Calls rise to probe Capitol Hill Muslim prayer session

When zero takes the plural (r.e., zero calls) it's grammatically correct for Pat Robertson's CBN uses the headline "Calls Rise to Probe Capitol Hill Muslim Prayer Session" when Robertson's American Center for Law and Justice issues the only call. Did we mention Jordan Sekulow, the ACLJ's Director of International Operations, is a panelist the Washington Post's On Faith blog?

Sarah Posner has the story:

As I've reported here and here, after Fox News ran a report claiming that speakers with terrorist ties spoke at Congressional prayer meetings, the ACLJ called for a Justice Department investigation of the Congressional Muslim Staff Association. Suhail Khan, a Muslim Republican who has worked as a staffer for a Republican Congressman and as a political appointee in the Bush administration, and who currently serves on the board of the American Conservative Union, called the Fox report nothing but "anti-Muslim bigotry" and noted that Robertson is "notorious for anti-Islamic comments."


On its Newswatch program, CBN attempted to create the impression that calls for law enforcement to intervene are somehow on the rise. Yet the only source for the story was Jordan Sekulow, the ACLJ's Director of International Operations.
...

As the interview went on, it became clear that Sekulow's goal is to end the Muslim prayers at the Capitol by portraying Muslim organizations as necessarily having ties to terrorists, a common smoke and mirrors routine used by the right. "We see now," he said, "that when we scratch the surface of most Islamic organizations we find something that we don’t hope to find. we find that if you bring in speakers, they’re connected to terrorism." He identified this as "a problem within Islam. As Christians, we can’t change what’s happening internally in Islam, but we cannot be afraid of exposing the truth of what is happening here in our US Capitol. Our hope is that the truth comes out, that people see the associations here, and that this group isn’t able to meet anymore."

The vice-president of the CMSA is a staffer for Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Read it all at Religious Dispatches.

Comments (2)

When it's some social conservative issue like SSM or abortion, the ConEvs are only too quick to welcome Muslims to their platforms . . . but after that, it's open season on 'em again! (No Paranoid Fantasy Left Behind)

JC Fisher

It is sad that these zealots are unable to the ultimate destination of their poorly thought-out crusades against other’s beliefs. Once the Muslim prayers are banned, next would come the “wrong” kind of Christian prayers. Of course they assume that their kind are the “right” kind.

But when someone raises the specter of Christian organization with terrorist ties, say Operation Rescue or one of the recently-named hate groups like the AFA they will squeal and wail about being persecuted and unjustly accused. They never seem to understand that their hatred and bigotry is a two-edged sword. May God have mercy,

Add your comments

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)

Reminder: At Episcopal Café, we hope to establish an ethic of transparency by requiring all contributors and commentators to make submissions under their real names. For more details see our Feedback Policy.

Advertising Space