Obama: Islam ‘Woven into the Fabric of Our Country Since Founding’

Then Senator from Illinois, Barack Obama, dressed in traditional Muslim garments during a visit to Kenya in 2006.

The President hits bottom and keeps digging.  I haven't seen this news reported anywhere except Breitbart yet, but after speaking critically of Christianity at the National Prayer Breakfast, refusing to identify the source of terrorism and violence in the Middle East as Islamic extremism, and refusing to identify the victims of the ISIS beheadings in Libya as Christians, Obama latest comments about Islam don't come as any surprise.

From Breitbart:

In his bloviating speech on Thursday at his summit on countering violent extremism, President Obama bent over backwards to make nice with Islam.  Not only were terrorists not Muslim, President Obama stated, but Islam played a crucial role in America’s founding.

“Here in America,” Obama stated, “Islam has been woven into the fabric of our country since its founding.”

Nice try, Mr. President.  But, as Ben Shapiro, writing for Breitbart, notes, the first Muslims did not immigrate to the United States until well after the Civil War; and the first mosque in the United States was not built until 1915, by most reports.  Shapiro goes on to say:

Islam had zero impact on the founders or their philosophy – less than zero, given that the founders despised the religion, or what they knew of it.  President Obama fictionalized this history at an Iftar dinner in 2012:

As I’ve noted before, Thomas Jefferson once held a sunset dinner here with an envoy from Tunisia — perhaps the first Iftar at the White House, more than 200 years ago.  And some of you, as you arrived tonight, may have seen our special display, courtesy of our friends at the Library of Congress — the Koran that belonged to Thomas Jefferson.   And that’s a reminder, along with the generations of patriotic Muslims in America, that Islam — like so many faiths — is part of our national story.

Well, not so much.  That magical “first Iftar” was a meeting between Sidi Solima Mellimelli, an emissary of the brutal Barbary pirates, and the president.  Jefferson had over Mellimelli in an attempt to bribe him into submission after the USS Constitution captured ships from the bey of Tunis. Mellimelli requested food, lodgings, and concubines.

Jefferson already knew of Islam, having been educated in 1786 after Barbary pirates attempted to blackmail America into monetary tribute. At that time, the Barbary emissary justified piracy with reference to the Koran, according to a report from Jefferson:

The Ambassador answered us that it was founded on the Laws of the Prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as prisoners.

John Quincy Adams, writing of these negotiations, stated:

The precept of the Koran is perpetual war against all who deny that Mahomet is the prophet of God. The vanquished may purchase their lives, by the payment of tribute; the victorious may be appeased by a false and delusive promise of peace; and the faithful follower of the prophet may submit to the imperious necessities of defeat: but the command to propagate the Moslem creed by the sword is always obligatory, when it can be made effective. The commands of the prophet may be performed alike, by fraud, or by force. 

Quincy Adams would later lament, “Such is the spirit, which governs the hearts of men, to whom treachery and violence are taught as principles of religion.”  [Read the rest.]

So, as Shapiro notes: "The historical record demonstrates that Islam had virtually no role in the foundation of the early Republic outside of being used as a negative comparison point for freedom and self-government."

What are we to make of a President who disses Christianity at every turn while protecting and praising Islam, even inventing a role for Islam in our nation's history that is a pure fabrication?   We are obviously looking at a man who thinks nothing of giving the finger to everything most Americans hold dear.  Shame on the American public who voted for him!  And shame on the Democratic Party for ever foisting this man on us as a candidate!
    

How believing in the Bible can get you canned in today's America

If you want to get fired, sued or lose your business in today's America, try standing on your biblical convictions.

In Oregon, Aaron and Melissa Klein were found guilty of discrimination by a state court last week.  They could face up to $150,000 in fines for not baking a cake for a same-sex wedding.

In Wisconsin, a 15-year-old boy was reprimanded and reportedly punished by his school for writing a school paper in which he backed traditional families in adoption cases.

In New Jersey, a high school teacher was suspended for stating her Biblical beliefs about homosexuality on her personal Facebook page (while at home, off the clock).

In Illinois, a university professor was fired for saying that homosexual acts are “morally wrong.”  Kenneth Howell, who teaches religious studies, was explaining to his "Introduction to Catholicism" class where the Roman Catholic Church stands on homosexuality and sent out a follow-up email to students after class—which reportedly circulated around the campus and prompted some students to complain, resulting in Howell's dismissal.

Twin brothers David and Jason Benham, nationally acclaimed real estate entrepreneurs, were fired from their television show on HGTV after after the site Right Wing Watch published a post about the pair, labeling David Benham as an "anti-gay, anti-choice extremist" for reportedly leading a prayer rally in 2012 outside of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The list goes on, yet we can’t forget the grandmotherly florist in Washington State being sued by the Attorney General of Washington for refusing to provide flowers for a same-sex wedding (to a man, who by the way, she had faithfully served and befriended for over a decade).

One Grandma (70-year-old Baronelle Stutzman) summed it all up when she said, "Little by little, they are stripping us of any thought we might have, or any difference of opinion. This is our religious freedom at stake."

You know what—Grandma is right.  Our religious freedoms are at stake here. The “tyranny of tolerance” claims that the sexual rights of some are more important than the religious rights of others.

Notice that each of these examples has to do with homosexuality.  Who could have foreseen, even ten years ago, that the defining issue of our culture would be acceptance of homosexuality? —and that Christians, at least as far as the media are concerned, would be on the wrong side?

After all, this is America, where we have always had healthy conversations, even though we disagree.  Our country was founded on the notion that we don’t take away the rights of dissenters.  We are (or were) smart enough to know that when you censor ideas, no matter how politically incorrect, that’s when all intellectual, spiritual, and civil progress stops.

Yet our society, our culture, and our very way of life has fallen pray to militant activists who refuse to tolerate dissenters to their lifestyles.  And unfortunately, they have the United States Government in their back pockets (not to mention the media and Hollywood).

At first, homosexual activists wanted acceptance.  Then they wanted appreciation.  Now they demand celebration.  It's not enough to live and let live, these activists are now forcing their lifestyles on everyone, even if it means bullying a 70-year-old florist.  We’ve shifted from religious freedom to forced acceptance in America.

The idea of forced acceptance infringes on our constitutional rights as Americans.  As the organization known as the Alliance Defending Freedom states, "the First Amendment guarantees that the government cannot tell its citizens what they can and can’t say or force them to express a positive message about something they believe is morally wrong."

Increasingly, it is Christians who are singled out for this discrimination and the harassment of militant activists.  No one sues or harasses a Jewish baker for refusing to cater an event on the Sabbath.  Muslims get a pass on their refusal to accept homosexuality, even though their views are far more extreme than most Christians.  These individuals are granted their Constitutional rights as Americans.  Thank God!

But activists are increasingly demanding that Christian companies and individuals do things that are against their convictions, like support same-sex marriage or abortion.  In fact, they insist that Christians comply with whole-hearted enthusiasm.

Isn’t there a double standard here? 

We shouldn't be surprised.  Jesus said, "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.  Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you" (Matthew 5:11-13). 

Jesus also warned us, "In fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering service to God" (John 16:2). 

So the question is: are you willing to stand with courage at any cost if and when the battle comes knocking on your door?

Before it comes to you, here are a few simple things you can do to prepare:

1. Make up your mind.  Decide that whatever the cost you will stand for religious freedom and for your Christian convictions.

2. Prepare yourself.  Know the biblical basis for your beliefs.  And be informed—don’t be ignorant of the issues and your rights.

3. Join the conversation.  Speak up.  Don’t be silent.  Witness for what you know to be the truth!

4. Separate ideas from individuals.  You can disagree with someone’s idea and not dislike him as a person.  We are called to love the sinner, even as we identify his sin for what it is.

5. Be kind.  Love triumphs over evil; don’t demonize others.  Making the love of Jesus evident in our words and actions will often win others over, even where logical discussion fails.

6. Stand strong.  Don’t back down.  Under God's grace, the future of our nation and our children depends on our standing firm!

Thomas Jefferson once said, “Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God?”

Our liberties are God-given.  And, as such, we must be willing to defend these freedoms no matter the cost.  Now is the time for all Americans – regardless of our differences – to join hands in the greatest battle for liberty in our history!  It’s time to take a stand.

---------------- 
This post is adapted from an article by David and Jason Benham that appeared on FoxNews.com.

Chesterton’s Islamic England

William Kilpatrick, writing in Crisis magazine, points out how G.K. Chesterton, writing in a 1914 novel, The Flying Inn, foresaw the Islamization of England, with an insight that now seems positively prophetic:

G.K. Chesterton had a knack for anticipating future trends but when, in his 1914 novel The Flying Inn, he anticipated the Islamization of England, it seemed so far out of the realm of possibility that it was difficult to take it as anything but a flight of fancy.

 [...]

Roughly one hundred years later, Chesterton’s scenario no longer seems improbable.  Many observers believe the Islamization of England is just a matter of time.  For example, in her 2006 book Londonistan, Melanie Phillips presents a detailed description of the Islamic “colonization” of England now underway and shows how it is made possible by the governing class’ abandonment of cultural and spiritual values.  Chesterton was remarkably prescient not only in imagining that Islamization might happen, but also in envisioning how it would happen—through the instrumentality of a deracinated governing class.

Read it all.
 

"Obama At National Prayer Breakfast: ’People Committed Terrible Deeds In The Name of Christ’"

From here, where there is video.

At the National Prayer Breakfast, this morning, President Obama reminded attendees that violence rooted in religion isn’t exclusive to Islam, but has been carried out by Christians as well.

“Unless we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ,” Obama said. “In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ.”

The Crusades and the Inquisition ...  Notice how every time someone wants to draw a moral equivalence between Christianity and Islam they have to go back CENTURIES!  As for people justifying Jim Crow in the name of Christ, that's the first time I have heard that one; and, frankly, I would dispute it.  And as for people justifying slavery in the name of Christ, two things:

1.  Yes, there were those who tried to justify slavery based on part of the Bible.  Their actions in doing so reveals their nominal belief in Christianity.  But when real Christians brought their moral influence to bear on the slavery issue, it was in support of abolition.  John Newton, William Wilberforce, Harriet Beecher Stowe are among many shining examples.

2.  When westerners went over to Africa to buy slaves--yes, buy them; very few westerners actually kidnapped Africans to bring them to the West as slaves, the people they bought them from were Muslim slave traders who thought it was good business to go into Africa and captures slaves to sell.

Once again we see a contrast:  While genuine Christians worked to abolish the slave trade, slavery has been a part of Islam from the beginning and continues even into the 21st century.

For further reading:

History of slavery under Muslim rule
Slavery in 21st-century Islamism
Slavery in contemporary Africa