Chairman’s Report for April 11th, 2013

THE PRESIDENCY

Obama’s military: A Bronze Star for political correctness – An Air Force chaplain was awarded a Bronze Star, the fifth highest combat award, for developing a politically correct PowerPoint on how to be sensitive in handling Islamic religious materials. Lieutenant Colonel Jon Trainer, who is a non-denominational Christian chaplain, wrote the program after riots over the accidental burning of old Qurans on an Air Force base in Afghanistan. Every single member of the military, as well as civilian employees in Afghanistan, was required to view the PowerPoint. It is now required for pre-deployment to Islamic areas for all members of the services, and for civilian contractors.

In Trainer’s PowerPoint presentation to service members and civilians, it was stressed that the width and breadth of their sensitivity had to cover whatever constitutes Islamic religious material. As an example he stated, “When a Muslim writes down even a few verses from the Quran on a piece of paper that immediately gets that same protected status.”

Therefore if a Muslim writes a verse from a religious book calling for the killing of Jews and other “infidels” on a slip of paper, it has “protected status.” A service member, even if he is Jewish, must revere this slip of paper containing the anti-Semitic material. The slip of paper must be treated with the same “respect” as a Quran.

The prestigious Bronze Star is given for heroic or meritorious achievement in connection with operations against an armed enemy. Lt. Colonel Trainer apparently did this with a PowerPoint championing political correctness. I can’t even imagine what thoughts about this award must be going through the mind of a Marine who earned the same medal during a firefight in which he was wounded, and some of those in his unit were killed fighting Muslims.

Obama State Department wants more Muslims in USA –Better educated Muslims are more likely to be members of terrorists groups, a recent study shows. Therefore, the State Department plans to end terror by bringing more Muslims to the USA to take college places  away from Americans. This program is well underway now.

Meghann Curtis, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Academic Programs at the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, stated that the bureau had always been driven by the notion that “we’d be a more stable, peaceful and prosperous world if we could all get to know one another”. Now it appears that this “notion” is in “high gear.” Curtis said programs to bring students and scholars from Muslim-majority countries into the U.S. had been “ramped up”.

The 9-11 hijackers came to the United States as students to learn how to fly commercial aircraft. How did that program work out? Many students who studied in the United States and Canada are now leaders of jihadist groups, some fighting in Syria. This program represents more of the insane, politically correct thinking coming from the Obama Administration.

A review by National Bureau of Economic Research associate Alan Krueger and co-author Jitka Maleckova found that an increase in educational attainment does not and would not reduce participation in international terrorism.

One finding: “Members of Hezbollah’s militant wing who were killed in action in the 1980s and early 1990s were at least as likely to come from economically advantaged families and have a relatively high level of education as they were to come from impoverished families without educational opportunities.”

Their study was called “Education, Poverty, Political Violence, and Terrorism: Is There a Causal Connection?” and the researchers concluded that: “Instead of viewing terrorism as a direct response to low market opportunities or ignorance, we suggest it is more accurately viewed as a response to political conditions and long-standing feelings (either perceived or real) of indignity and frustration that have little to do with economics.”

Many of the leaders of terrorist organizations, including the current leader of Al-Qaeda, are medical doctors, some of whom were educated in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Obama’s “Arab Spring” Tunisia: “Stone her to death” – A Tunisian preacher is demanding that a teenaged protester be executed for posting her topless pictures on Facebook with an anti-Islamic slogan on her chest. To avoid arrest, her parents have apparently placed her in a mental institution.The first “Arab Spring” nation touted by Barack Obama was Tunisia. At the time he championed the ouster of the secular president in favor of a more “democratic” state. Tunisia has now become a haven for jihadists including many members of Al-Qaeda. Even Huffington Post is reporting the failure of the “Arab Spring” in Tunisia.

Obama’s “free Syria” covers young girls in black- Girls are now covered from head to foot in schools in the “liberated” part of Syria. The Syrian “rebels” have proudly posted videos on Youtube of public schools in areas under their control. Even very young girls are covered from head to foot in black, their faces even covered as they are taught to respect and serve men.

Under the Assad “regime,” wearing a religious covering to a public school was against the law. In Obama’s “new Syria” wearing the veil is mandatory. This curse on the girls and women of Syria is paid for by Saudi Arabia and supported by the United States. See the video

Obama to Israeli youth -Pretend you are Palestinians –During his visit to Israel, Obama promised to defend their nation. At the same time, he made an effort to directly interfere in the internal affairs of Israel by telling college students not to support the government there.

His instruction to students: “Put yourself in their shoes – look at the world through their eyes. It is not fair that a Palestinian child cannot grow up in a state of her own, and lives with the presence of a foreign army that controls the movements of her parents every single day.”

Note that he called the Israeli Army presence in Samaria “foreign,” and in using the reference to a child had to refer to “her” instead of the generic “him.” Obama is the child of a liberal white education and he can’t escape it – ever.

CONGRESS

Congressman:  “Don’t arm our enemies” – Congressman Louie Gohmert (R-TX) delivered a powerful speech on Washington, D.C. politics to a gathering of conservatives at Freedom Center’s 2013 retreat in California.

Gohmert, a committed Christian and social conservative, discussed a variety of topics   including the destruction of our armed forces by the Obama Administration – and the arming of our enemies in Egypt with sophisticated weapons. Gohmert noted: “… you don’t have to pay people to hate you; they’ll do it for free.”

He said, “We keep paying countries [like Egypt].  For heaven’s sake, even sending them F-16s and tanks.  And mark my words, those tanks and F-16s will someday kill Israelis and Americans.  It’s not a smart idea.”

I attended a small dinner gathering with Congressman Gohmert in late March and discussed the situation in Libya and Syria with him. I learned that he had gone to the Army’s Walter Reed Medical Center to visit with survivors of the attack on our consulate in Benghazi. The State Department refuses to produce the survivors to testify about the attack which former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton blamed on an anti-Islamic YouTube video. I am not at liberty to discuss the entire conversation other than to say that Hillary Clinton is a two-faced liar.

Jewish Senator supports jihadists in Syria –Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin, who is Jewish, has joined Senator John McCain in calling on President Obama to bomb airports in Syria to help establish yet another Islamist state on the border of Israel. Strangely, the two Senators used a chemical attack by the Islamists on Syrian government troops as a reason to bomb the Syrian government troops.

Conservative Senators offer Pro-life legislation –On the domestic front, Florida Senator Marco Rubio offered the “Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act.” The act would require that an abortionist, before performing an abortion on a minor from another state, must first notify one parent, unless the minor is the victim of sexual abuse or faces a life-endangering emergency. Other pro-life amendments to budget bills were offered by Senators Mike Lee and David Vitter. Since the legislation is in the Senate controlled by Harry Reid, it will not pass.

RELIGION AND CULTURE

American Al-Qaeda fighter arrested – How bizarre is this? Eric Harroun is a former Army soldier from Phoenix who joined “rebels” fighting the secular government of Syria and who boasted to Fox News about his exploits killing Syrian soldiers. He has referred to himself as a Muslim soldier of fortune, and the Syrian “rebels” posted many videos of him fighting on Youtube.

When he returned to the United States in March he was arrested at a Virginia Airport and could face life in prison for association with a terrorist organization. What is so unbelievable about this? Harroun was fighting for the same “rebels” our government supports to overthrow the secular government of Syria and install an Islamist regime. Maybe he was fighting with the “wrong” group of rebels killing and raping their way across Syria.

Christians most persecuted group in world – Nina Shea, Paul Marshall and Lela Gilbert introduced their new book, Persecuted: The Global Assault on Christians at a public discussion on religious persecution at the Hudson Institute in Washington, DC on March 27th. All three have authored previous books on the persecution of religious minorities and the worldwide decline in religious freedom over the last fifteen years.

I was present at the luncheon when the book was presented, and the event was broadcast on CSPAN. Since the presentation, the Religious Freedom Coalition has promoted the book as it details the continuing struggle of the churches founded by Peter, Paul and the other Apostles in the Middle East and Asia.

Paul Marshall noted that “There is a phenomena of growing persecution of Christians over the last 15 to 20 years that is largely ignored” in the United States. He noted that one of the greatest problems is a lack of awareness in the Christian communities within the nation. He stated that there is much less talk about the persecution of Christians in American churches today than there was fifteen years ago.

Paul Marshall was asked by a member of the audience if the statement by Secretary Kerry and other Administration statements, or lack thereof, was driven by a fear of having more Christians persecuted in Islamic nations because they are American allies. Marshall replied that in reading Al-Qaeda and other Islamic terrorist literature it is “clear that Americans are hated because they are viewed as Christians by radical Islamists, not because Christians are viewed as Americans.” He was making the point that Islamists see everything in terms of religion, not in terms of poverty or social issues the way American leaders have been trained to think by the Muslim Brotherhood here in the United States. Read more

 INTERNATIONAL

Saudi Arabia: No word on Ethiopian Christians – Despite numerous efforts by members of Congress, I have been unable to learn the fate of the Ethiopian Christians arrested in Saudi Arabia in February for praying in a private home. Read more

Nigeria: Easter attacks kill 80 Christians –Nigerian Christians appealed for prayers after Easter season violence in troubled central Nigeria left as many as 80 people dead, and displaced some 4,500 others. Read more

Pakistan: Muslim mob attacks Christians – On April 2, incited by calls from mosque loudspeakers, a large Muslim mob attacked a Christian neighborhood in Gujranwala, injuring at least five Christians, damaging churches and destroying dozens of shops and vehicles. Read more

Bangladesh: Christian children rescued from Islamic traffickers disappear – Eleven of the sixteen Christian children who were rescued from Muslim traffickers in Dhaka, Bangladesh on January 2 have been kidnapped and returned to slavery. Read more

Fact Finding Mission and Tour of Israel – William J. Murray, the chairman of the Religious Freedom Coalition, along with Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy and author Bill Federer, will lead a tour to Israel that will include a visit to an IDF base, the Golan Heights and the West Bank. Join them in a once in a lifetime journey combining a Biblical tour with a fact finding mission on Middle East security. Read more

William J. Murray, Chairman

Religious Freedom Coalition, 601 Pennsylvania Ave, NW  #900 , Washington, DC 20004 * (202) 742-8990