Free Republic

Congressional candidate Kurt Eckhardt's comments about not trusting Islam drew renewed criticism Friday from Chicago-area Muslims who called a news conference to say such statements have no place in political campaigns. Ahmed Rehab, communications director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations' Chicago chapter, also invited the Chicago Republican to visit mosques and Muslim schools, "so that he may come to know the true peaceful and compassionate nature of Islam." Eckhardt, who attended the group's press conference at the Downtown Islamic Center, 231 S. State St., said he would accept that invitation. But he defended comments he made Monday to the...

Muslim groups are protesting the comments of a Republican candidate for Congress who contends terrorist acts are not "aberrational behavior" by a few extremists but part of the expansionist aims of fundamentalist Islam. GOP candidate Kurt Eckhardt Kurt Eckhardt, who is challenging three-term Rep. Jan Schakowsky, told WorldNetDaily he won't retract statements to the Daily Herald newspaper of suburban Chicago. "There's not a chance I will do that," he said in an interview with WND. Eckhardt told the editorial board of the Daily Herald Monday he has distrusted Islam "for years" and supports the monitoring of mosques by the federal...