The 223rd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA met last month in St. Louis. As I reported in a previous blog, one of the overtures of particular interest to me on their agenda dealt with interfaith relations. Known as Overture 7-1, it was approved as amended by the General Assembly on Wednesday, June 20th. Among the seven directives of this overture was number 2, the final version of which reads: “Condemn all religiously inspired and motivated violence, prejudice, discrimination, and hate speech.” As I commented in the earlier blog, passage of this overture would keep the PCUSA extremely busy, especially with regard to the actions of the Islamic world. Perhaps the denomination will open up a new ministry dedicated to this new directive, appropriately named the Office of Condemnation.
It has been almost a month since the close of the General Assembly, and I have checked the official news organizations of the PCUSA to track the denomination’s obedience to this new directive. As of yet, there have been no condemnations of religiously inspired and motivated violence, violence, prejudice, discrimination, and hate speech. That does not mean, of course, that such things have not occurred around the world, just that the PCUSA is not attuned to obvious existence, especially with regard to the Muslim world. To be of help, I have catalogued a representative sample of the types of activities since June 20th which should have triggered an official PCUSA response:
Discrimination:
- On 7/8 Iran sentenced a young woman to 2 years imprisonment and 18 years probation (she must keep silent or else) for protesting the mandatory nature of the hijab.
- During Ramadan, a Sikh teenager at the Islamic University of Science and Technology in Kashmir was systematically pressured to convert to Islam and observe Ramadan; when she complained after being stabbed by two masked men, the Muslim Vice-Chancellor dismissed the harassment claims, arguing that her classmates were “only joking.”
- On 7/6, there was a public mass flogging of “suspected prostitutes” in Indonesia’s Muslim-dominated Aceh province.
- On 6/27, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) revealed that it was imposing the Muslim jizya tax on the Assyrian Christian town of Ankawa in the province of Irbil, simply because its inhabitants were Christians, not Muslims.
- In the country of Kyrgyzstan, officials recently ordered a church of Muslim converts to close or face the consequences.
- Rampant discrimination against females within Islam is reflected in the high rate of female genital mutilation (FGM) practiced (and supported by Shari’a law). The British government recently reported that there is a religiously-based act of FGM committed every two hours on average among its population — the vast majority of these mutilations take place in immigrants’ home countries where they return specifically for this reason.
- Fulani Muslim militants have systematically targeted Christian citizens in Nigeria for ethnic cleansing. So far in 2018, some 6,000 have been massacred.
Hate Speech:
- A recent internal survey of 100 mosques in “moderate” Jakarta found that 41 of them were “radical,” meaning that their typical messages included “hate speech, calls for the establishment of a caliphate, and a negative portrayal of other faiths.” If this is true in a country touted for being moderate in Islamic practice, what might that imply for more conservative Muslim countries?
- In June, Dutch politician Geert Wilders announced that his Freedom Party will be holding a “draw Muhammad” cartoon contest soon to highlight the need for vigilance over the right of free speech. He has since received many public and private death threats. Pakistani hardline politician Khadim Hussain Rizvi, upon hearing of this, publicly declared, “If they give me the atom bomb I would remove Holland from the face of the earth before they can hold a competition of caricatures….”
- On 7/5 the official Palestinian Authority TV station publicly lauded as heroes the mutilators and executioners of Israeli soldiers captured in 2000. Imprisoned for years now by the Israelis, these individuals are being praised as “giants of endurance.”
- On his 79th birthday (7/17) Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei declared his intention once again to eliminate Israel from the face of the earth. “…[T]he fabricated Zionist regime will be eradicated,” he promised.
Prejudice:
- In early July, Pakistan’s first Sikh police officer, Gulab Singh,was attacked in his home by Muslim officials who removed his turban, unwound his hair and then dragged him from his home by his hair, disrespecting his faith and pressuring him and his family to leave the country.
- On July 5 it was reported that a joint declaration (produced by a British Muslim) condemning anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim hatred sought the signatures of both Muslim and Jewish leaders in France. Interestingly, all the Jewish leaders supported the declaration, but no French Muslim leader was willing to sign the document.
- In late June, a Dutch Muslim named Hussein Jamakovic sent an email to four major news sites in Holland with the wish, “May you get cancer, you filthy, far-right cancer Jews.” This mindset while not always voiced, is not far below the surface in many Muslim circles.
- On June 25, three Arab Muslims were sentenced in Sweden for a December 2017 firebomb attack on a synagogue in Gothenburg. The court concluded, “The crime…had a hate motive.” Some nine other masked men were involved in the attack, but could not be identified and so escaped prosecution.
- Five African nations (Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Nigeria and Sudan) are regularly in the news for slave-trafficking. Evidence of prejudice is found in the fact that the slaves are overwhelmingly dark-skinned, and the slave-owners are principally light-skinned Arab Muslims.
Violence:
- On 6/24, over 150 villagers were massacred by Muslim Fulani members of the militant group Miyetti Allah (which I’m told means “We are grateful to Allah”).
- On 6/26, the Taliban issued a public statement justifying violent jihad on theological grounds, countering criticisms that their observance of Islam is aberrant.
- As of 6/27, UNHCR estimates that Boko Haram attacks within the last decade have displaced some 1.9 Nigerians internally, as well as another half million plus in neighboring states.
- On 7/3, the bombing of a Sikh community in Jalalabad, Afghanistan left 19 dead. The Islamic State claimed responsibility and offered this warning: “Leave for India or convert to Islam.”
- On 7/6, seven family members returning from a wedding celebration near Diyala were stopped by an Islamic State patrol and machine-gunned to death.
- On 7/8, ten “Syrian refugees” were arrested in Berlin for attacking a man wearing a Star of David.
- On 7/10, 50 villagers in Adamawa, Nigeria, were slain by Miyetti Allah. Likewise, the next day, members of the same terrorist group massacred 42 others in the town of Taraba.
- On 7/13, a suicide bomber blew himself up in the midst of a political rally taking place in Mastung, Pakistan. The blast killed 149 and injured 186. Radical Muslims see man-made political parties as an affront to Allah, who has already determined the right pattern of government and its application.
- On 7/14 in Kabul, Afghanistan, another bomber struck a rural development agency, killing 7 and injuring 15.
- On 7/16, jihadists invade the village of Injagalane, Mali, and mow down at least 14 fleeing residents.
- Yesterday, in Ajiram, Afghanistan, a suicide bomber sent by the Islamic State attacks a rival mosque during a funeral, killing 22 mourners and injuring another 23.
As I indicated above, all of these events by no means exhaust the list of violence, prejudice, discrimination and hate speech fomented by members of the Muslim world in the name of Islam over the last thirty days. Why do we see such a disproportionate amount of hatred and violence perpetrated by Muslims against others? The answer is that violence and hatred against unbelievers and “unfaithful Muslims” are endorsed by Allah and his messenger in Islam’s holiest revelatory sources. Though the average Muslim today rejects these commands to hatred and violence, those who are most zealous for a return to the Islam of Muhammad believe that the path of violent jihad is the way to Allah’s blessing.
Read the rest here.
Susan B says
These churches are not Christian, they may as well be mosques since they protect islam at the expense of Christians.
Richard says
Susan B: Sadly, you are absolutely right! A few years ago, I spotted in the foyer of a “Catholic” Cathedral some fliers inviting parishioners to a lecture on the goodness of Islam: The photo on the flier had a Bible and a Qu’ran leaning against one another – i.e. the religions supporting one another. This, of course, is exactly what the Qu’ran DOES NOT DO! Aside from this being an abomination, if one religion says there is nothing whatsoever wrong with the other religion, which is in fact loathsome, while the loathsome religion repeatedly stresses how utterly loathsome and damnable in the sight of God is the Christian religion, anyone in their right mind would join the loathsome religion. This is the problem with modernized “Christian” churches. They are increasingly playing “I’m o.k., You’re o.k.” in hopes of not driving away parishioners who might want their sins to be legalized by God. But almost all people recognize their sins and have contempt for churches that legalize or hide them, and are desperately searching for some group that will help them live better lives, rather than greasing the slide to hell for everybody. If I was so wonderful, I’d stay at home on Sundays and let people pray to me. Instead, one couple drives four and a half HOURS each way every Sunday to attend our chapel. We are Traditional Catholics because so many Catholic churches have the gall to edit and rewrite the scripture readings so as not to offend people. apparently, they don’t care about offending God. In doing so, they have turned their churches into social clubs, giving people who come because they want a link to God every reason to flee. And where can they go? Islam! As a pope one said: “I have heard quite enough about the rights of man. Let us hear about the rights of God!
granddaddy says
Hello Richard. You are absolutely right. I’ve seen this myself in some of the churches I’ve attended also. However, they are not just trying to legitimize sin. They are also being paid off. The PCUSA calls its relocation organization Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA). It’s on the web. They get paid for “refugee” relocation. They call them refugees, but they are always Muslims. Just as the Lutheran Church does. And the Catholic Church. And others. They make millions doing this. Attendance was down for most of these organized churches anyway, before the Muslims came along. So maybe more people attend now. But how a Christian who believes in following Christ can believe Islam is the same as Christianity, I don’t know. They have to be abysmally ignorant of both Christianity and Islam to believe such nonsense.
However, it’s not just nonsense, it’s dangerous. Most Christians who actually follow Jesus know about these churches and what they are doing. And most people who read here know about Islam. So most of that is not new here. What isn’t often known is why Islam does it: not simply to replace Christianity (which is what most people think), but to gain legitimacy with the local population. If they can get them to believe Islam is the same as Christianity, the people will be more accepting of them, whether the people are Christian or not. It doesn’t sound like much, but the reality is that the locals will then be more likely to vote for Muslims who run for public office (why not? they’re practically Christians, right?). Never mind that these people don’t know the difference between Jesus and the anti-Christ. Never mind that a lot of them don’t even believe in God. That doesn’t matter. All that matters is that it furthers the agenda of Islam to make Sharia the law of all the World. It is the same reason they have taken over the school textbook industry. And are in nearly all the colleges in this country.
It’s called “political warfare”: propaganda and ideological subversion. It is a national problem. We are being invaded. There’s a lot more to it, none of which has anything to do with what Westerners think of when they think of God, and it is just one more reason, in my opinion, not to believe Islam is a religion at all but a political totalitarian ideology like fascism or Big Brother. Jesus said,
“You will know them by their fruits” (Matt 7:16).
And I believe that is the best advice I’ve ever received. So I try to pass it along.
May the Lord bless your church.
Rob Porter says
Granddaddy, both you and Richard are right about the state of the once Christian church. I seldom any longer attend church. I read my Bible this morning, three chapters of Jeremiah and know that God will in his time will punish these pretenders just as he did Israel when it turned it’s back on Him. On one occasion in a large Toronto Protestant church, the woman who prayed, prayed for “our Muslim brothers and sisters’. Utterly clueless! I later very courteously told her that these “Muslim brothers and sisters” hate Christians and all over the world are murdering thousands. Talk to most Canadians about Islam and the terrible things Muslims are doing to ‘infidels’, and watch their eyes glaze over, faces stiffen and they go silent. I now know what is going on in their empty heads, “racist”, “bigot”, etc. And this is a democratic and free society? Who are they kidding? Talk about empty, irrelevant things and you are tops, but for heaven’s sake don’t talk about dark, threatening matters. In other churches you will find that regardless of what the Bible says and medical science has found, homosexuality is okay, so to hell with what is stated in Romans 1 and others places – and don’t for goodness sake talk about all the related diseases and the high suicide rate. And thus, don’t read the report put out by the Beth Israel Deaconess Health Clinic in Boston. Political correctness dishonesty, lies and cowardice reigns in too many Christians churches, so they don’t talk about Christians suffering in the Middle East and North Africa. The aim in many is to provide an “uplifting message” – that dodges the realities. Watch any church service on tv and let me know if you’ve ever heard ‘a message’ about Muslims of ISIS cruelly murdering Christians, or about the declining spiritual and moral state of Canada and the West generally, or about bringing into the country Muslims but not Christians – or about Barack Obama (and I believe Canada) returning Christians to Syria. But you will hear ‘Rah, rah, rah, we are just too marvelous for words’, while Canada’s kangaroo courts, otherwise known as Human Rights Commissions, hound the honest Ezra Levant for talking honestly about Islam and bad Muslim behaviour, and eventually hounded Mark Steyn so much he left the country and moved to the U.S., New Hampshire I believe. And this is the ‘best country in the world to live in’?
Indiana Tom says
These churches are not Christian.
Usually they are some sort of George Soros New World Order Dioceses.
Linda says
Once I was in a Baptist church that had a little bookstore attached. They had a whole section selling the Quran. I never would have imagined it to be possible.
mortimer says
What? Jihad isn’t ‘VIOLENT’?
Danish researcher Tina Magaard, Ph.D. concluded that Islam is the most warlike religion. After three years analyzing the original texts of ten different religions, Tina Magaard concluded that the Islamic texts stand out by encouraging terror and violence to a larger degree than other religions do. She stated that ‘Islamic texts encourage terror and fighting to a far larger degree than the original texts of other religions. The texts in Islam distinguish themselves from the texts of other religions by encouraging violence and aggression against people with other religious beliefs to a larger degree.’
“What is striking is not in itself that one can find murderous passages in the Islamic texts, as such passages can also be found in other religions. But it is striking how much space these passages take up in the Islamic texts, and how much they focus on an us-and-them logic in which infidels and apostates are characterized as dirty, rotten, criminal, hypocritical and dangerous. It is also striking how much these texts demand that the reader fight the infidels, both with words and with the sword. In many passages, Muhammad plays a central role as one who encourages the use of violence, whether it comes to stonings, beheadings, acts of war or execution of critics and poets.”
Tina Magaard finds it particularly objectionable that so many Islamic scholars in her opinion knowingly fail to disclose these facts, and use their positions of power to create specific standards for what you can say. Often, they also blame Danish racism rather than objectively stating that extremists actually find justifications for using violence and threats in Islam’s holy scriptures.…
Emilie Green says
Though the average Muslim today rejects these commands to hatred and violence, those who are most zealous for a return to the Islam of Muhammad believe that the path of violent jihad is the way to Allah’s blessing.”
And the aforementioned average Muslim has NO problem with and NO criticism of and certainly takes NO action to prevent the zealous Muslim from doing what the zealous Muslims wants to do.
Terry Gain says
The average Muslim is an adherent of the same vile ideology of conquest.
Michael Copeland says
What the average muslim rejects makes no difference to Islam:
“It is not fitting for a Believer, man or woman, when a matter has been decided by Allah and His Messenger to have any option about their decision:”
Koran 33:36,
part of Islamic law
Richard says
Emelie: If he did, he’d be dead!
gravenimage says
Emilie Green wrote:
Though the average Muslim today rejects these commands to hatred and violence
………………….
I wish this were true, Emilie–any Muslim who does this is regarded as an apostate.
Muslims may not all act on the violent diktats of their creed, but they are not allowed to reject then and still be considered Muslim.
End PC says
Exactly. And can a person, even though not actively violent, who believes in and reveres the Qur’an as his god’s true word and reveres its warlord “prophet’ be a truly good person? A person to trust?
gravenimage says
+
gravenimage says
+1
IQ al Rassooli says
For those Americans who still do not or are not willing to understand Muslims and Islam, let me enlighten you in very short but deadly irrefutable conclusions:
1. No Muslim can ever be BOTH a Good Muslim and a Loyal citizen among non Muslims/ Kuffar/ Infidels
2. Because they follow Allah’s Sharia, every Muslim is automatically the Eternal and Mortal ENEMY of every human being who is NOT a Muslim (80% of current humanity)
$100,00 says there is not a single human being on planet Earth who can prove me WRONG!
Any challengers willing to lose $100,000 when they fail?
IQ al Rassooli
Kafir & Proud!
Susan B says
IQ AL Rassooli that challenge has already been put out there in 2001 by Ali Sina. It was directed at muslim scholars, for the most part, and none have yet to win the $100,000 US.
http://www.faithfreedom.org/challenge.htm
Terry Gain says
What religion is inspiring violence? Other than Islam ( which of corse isn’t a legitimate religion).
Lydia Church says
This is all propaganda towards…
1. the false world peace and unity that comes with compromise
2. denying your faith in favor of the unity of all faiths (oxymoron); the one world religion
3. tolerance of all that should not be tolerated; sin, false religion, apostasy, heresy
4. intolerance of all that is right; true doctrine, preaching against sin, no compromise with false religion
5. unity at the expense of truth, hating on all truth tellers who don’t unite with false religion, accept sin
6. the one world government; borderlessness at the expense of national sovereignty, migrant invasion
7. criminalizing all who don’t comply with their agenda
8. putting false religion on a pedestal and bowing down to it
As I said, this ‘church’ is part of the harlot of Revelation. All who support that agenda are. They are not part of Christ’s bride, His church.
Indiana Tom says
The 223rd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA met last month in St. Louis.
Usually these conferences turn into a liberal circle jerk.
I know. I used to be in the United Methodist Church.
The Presbyterian Church is just as bad.
gravenimage says
Presbyterian Church USA condemns all “religiously inspired violence,” ignores jihad violence
………………..
Willful ignorance.
Wellington says
“Willful ignorance.”
Yes, gravenimage, it is. And I have come slowly but inexorably to a realization since 9/11, as I never quite comprehended before that date, that willful ignorance functions in a very different category from “mere” ignorance. A far worse and inexcusable category I would argue.
Every non-Muslim still making excuses for Islam, no exceptions, none whatsoever, is guilty of willful ignorance. Shame on all of them because Islam is simply awful, all of it.
Yeah, no more excuses, no more willful ignorance. All those dhimmis out there still engaging in willful ignorance, and there still remain many, are aiding and abetting the longest-lived malevolent ideology in world history. They are enablers of evil.
gravenimage says
Grimly true.
End PC says
“Though the average Muslim today rejects these commands to hatred and violence…”
Does he? How can one know? What exactly is an “average” Muslim, anyway? One can define, say, an average high school student quantitatively in terms of test scores, but I see no way to meaningfully define an “average” Muslim. Any Muslim is a believer in the Qur’an as the direct word of Allah and is an admirer of warlord Muhammad. That can’t be good. While he or she may just want to live peacefully how can one be sure of what they actually support? Not calling for hate or civil rights discrimination, but let’s not make unwarranted assumptions.
patriotliz says
Exactly! How does one know if an ordinary average Muslim is now or, will be in the future, a so-called “extremist?” The fact that they identify w/ the extremist ideology of Islam (a perversion of religion) is sufficient to ban all Muslim migrants entering our country. All non-violent Muslims are just as dangerous as their violent coreligionists since they provide cover for the “true” believers who can’t be delegitimized. So-called “non-extremist” Muslims do in fact aid and abet civilization jihad in non-Muslim territory and eventually establishment of Sharia law.
gary fouse says
The Presbyterian Church USA has a long and well documented history of opposition to Israel. It is so consistent, in my view there is deep anti-semitism within the Church’s leadership,. Shame on them.
gravenimage says
You aren’t wrong, Gary:
“Pro-BDS Presbyterian Church Set to Lose 400,000 Members”
https://www.jpost.com/Christian-News/Pro-BDS-Presbyterian-church-set-to-lose-400000-members-444376
Obviously, not everyone agrees with them, though.
FYI says
Oh Jesus.
Save us from the dhimmiwit “Christians”,leftie liberals,Quisling politicians and islamo-pandering NWO-promoting ,pseudochristian, Whited Sepulchres like “pope” francis the heretic.
Make sure they are the foolish bridesmaids…when you separate the wheat from the chaff..
Amen.
UNCLE VLADDI says
Prester John would kick their silly arses!
Ken says
https://www.facebook.com/sewa.sharan/videos/1416689935076728/?t=549
J D S says
Stranger than fiction! I know that as Christians we are supposed to love our neighbor as ourselves and turn the other cheek and so on…but I don’t think God intended us, as Christians, to be docile , a doormat or an idiot and I do think it’s our job to reach all the world with Christianity as Jesus teaches (GO INTO ALL THE WORLD …..) but to go to the extreme with a group that is pure Satan and uphold them, is not what Jesus expects of HIS Church and furthermore, many are not ” HIS CHURCH” and are straying further and further into the realm of Satan….
No matter how many Islamic clerics preach their allah as God, Jehovah, The Great I Am, nothing they say can make their allah anything other than emptiness and for Church leaders not to see this is sacrilegious and makes the many churches and church members destroyed by isis and other Islamic groups null and void. Oh some will say isis and those such groups re not the real Islam…To this I cry out …LIARS! Prove me wrong by crowding every street TV and Radio stations, every mosque and minarets and every colosseum, sports arena or anywhere they can be heard that what these groups are doing is against the teachings of Islam and then take action to remove any and all atrocious acts from the Koran and all Islamic literature…..and top that off with implementing the teachings of Jesus.. Next beg the forgiveness from God and all those people and/ or their families who have been murdered raped enslaved and robed by .those Islamist whom Islam says are not part of is lam. and only then should any church try to help…and the help they give should be for Islam to find Jesus the Christ.
Know Your Enemy says
And you can bet that if Sharia were established in any community that the so-called “average, non-violent” muslims would be the first to turn against and turn in their Christian neighbors