It was so good to see that some people are not fooled by the relentless hate propaganda that the Leftist media and the Islamic supremacists constantly pump out. “LETTER: The DNJ, Sbenaty loose with facts in attacking conference speakers,” by Jerry Leith in DNJ.com, December 4:
Referencing your story of Nov. 1, Madison church to host anti-Shariah Conference: Bigotry (intolerance, prejudice) seems to be a two-way street.
Saleh Sbenaty in his remarks to Scott Broden of The DNJ says this country is “founded on equality. It’s not founded on bigotry.” So, apparently bigotry is OK if it shuts down speeches by Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer. Professor Sbenaty points to a rambling 1,500 page manifesto by a fascist plagiarist (think Unabomber) of questionable sanity who “mentioned” Geller and Spencer as his proof that they engage in “hate speech.” Breivik “mentioned” lots of people, including Vladimir Putin whom he admired.
If the professor can quote a single statement from either Geller or Spencer that he believes would incite or inspire anyone to murder 93 people, I want to see that quote.
Sbenaty should not be given a free pass by The DNJ on everything he opines. “The truth has no agenda.”
Only a few days later, The DNJ Editorial Board joined Professor Sbenaty in accusing Geller and Spencer of the very same “bigotry” and “hate speech.”
Now for the update reported by the BBC amongst others: Anders Breivik has been found to have been INSANE at the time of the Norway terror attacks and suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. According to psychiatrists Torgeir Husby and Synne Sorheim, Breivik lived in his “own delusional universe where all his thoughts and acts are guided by his delusions.” Public prosecutor Svein Holden said concerning Breivik, “He believes he is chosen to decide who is to live and who is to die.”
If anyone really believes that a passing comment in a 1,500-word essay is the cause of this man’s insanity, then they probably believe that all Norwegian psychiatrists are engaged in a plot to spread “bigotry” (the new favorite accusation of Islam and the Left) and “hate speech.”
The DNJ and professor Sbenaty have their opinions, but I wonder if their opinion will change in the face of this new information. I would hope so and I would hope we will soon hear the last of “bigotry” flung about with no thought as to the impact or accuracy of the word. My opinion is that The DNJ and the professor need to have some facts at their disposal before firing off false accusations disguised as “opinion.”
I invite the professor and The DNJ to show me how Geller and Spencer could possibly be considered as a source of this tragedy when they do not and never have advocated for violence. Facts are such irritating things at times.
Jerry Leith
Joben Drive
UPDATE: Mr. Leith has kindly contacted me and sent me the full text of the letter he sent to DNJ.com. For reasons that I am sure you will find absolutely unfathomable, the editors of that august publication excised these paragraphs from the version they published:
On November 1, 2011 I wrote to the DNJ in response to a news story about the Conference held at Cornerstone Church in Madison. On November 2 a very nice lady at the DNJ called to confirm that I had sent the letter, as is normal practice. When my letter had not been published by November 15th, I called Jimmy Hart to ask why it had not appeared. His response was that he did not find it and that “we had some computer problems around that time and it was probably lost.” Mr. Hart and I then had some e-mail exchanges, and I had decided not to have the letter published, because too much time had passed. However, the news of the day on November 29 has changed my mind. Here is the letter with an update following. I sincerely hope this one does not get “lost.”
Here is a statement the professor is familiar with that might provoke violence:
Quran 8:12 And the Lord said to the angels: “I am with you; go and strengthen the faithful. I shall fill the hearts of the infidels with terror. So smite them on their necks and every joint, (and incapacitate them).” Quran translation Ahmed Ali, 1984. Whatever context you assign to this, it is inciting the faithful to do violence.I would have used the ICM website version of the Quran but it has been unavailable for at least the past two months. The same with the Hadith search function, which has disappeared completely.