Obama’s Religious Freedom Appointee Involved In Muslim Event Calling For Limiting Freedom Of Speech

By Elizabeth Harrington, CNS News – “America’s free-speech model is in desperate need of an update, says an American-Muslim human rights activist who recently spoke at an event linked to an Obama administration appointee.

Dr. Qasim Rashid argued that cyber-bullying laws could be used to limit freedom of expression – such as the burning of Korans — in war time:

‘When a nation is at war, many things that might be said in times of peace are a hindrance to this effort,’ Rashid said on March 19 at Howard University.  ‘And their utterance will not be endured so long as men fight and…no court can regard them as protected by any constitutional right.’

Rashid began his remarks by personally thanking Dr. Azizah al-Hibri, appointed by President Barack Obama to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) in June 2011. Al-Hibri founded Karamah, a group devoted to the rights of Muslim women, and it was this group that invited Rashid to speak.

‘I do want to start by thanking Karamah,’ Rashid said.  ‘I was fortunate enough to have several constitutional scholars look at this paper and provide feedback. Dr. al-Hibri, of course…’

The topic of the March 19 event at Howard University was titled, ‘The Limits of Free Speech in a Global Era: Does America’s Free Speech Model Endanger Muslim Americans?’

‘Our understanding of free speech today is not some long-held 227- or 235-year understanding,’ said Rashid, a member of the Muslim Writers Guild of America, who presented a paper titled ‘In Harm’s Way: The Desperate Need to Update America’s Current Free Speech Model.’

Rashid quoted Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who in 2011 said, ‘Free speech is a great idea, but we’re in a war.’

Advances in technology that allow videos and messages to cross the world in an instant require a ‘revised speech model,’ Rashid said.

‘Most, if not all of you are familiar with the 2011 case where Terry Jones, a pastor from Florida, burned a Koran on March 20, 2011, and this event itself provides a prime example of the gap that advanced technology caused in America’s free speech model,’ Rashid said.

‘So in addition to placing a big sign on his church lawn that said Islam is the devil, Jones burned the Koran, screened it live on the Internet and put in layman’s translations so that people in war-torn [areas] in particular can see what he’s doing,’ he continued.  ‘Now like the hypothetical KKK member who might burn a cross on his black neighbor’s lawn to target him specifically, Jones did the exact same thing by burning the Koran — broadcast it and targeted Muslims in a war- torn country…to target them specifically.’

Rashid noted that government officials warned Jones that his actions might provoke violence, and while Jones said he knew it, he burned the Koran anyway, sparking deadly protests in Afghanistan and a condemnation by Pakistan’s government.

Using the Koran burning as an example, Rashid said that cyber-bullying legislation could be used to prosecute individuals for their speech …” Read more.

• Flashback: CPAC Speakers Warn Of Loss Of Religious Freedom In America, Sees ‘Disturbing Parallels’ Between 1930′s Germany And America Today
• Flashback: Obama’s Department Of Justice Will Not Confirm If Free Speech Towards Religion Will Remain Legal In America
• Flashback: Islamic American Leaders Exercise Their Right To Free Speech To Protest Against … Free Speech

Egyptian Mosque Turned Into House Of Torture For Christians After Muslim Brotherhood Protest, ‘It Will Only Get Worse’

Fox News – “Islamic hard-liners stormed a mosque in suburban Cairo, turning it into torture chamber for Christians who had been demonstrating against the ruling Muslim Brotherhood in the latest case of violent persecution that experts fear will only get worse.

Such stories have become increasingly common as tensions between Egypt’s Muslims and Copts mount, but in the latest case, mosque officials corroborated much of the account and even filed a police report. Demonstrators say they were taken from the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters in suburban Cairo to a nearby mosque on Friday and tortured for hours by hard-line militia members.

‘They accompanied me to one of the mosques in the area and I discovered the mosque was being used to imprison demonstrators and torture them,’ Amir Ayad, a Coptic who has been a vocal protester against the regime, told MidEast Christian News from a hospital bed.

Ayad said he was beaten for hours with sticks before being left for dead on a roadside. Amir’s brother, Ezzat Ayad, said he received an anonymous phone call at 3 a.m. Saturday, with the caller saying his brother had been found near death and had been taken to the ambulance.

‘He underwent radiation treatment that proved that he suffered a fracture in the bottom of his skull, a fracture in his left arm, a bleeding in the right eye, and birdshot injuries,’ Ezzat Ayad said.

Officials at the Bilal ibn Rabah Mosque said radical militias stormed the building, in the Cairo suburb of Moqattam, after Friday prayers.

‘[We] deeply regret what has happened and apologize to the people of Moqattam,’ mosque officials said in a statement, adding that ‘they had lost control over the mosque at the time.’

The statement also ‘denounced and condemned the violence and involving mosques in political conflicts.’

The latest crackdown is further confirmation that the Muslim Brotherhood’s most hard-line elements are consolidating control in Egypt, according to Shaul Gabbay, a professor of international studies at the University of Denver.

‘It will only get worse,’ said Gabbay. ‘This has been a longstanding conflict, but now that the Muslim Brotherhood is in power, it is moving forward to implement its ideology – which is that Christians are supposed to become Muslims.

‘There is no longer anything to hold them back,’ he continued. ‘The floodgates are open.'” Read more.

Prominent Arab Convert To Christianity Leaves Catholic Church Over Its ‘Weakness’ On Islam

The sad truth of the matter is that he would have likely been compelled to leave many churches in the West — both Catholic and non-Catholic — because of their indifference, appeasement and outright spiritual adultery with the religion of [anything but] peace …

Revelation 2:20-22, “… I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways.”

By Tiffany Gabbay, The Blaze – “In a shocking display that does not bode well for the Catholic Church and its stance on defending the multitudes of Christians currently being persecuted in Islamic countries, Magdi Christiano Allam, a prominent covert from Islam to Christianity, has left the Catholicism. He reasoned that he could not abide the church’s ‘weakness’ and policy of appeasement towards Islam.

The Egyptian-born Allam, who publicly converted in St. Peter’s Basilica on Easter 2008 with the oversight of Pope Benedict XVI himself, renounced his Catholicism because, in his view, the church legitimizes a religion that is ‘inherently violent’ to people of all walks, including fellow Muslims.

Ever-outspoken, Allam assures that he will remain a Christian, but roundly criticized the Catholic Church for also fostering an environment in which the Islamization of Europe will, in his mind, most assuredly take place.

Translated from the Italian news outlet, Corriere, Allam clarified that his mind had been made up before the new pope was chosen and that the driving factor to leave the church is its of Islam’s place among the monotheistic religions.

‘I am convinced,’ Allam stated, ‘that Islam is an ideology inherently violent as it has been historically conflictual inside and warlike outside.’

‘I am even more convinced that Europe will eventually be submitted to Islam, as has already happened since the seventh century.’

Allam also criticized the church for not having ‘the vision and the courage to denounce the incompatibility of Islam with our civilization and fundamental rights of the person.’

‘I will continue to believe in Jesus,’ he continued. ‘I have always loved and proudly identify with Christianity as the civilization that more than others brings man closer to God who chose to become man.” Read more.

Scottish Aberdeen Church Opens Doors To Muslims To Pray Side By Side – “A Scottish reverend has invited Muslims to pray alongside Christians in an Aberdeen church because the nearby mosque is so small that some worshippers were forced to pray outside. The rector of St John’s church, Rev Isaac Poobalan, has made parts of the building available to the congregation of the mosque. Up to 100 Muslims now pray in the main chapel five times every Friday. Church leaders believe this may be the only place in the UK where Christians and Muslims worship side by side; there have been similar moves in the US, including in Memphis two years ago.” Read more.

Flashback: ‘Time Is Running Out’: US Congressman Asks Why Churches In The West Are Silent On Worldwide Christian Persecution – “I can think of a few reasons why: It’s convenient to ignore an inconvenient topic. It makes many comfortable Christians uncomfortable. And if the truth were made known it could even cause some of them to begin questioning a few of the popular doctrines currently being taught by the church today which are, for many Christians in the West, unquestionable …” Read more.

Flashback: Falling Away from the Faith: Over 50 US Churches to Hold Qur’an Readings – “Now we go from a church buying and donating dozens of Qur’ans to a bookstore, to churches now holding Qur’an readings? This is idolatry. This is spiritual fornication. This is wrong on many levels. If your church is among those holding these readings I encourage you to protest and demand that it be cancelled, and if they refuse, find another church to attend.” Read more.

Report: CIA Helping Boost Arms Shipments To Syrian Rebels Even As Evidence Mounts That Jihadist Rebels Launched Chemical Weapons Attack

By Arutz Sheva Staff – “Assisted by the CIA, Arab nations and Turkey have dramatically increased military aid to Syrian rebels in recent months, The New York Times reported Monday.

The US Central Intelligence Agency was aiding their efforts, the newspaper added, citing air traffic data and interviews with unnamed officials and the rebel commanders.

The airlift has increased to include more than 160 military cargo flights by Jordanian, Saudi and Qatari military-style cargo planes landing at Esenboga Airport near Ankara, and at other Turkish and Jordanian airports, the report said.

US intelligence officers have helped the Arab governments shop for weapons, including a large procurement from Croatia. They had also vetted rebel commanders and groups to determine who should receive the weapons as they arrive.

According to The Times, Turkey had overseen much of the program, fixing transponders to trucks ferrying the military goods through Turkey so it could monitor shipments.

‘A conservative estimate of the payload of these flights would be 3,500 tons of military equipment,’ Hugh Griffiths, of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), told the paper.” Read more.

Syria Chemical Weapons: Finger Pointed At Jihadists – “Whatever happened last week in the town of Khan al-Assal, west of Aleppo, it achieved something extraordinary in the Syrian civil war: unity among Washington, Moscow and Damascus. All welcomed the rapid decision by Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary-general, to investigate an alleged chemical attack that reportedly killed 26, including Syrian soldiers. Unusually, the request for that investigation came from the Syrian regime, which claimed that Islamic jihadist rebels launched a chemical weapons attack… a home-made locally-manufactured rocket was fired, containing a form of chlorine known as CL17 … the warhead contained a quantity of the gas, dissolved in saline solution. The source said that the town of Khan al-Assal has been in government control since March 13 but … Rebel Sunni groups with al-Qaeda sympathies have been attacking the town, where the population is predominantly Shia.” Read more.

Flashback: Shock Video Shows ‘Syrian Rebels’ Testing Chemical Weapons, ‘This Is Your Fate … I Swear By Allah To Make You Die’ – “A shocking You Tube video shows alleged Syrian rebels testing chemical weapons on lab rabbits before making threats to use them against Syria’s pro-Assad Alawite population. The video is particularly pertinent given reports yesterday that claim President Bashar Al-Assad has ordered the Syrian military to load ‘the precursor chemicals for sarin, a deadly nerve gas, into aerial bombs,’in preparation for fighter jets to drop the bombs on the civilian population.” Read more.