When it was founded in 1994, CAIR received its original $5,000 from HLF. Mohammed Nimer, director of CAIR's Research Center, was on the Board of United Association for Studies and Research (UASR), the strategic arm of Hamas in the U.S., according to the New York Times. It was founded by Mousa Abu Marzook, the political chief of Hamas and a well-known terrorist operative.
Awad, in the Muslim World Monitor, called the trial and conviction of the first World Trade Center (WTC) bombers, "a travesty of justice." He has openly expressed his support for terrorist groups, like Hamas. "I am in support of the Hamas movement," he said at a 1994 Barry University panel discussion, "The Road to Peace: The Challenge of the Middle East." He's also openly praised Ayatollah Khomeini. Remember him – the guy who directed the taking of U.S. hostages in Iran?
Hooper, echoing the Taliban government, has always refused to condemn Osama bin Laden. In a 1998 aol.com interview, after the bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa, Hooper said the bombings were a result of "misunderstanding of both sides." Today, he still will not condemn bin Laden, only the attacks on the WTC. Hooper also defended Arab Muslim Sudan's murder of over two million black Christian citizens and the slavery, rape and torture of millions more, dismissing it as "inter-tribal hostage-taking."
Imam Siraj Wahaj, a CAIR board member, is one of the most respected American Muslim leaders and is vice president of the Islamic Society of North America. But, according to Islamic expert Dr. Daniel Pipes, he "calls for replacing the U.S. government with a caliphate." Wahhaj was a character witness for Sheik Omar Abdul Rahman, the Muslim cleric convicted of taking part in the first WTC bombing and planning to blow up U.S. buildings and bridges. Wahaj was listed as an unindicted co-conspirator in that case. According to Salon.com, in a 1991 speech before the Islamic Association of North Texas, Wahaj called Operation Desert Storm, "one of the most diabolical plots ever in the annals of history" and predicted that America will fall unless it "accepts the Islamic agenda."
CAIR's demand for the removal of an anti-bin Laden billboard (that merely declared him "the sworn enemy") in Los Angeles, and its protest of the FBI, INS and Customs raid are minor compared to its strong Oval Office connections. It's hard to believe that President Bush pronounced "Islam is Peace" while surrounding himself with the least peaceful representatives of it in America.
Long John Silver and other pirates were a lot less successful because they didn't have groups like CAIR furthering their cause. Silver only had a wooden leg and an eyepatch to show for his efforts.
Today's terrorists have full entrée into the White House.

Bush 'Worship' at Shinto Temple Troubles Christians in Japan and U.S.
By Mark Ellis
Senior Correspondent, ASSIST News Service

ORANGE, CALIFORNIA (ANS) -- When President Bush entered the ornately beautiful Shinto Temple erected to house the spirits of the late Emperor Meiji he clapped once and bowed deeply, following the common etiquette of worship at such shrines. At the same time, the Prime Minister of Japan was left sitting in the car—forbidden from entering the shrine by a postwar constitution written by the U.S.

“The Prime Minister of Japan is forbidden by their constitution from even participating in the Shinto religion because it’s emperor worship that led to World War II,” says Dr. Robert Morey, author of over 40 books dealing with false religions, cults and philosophies, and founder of the California Institute of Apologetics.

“So the Prime Minister stayed in the limo while Bush and his wife went into the temple and clapped to awaken the demon and then bowed in worship and signed the book of worship,” says Dr. Morey, referring to the Bush temple visit made February 18 as part of his Asia tour.

Emperor Meiji ruled Japan from 1850-1914, during its transformation from feudalism to modernity. He set Japan on a course toward World War II by promoting a revitalized Shintoism that favored emperor worship and the removal of foreign influences from Japan.

“It was an act of idolatry,” says Kiyomasa Akashi, with Logos Ministries in Tokyo. “Even worse, it was an official, public idol worship,” Akashi says. “He did bow before the shrine where the Meiji Emperor is enshrined as a god.”

Sadly, many Japanese and Korean Christians were severely persecuted because they refused to participate in Shinto rituals, which involved bowing down and worshipping the emperor and other false gods. “Japanese Christians are furious,” Dr. Morey says. “They were killed because they wouldn’t bow before the image of the emperor,” he says.

“Korean Christians had their hands chopped off because they wouldn’t bow and worship the emperor,” he adds. Korea was ruled as a colony of Japan between 1910-1945. “Their descendants see the Bushes making a mockery of those who, like Daniel and his three friends, refused to bow before a heathen idol.”

For the most part, American Christians who admire President Bush hope and believe he acted innocently, out of respect for local customs and traditions. But Japanese Christian leaders do not take it lightly. “According to the Shinto ritual, clapping hands and bows are the set of Shinto style of worship,” says Rev. Isaac Ishiguro, of the historic Mino Mission in Japan. “In Japan all the media reported, ‘Bush Sanpaied at Meiji shrine.’” he says. “The verb ‘Sanpai’ in Japanese means, san—visit or go, and pai—worship.”

The Japanese news media clearly reported Bush’s ‘worship,’ in direct contrast to Prime Minister Koizumi’s restraint. Before Bush left he signed a special book—which appears to be more than just a registry. “If you sign the book, it means you actually did worship the god, not simply visit the site,” says Akashi. “The record remains in the shrine for a long period of time.”

Some see Shintoism as a quaint cultural tradition, but others disagree. “Shinto has existed for a long time of history,” says Akashi, “but it’s not a culture nor tradition of the Japanese people—it’s a religion and a cult.”

“Because of an ultra-long recession of the Japanese economy, the government is swiftly reviving the old Shinto nationalism in order to gain national pride,” Akashi adds. “Kids in public elementary and high schools as well as teachers are now being forced to sing Kimigayo (“Praise Song of the Emperor”) and salute the Hinomaru flag (to the sun goddess Amateratsu) at graduation ceremonies.”

“Christian leaders and missionaries in Japan sent letters of warning and petition to the White House and the U. S. Embassy,” says Akashi, which apparently were unheeded. The White House declined to comment on this story. A State Department official said President Bush merely went to pay his respects and that he "was not involved in any religious activities, ceremonies or rites." The official noted that Presidents Carter and Reagan visited the same shrine.

In the aftermath of September 11, amid Bush’s efforts to show respect for other faiths—particularly Islam, some see a drift toward universalism, which denies the exclusiveness of Christianity. Another example was Bush’s mosque visit immediately after the attacks on the World Trade Center.

“He used the code word when he went to worship in the mosque,” Dr. Morey says. “He said, ‘I worship with you the universal God.’”

Many believers would find it difficult to believe President Bush is drifting into universalism, which blurs the distinction between the God of the Bible and the Allah of Islam. In universalism, “All the gods of all the religions are masks on Popsicle sticks that he puts in front of his face,” Dr. Morey says. “So it doesn’t matter if you’re worshipping Shiva with the Hindus or Jehovah with the Jews or Jesus or Allah.”

“Since the 1970s, the locus of universalism has been the plurality of religions,” according to Donald Dunavant, Ph.D., with the Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary. “All exclusive language, in which truth claims are asserted about the uniqueness of Christ…is regarded as arrogant and divisive in relationship to other faiths,” he adds. “Universalism promotes dialogue with other faiths that both acknowledges their legitimacy and affirms that love embraces all peoples of all times.”

Such thinking seems to dominate popular culture. “The politically correct people are in charge of the public school systems, the universities, and the media,” Dr. Morey says. “They have brainwashed President Bush to believe all religions worship the same universal God.”

“That’s why he has no difficulty worshipping in a mosque with the Muslims or in a Shinto temple in Japan,” Dr Morey adds. Many believers will hope Dr. Morey’s concerns and the fears of Japanese Christians are unfounded, as President Bush continues to live out his Christian faith in a pluralistic society.

http://www.worthynews.com/news-features-3/bush-shinto-temple.html