Posted on 11/22/2006 7:13:43 PM PST by Tim Long
Official state news report quotes 'Purpose-Driven' author criticizing U.S.
Syria's Grand Mufti Sheik Badr al-Din Hassoun and Rick Warren
California mega-church pastor Rick Warren, author of the best-selling "Purpose-Driven Life," reportedly told a Syrian-controlled news agency the U.S. should have been holding dialogues with Damascus; Syrian Muslims and Christians co-exist peacefully; and the Syrian leadership is responsible for the nation's tolerance and stability.
That's according to the news agency SANA, which has issued a number of reports this week as Warren visits Syria and meets various leaders and officials, much to the dismay of many in the U.S.
"We at VCY America Radio network are appalled and angered that Rick Warren is praising a nation that has long supported international terrorism and that desires the utter destruction of Israel," said a statement from the broadcasting organization.
(Story continues below)
"The U.S. State Department reports that Syria – along with Iran – gives the Lebanese militia Hezbollah 'substantial amounts of financial, training, weapons, explosives, political, diplomatic, and organization aid.' The State Department also has documented that Iranian arms destined for Hezbollah pass through Syria on an ongoing basis," the group continued.
"Syria has also let Hezbollah operate in Lebanon and attack Israel, the results of which were seen in the July, 2006 violence between Hezbollah and Israel in which many lost their lives," the statement said.
The SANA reports included statements that:
"Pastor Warren hailed the religious coexistence, tolerance and stability that the Syrian society is enjoying due to the wise leadership of President al-Assad, asserting that he will convey the true image about Syria to the American people."
"Syria wants peace, and Muslims and Christians live in this country jointly and peacefully since more than a thousand years, and this is not new for Syria."
Warren told Syria's Islamic grand mufti there could be no peace in the region without Syria and 80 percent of Americans reject the U.S. administration's policies and actions in Iraq. The comments attributed to Warren contradict documentation by the International Counter Terrorism organization and U.S. State Department of Syria's extensive use of terrorism for its political goals.
The ICT said "frequent use of the 'terror weapon' has been made by Syria against Lebanon, Jordan and the Palestinians" in an attempt "to impose Syrian hegemony over them and bring them into line with Syrian policy."
"The main Lebanese leaders killed by Syrian proxies were: Bashir Gemayel (who was accused by Syrian propaganda of being a 'Zionist proxy'); and Kamal Jumblatt (accused of being a 'traitor' and an 'American agent.')," the ICT said.
Syria also has used terror tactics against Egypt and Iraq, although less successfully, the ICT said, but it has been used against Christians in 1978 and in the city of Zahle in 1980, and even against Muslim residents of Beirut.
The broadcast group says Warren "has no business involving himself in any role that appears to be representative of the United States and his promise to Syria to present a brighter view of that nation to America and Saddleback members demonstrates his willingness to serve as a mindless shill for a nation that embraces terror as a legitimate way of solving problems."
Messages left with Saddleback requesting a comment were not returned immediately.
But Mark D. Tooley, writing in FrontPageMagazine.com also noted "Warren has reportedly promised to carry that state sponsor of terrorism's propaganda message back to the U.S."
He accused Warren of being adrift in a religiously left direction.
"The supposed quote from Warren reads like a news release from Assad's propaganda ministry. Perhaps, the translation into Arabic and back into English does not do Warren justice. We can hope," he wrote.
"Needless to note, there was no mention by the Warren delegation, at least not as mentioned by SANA, about Syria's one-party police state, its political prisoners, its chambers of torture, its support for Hezbollah terrorism in Lebanon, and its continued devotion to the destruction of Israel," he wrote.
Freedom House notes Syrian people have no way to change their government and no influence into its policies.
This is a nation, Tooley wrote, "where only the ruling Baathist Party and its allies are permitted to win elections, where all news media are owned or controlled by the government, where independent labor unions are prohibited, where universities must proclaim Baathist Party policies, where clerics are appointed by the government, where the president by law must be Muslim, and where women's limited rights are governed by Islamic Sharia law, even though the government is ostensibly secular."
No new Christian school has been allowed to be built in 40 years, and all schools by law must have Muslim principals, Freedom House said.
"It is a sad story, repeated often. Big-name U.S. preachers, often otherwise sensible and orthodox in their faith, visit despotic regimes and naively curry favor with police state thugs," Tooley wrote, resulting in "a propaganda bonanza for the tyrants."
Saddleback, with 30,000 members, was begun by Rick and Kay Warren in 1979 and now has more than 200 ministries in the Orange County area.
His popular book, which has sold about 12 million copies, focuses on worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry and evangelism. It tells readers the life is "not about you," and shows how God can enable each one to live for His purposes.
Warren already is scheduled to preach in North Korea next year.
Joseph Farah is NOT someone with a reputation for honesty.
Do you have anything specific in mind?
I know a Syrian Christian who told me how the Muslim population constantly harasses the Christians. He has a lot of stories about Christian girls being verbally assaulted in the most vulgar ways, prayer towers being erected in Christian neighborhoods, and Muslims purposely moving into Christian areas and saying it's their holy duty to reproduce until they are a majority. He said a lot of Syrian Christians are leaving for the West as a result.
This "peace" is maintained by a dictatorship that will kill/torture anyone who gets too radical. Sound like old Iraq? My friend is actually in favor of the Middle Eastern dictatorships because of this fact.
Sorry Raygun (from Battlestar Galactica the mini-series?), i call BS on this one. Here is the source that "World Nutbar Daily" is linking on this article. It is the Syrian version of 'pravda', only not as accurate. World Nutbar Daily did a cut/paste job on the Syrian Propaganda ministry's own piece. Shoddy Journalism. Somebody needs to tell them to get it right before they do real damage to the conservative cause.
Scroll up to Post #67 on this thread, and read Warren's statement on this matter.
All in all i have to give Warren a "What did you expect?" or to be theological about it...i have to give Warren an 'F' on his Total Depravity class, he'd have remembered that little doctrine, he probably wouldn't have made such a bone-headed mistake. But there is no sinister Anti-American policy here.
i have no use at all for Rick Warren, but criticism MUST be based on TRUTH, and not on Syrian propaganda. Frankly, i don't care about Warren's politics. They should be looked at as symptoms rather than root cause. The REAL problem is that Warren's doctrine is aborrent, causing such matters.
Tell me what a man believes, and I'll tell you what he'll do. ~Henry David Thoreau
Well .. maybe we could take the story with a grain of salt .. because they said his book sold 12 million - and it actually sold 30 million - so far.
And .. if Rick did say this .. he will lose most of his support .. and/or church members.
What bothers me the most is that people who have a deep relationship with God should be able to hear HIS voice loudly enough that they could not be led so far astray as to support a terrorist country like Syria. I find it difficult to believe he's that ignorant of world events.
I will reserve judgement - I'll let my relationship with God tell me what's really going on .. which is better than jumping on the "beat-up" Rick bandwagon.
I care about life! If we don't stop federal stemcell funding, we deserve to be nuked.
To misconstrue a position is one thing. To use your own misinterpretation to ridicule the position you're failing to grasp is quite another.
The "social issues" you speak of (as much as I detest the use of such Sunday morning talk show phraseologies to categorize matters of life and death) cannot be divorced from the security you desire. They are, in fact, codependent. A culture that devalues life and places individual comforts and convenience at a premium will ultimately lose its will in a long war against a relentless and determined enemy (we're seeing it happen already, a mere three years into a relatively low-intensity, low-casualty conflict). It's the nature of the self-centered beast.
Hey, I'm just trying to fit in.
Hardly. But please do continue with the sneering attacks on conservatives. Giuliani's supporters are doing as much to alienate the party's base as his radical positions. You all seem to think you're going to shame the base into voting for the most left-wing GOP candidate since Rockefeller with insults and personal attacks. All I can say is, good luck with that.
Your "relationship with God"?
Which God?
We're talking about a sworn enemy of Israel. Syria.
"Syrian leadership is responsible for the nation's tolerance and stability."
The dolt should try talking to Lebanese Christians next time .
Another bigtime televangelist type grown way too big for his britches.
I would like to see this congregation vote him out, off the church's dole.
There is only ONE true GOD - Almighty God who created the heavens and the earth. "Thou shalt have no other gods before me."
I am a born-again Christian .. and thus I consider myself to have a personal relationship with God. If you don't understand that .. I'm sorry.
People just seem way too eager to hyperventilate over somebody's statement before they even know if the statement is true. The media just loves you people.
I will take Liturgy and Bach anytime.
Rick Warren and his ilk have always been church lite, but most "Liturgy and Bach" is "church veggetarian" - great side dishes but no meat.
Sound expository preaching is like a nice, juicy steak. If you have that, the sides don't seem to matter as much.
Idiot. Why doesn't he just stick to drugs and gay sex. I am really wondering about these Evangelical leaders. Oops. I guess I can't say that since my religion is Catholic. But really can't people just shut up and support the country and President.
Has it ever occured to you that the Muslims feel the same way about their "Allah"?
Seems to me that both camps are barking up the same tree....
I hate to say it but with his emphasis on the HIV people I think he's probably gay.
And yeah I have my flamesuit on, but there's been a LOT of pastors into the homosex lately. I think it has to to do with NPD, narcisstic personality disorder and gayness which are related I think.
Hence his leftarded comments.
If Mr. Warren knows so much why hasn't he made the piece settlement and, while he is there it's just a short hop over to Iraq.
They would cut the dumb as*** head off, and he knows that.
I agree with this. Perhaps he needs to spend a little time off to review his Bible...not his book....but the Bible. Beware of pastors who mix politics with the message.
Was gonna post more but, the scum isn't worthy of my time.
Rick is very ecumenical, so he has no problem with Catholics, and they don't with him either.
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