William J Murray speaks on Sharia at Nashville Conference

Comments of William J. Murray at the Preserving Freedom Conference 11/11/11

William J Murray speaks at Preserving Freedom Conference

It can’t happen here — or can it?

As chairman of the Religious Freedom Coalition I have been a part of numerous fact finding missions all over the world. Some of these have been with congressional staff, others with former congressmen and governors to witness religious persecution first hand. As part of my duties I once had dinner with President Omar Hassan Ahmad Al-Bashir, the mass murderer who has slaughtered tens of thousands of Christians in the Sudan. As I left his home I sensed that he would prefer to kill me later rather than then sooner.

I have wept at the burned out churches and desecrated Christian cemeteries in Kosovo. Some churches, built a thousand years ago have been destroyed just in the last ten years. I have talked in secret with the few remaining Jews in Morocco and walked in the giant cathedrals of Constantinople which have been desecrated and are now used as mosques.

Part of my work takes me frequently to Samaria which is referred to by the Western press as the “West Bank.” I have watched an amazing change there over the last 30 years. In the 1980’s a Muslim woman could walk down the streets of Bethlehem alone wearing Western clothes and even make-up, because of the moderating influence of Christians who were 85% of the population. After the United States forced Israel to relinquish Bethlehem, the city limits were changed to bring the Christian population under 50%. The Saudi Investment Bank loaned 200% of the value of a home to any Muslim who would buy a Christian’s house. Christian businessmen were threatened into quitting, even in Nativity Square.

Last year, armed Palestinian guards, Muslims, blocked me from taking a group into the grotto at the Church of the Nativity, the traditional birthplace of Christ, because a group of Muslim women were holding a meeting there.

The Christian population of Bethlehem is now less than 20% and all the Christians who could afford to flee have immigrated, mostly to Chile and Argentina. Chile alone has over 500,000 Christian Palestinians who have fled from Islamic oppression or who are descended from those who have fled. Why Chile? Because they are welcome in Chile.

Meanwhile Nashville is a gateway for Islamic immigration sponsored by our Federal Government. Our embassies around the world do their best to block Christian Arabs from coming here, particularly Iraqi Christians. How would I know? The former governor of South Carolina, David Beasley and I compiled the evidence.

Today, Christian women who walk down the street alone in Bethlehem are cursed and spit at by Muslim men. Many Christian girls are the victims of rape because they are viewed as less than human. Complicit in this is a radically leftwing Anglican Church that views its mission in the West Bank as assisting the Palestinians in “taking back their historic lands from the Jews.” There are some elected Christian officials left in the Palestinian territories — virtually all of whom are associated with the The Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center. Need I say more?

But, it can’t happen here.

London, referred to by many as “Londonistan,” is the Western capital of radical Islam. There are seventy “no-go” areas in London where signs are posted that say “Sharia Law Zone.” At this conference British Barrister Paul Diamond referred to a case in one township where a church, hundreds of years old, was declared a “public nuisance” and closed, as soon as Muslims gained control of the town council.

In Paris, every Friday in the Muslim-controlled sections, the streets are shut down for blocks by Muslim worshippers holding their prayer sessions outdoors. This is not because of lack of space, but to show the power of the Islamic population, to enforce Sharia law.

Just two weeks ago a satirical magazine in France was firebombed because it referred to Mohammed and had comic references to Sharia law. French Jews face almost intolerable insults and persecutions from Muslims that the traditionally anti-Semitic French people have joined in on. Thousands of Jews a year are fleeing to Israel and the United States.

But, it can’t happen here.

The Western campaign to remove secular dictators from the Middle East has a payoff: Even more persecuted Christians and Jews. Back when President Jimmy Carter forced out the Shah of Iran there was a large Jewish and Christian population in that country. During the last year or so, the few Jews who remained were spirited out, and daily we hear of the arrests and torture of Christian pastors. Churches in Iran go back to the time of Peter and Paul.  Soon there will be none.

A few years later, President Bill Clinton bombed Christian Serbia into the dark ages to force it to allow Kosovo, the area where Christianity began in the Slavic world, to become the first Islamic nation of Europe. Terrorist training camps now abound there.

The last Christian church in Afghanistan was torn down by the government we fund and support, just last year. Our military personnel there have been instructed that they may not urinate in the direction of Mecca, and that they may not sleep with their boots pointed toward Mecca. These are the rules of Sharia. Off base, our female military personnel wear the hijab in compliance with Sharia law.

There were more than a million Christians in Iraq under the secular dictatorship of Saddam Hussein. President George W. Bush made no provision for them in the chaotic aftermath of the invasion. Perhaps 200,000 who could not afford to flee still live in Iraq and most of those have been forced from their businesses, jobs and homes. Under the direction of the United States, the new constitution of Iraq is Sharia compliant.

My organization, the Religious Freedom Coalition, works on relief efforts for Iraqi Christian refugees. We have an office in a Middle Eastern city from which we administer that aid. There is press in the room and as a result I cannot mention specific facilities or they may be attacked and destroyed, and lives could be lost. We have password protected Internet sites for donors to see the progress of repairs to facilities there. If the press in this room reported on the internet sites or had the access codes it could lead to the loss of life.

I have personally met with Iraqi families whose young daughters had been kidnapped and raped. Sometimes young Christian girls are forced into Muslim marriages in Iraq; one family I met had refused, and soon their daughter’s lifeless, nude body was found in the town square. Another family I will never forget refused to hand over their 15-year-old daughter to a Muslim neighbor. A few days later their three-year-old son vanished. He was placed in an oven, cooked, and returned to them with an apple in his mouth and a note that Christians must obey and hand over their daughters.

Most Islamic nations practice polygamy. Under Sharia law, a man may have four wives. In nations such as Saudi Arabia, ten percent of the men marry 40% of the women. The resulting shortage of women is a driving force behind Jihad, a driving force behind the kidnapping of Christian, Buddhist and other women. It is the driving force behind seeking 72 virgins in heaven through martyrdom.

But, it can’t happen here

In the moderate nation of Indonesia a few years ago several Christian girls were beheaded on the way to school because they refused the advances of Muslim men. Last week more that 200 Christians were murdered in Nigeria by the Islamic Boko Harem which is trying to force the establishment of Sharia law in that nation which is 50% Christian. Many Christian villages in Nigeria have been attacked in the middle of the night and entire families hacked to death with machetes. In the past few years hundreds of Hindus have died in terror attacks in India.

This year hundreds of Buddhists and Christians have been murdered by those seeking Sharia law in Thailand. Those seeking Sharia in the Philippines killed Christian workers last week and two churches have been bombed there in the last year. In Pakistan the only Christian member of the government was murdered. In that nation several Christians rot in jail accused of blasphemy.

But it can’t happen here.

This conference was kicked out of the Hutton Hotel in Nashville because the owners came to the conclusion that we would violate Sharia law, which does not allow anyone to be the least bit critical of any aspect of Islam. They claimed our speakers would “incite” violence. It was the second hotel to kick out a conference critical of Sharia in a period of less than two weeks.

The Cartoon Network cancelled or altered shows to remove any critical view of Islam. Tom Clancy’s bestselling novel, The Sum of All Fears featured Muslim terrorists, but by the time a movie was made from the book the terrorists were (PAUSE) Germans? A Washington State cartoonist has had to change her name and go into hiding because she proposed a “Draw Mohammed Day.” The man who operates the Internet site, TheReligionofPeace.com, has changed his name and is in hiding. The site is constantly under attack.

You have noted the security at this conference. Many of those participating, including myself, have received credible death threats. There are uniformed and plain clothes armed men in this building right now to protect the lives of the participants including you, including members of the press, a few of whom are here only to be critical of those assembled. How strange. Indeed, one of the reasons given by the Hutton Hotel for refusing to honor their contract was the fear of harm to their staff and guests. From whom?  From those in this room? No … but from those who want to enforce a code of Sharia, a code that says no one may be critical of Islam, or Sharia, or of any Muslim’s actions.

But, it cannot happen here.

My friends, it is happening here. Sharia law is not enforced by the law of the land; it is enforced from the mosque through threats of violence. Honor killings are now played down by the press in this nation. When the owner of an Islamic TV cable network cut off his wife’s head for seeking a separation, the story was virtually non-existent. And when American movies are translated into Arabic for that market they are made Sharia compliant and oftentimes contain anti-Christian sentiment that was not present in the original movie.

The final report on the Jihad attack by Major Nidal Hasan at Fort Hood which killed 14, never mentioned his Islamic fundamentalism; indeed, Islam, terror and jihad were never mentioned. Despite his screams of Allah Akbar during the attack, MSNBC reported that Hasan killed these innocent people including one unborn baby because of stress related to a deployment that had not even happened. A few days ago was the second anniversary of the Ft. Hood jihad attack. Not much mention of it was there? A second Muslim soldier was arrested this year with bomb materials. He planned a second attack on Ft. Hood for jihad and to bring Sharia to america.

The censorship at Ground Zero is intolerable. Unlike with the attack on Pearl Harbor, we are told the 9-11 Jiahd attack is only about the dead, not about the attackers. We honor the dead each year, but with no religious service at the site. No one mentions Islam, no one mentions jihad. And those who officiate at the events for 9-11, such as Mayor Michael Bloomberg, promote the construction of a Ground Zero mosque.

What is the result of this self-enforced compliance to Sharia law in the United States? Even more Sharia law in the future, when crosses must be removed from Catholic Schools and pastors critical of Islam will be threatened with jail. There is a Londonistan in the UK, we do not want a Nashvillestan in the United States.

Not only can it happen here, it is happening here. We are at the stage of self-imposed Sharia law under threat of violence.

Those who have been at this conference have much information to return home with, much to use to educate others. There is one major lesson that all should learn today. We cannot be silent. Silence is surrender to Sharia.