WorldNetDaily Sees Muslim Conspiracy against Churches

WorldNetDaily gathers together some disparate bits and pieces to present its fearful readers with evidence that

Christian churches fed ‘Islam lite’: Experts say Muslim Brotherhood carrying out domination strategy in U.S.

The “experts” are Steve Emerson and some unnamed sources. We learn of a church “where an Islamic speaker was a guest”, and that “Hartford Seminary’s website displays photos of smiling, hijab-wearing young women standing arm-in-arm with clergy women in clerical collars”. Among other bits and pieces, we read that

Even high-profile leaders such as megachurch pastor Rick Warren of Saddelback Community Church in Lake Forest, Calif., have spoken to organizations such as the Islamic Society of North America, a Muslim Brotherhood group.

WND editor Joseph Farah hates his fellow-Christian Rick Warren, so it’s easy to see why that’s there.

But these are the silliest bits:

The effort to co-opt Christian churches includes an attempt to water down Christian theology.

Islamization Watch published a photo on its website of a British Muslim banner on a railing in the Wood Green section of London. The banner, which read “Jesus was a Muslim,” stalled traffic and created near-riot conditions so that police had to be called.

P. David Gaubatz and Paul Sperry write in their WND book, “Muslim Mafia” that Muslims want to Islamize Jesus.

The banner was in fact part of an “roadshow” under the control of the British Islamist Anjem Choudary. Choudary is deservedly one of the most unpopular persons in the UK, and he regularly performs publicity stunts calculated to cause outrage. But a banner reading “Jesus was a Muslim” is hardly in itself going to “stall traffic” and create “near-riot conditions” in a largely secularised country like the UK – the public disturbance in Wood Green that his antics provoked had other causes. And the idea that this was an attempt to “co-opt Christian churches” is just laughable.

As for “Muslims want to Islamize Jesus”, that’s not news: Muslims have always regarded Jesus as a prophet, and rejected the Christian idea of the incarnation as a blunder. Given all the characters from the Hebrew Bible who have been “Christianized”  – indeed, the text itself has been appropriated by Christians as the “Old Testament” – this is hardly an isolated phenomenon.

Finally:

One Islamic expert who formerly worked with the U.S. government on terror said Muslims even use the writings of disaffected Christian.

“Muslims are making use of Bart Ehrman’s commentaries on the New Testament, books that now deny the authority of the New Testament and portray Jesus as simply a man,” he said. “You will never hear a Muslim say that Jesus is the Son of God.”

But Ehrman is hardly writing for Muslims, however they may be using his writings for their own purposes; the Christian website Answering Islam acknowledges that, and suggests Ehrman can be used to counter Muslim beliefs about Jesus. However, WND hates real Biblical scholarship as much as it detests scientists – and just as it likes to promote the idea that “Darwinists” are Nazis and Communists, it’s useful to create an impression that Bible scholars are somehow in league with Muslims.

Of course New Testament scholars are primarily concerned with the historical human Jesus. Some of these scholars are Christians who also have theological views about Jesus as God, others are secular, some – like Geza Vermes – practice Judaism, and doubtless others follow other religions. All of them, though, apply a scholarly method which requires assessing the New Testament as a historical text like any other. “Authority” as a theological concept is neither here nor there – although Biblical fundamentalism inspires numerous cranks who are regularly showcased by WND. To include Ehrman in an article about the “Muslim Brotherhood’s domination strategy” is simply bad faith.

There have been cases where Muslims have downplayed extreme views and connections for PR reasons, and have as a result enjoyed access to institutions and individuals who should have shown more discernment. I blogged on one such example just yesterday. But WND‘s foolish and dishonest posturing is of no help in identifying situations where this occured.

8 Responses

  1. WND is effectively a “Christianist” publication – a mirror image of the Muslim Brotherhood.

    So, frankly, I suspect that what they write betrays envy!

  2. Oh, and I’ve read Ehrman’s Misquoting Jesus – which is a fascinating book, and frankly continues the same work that has been a staple of Christian practice – the examination of sources – since at least the Renaissance and humanism.

    I mean, what? I suppose that Erasmus was also “in league with the Muslims”.

    If there’s an objection to Ehrman’s use by the Muslim Brotherhood, why not write a similar book on the origins and compilation of the Quran and Hadiths. Is there such a book?

  3. WorldNutDaily is being shunned by even the Christian fundies nowadays. And thats a hard thing to do for them, it really is

  4. That’s the Steven Emerson from “The Investigative Project”, no? I can remember when he was taken seriously (about 2002).

    Gaubatz is the guy who thinks he found WMD in Iraq through spiritual means.

  5. First, thank you for your intuitive post. I like your blog and find it fantastically informative. I like your talent of saying (by blogging) tiny things that other blogger will not take the time to say. I found it while doing a search on Bing as a consequence I absolutely will come back here when I have more time.Thanks

  6. It’s amazing you’d go to WND to glean your info on how Islam sees Christians ( and other non-Muslim religions). I would suggest that you consult Islam’s core texts directly and in them you’ll find plenty of irrefutable truth. the violence medted out to Buddhists in southern Thailand, or the Christians and Hindus of Pakistan or the Copts of Egypt are largely inspired by the Koran. In fact, gov’t agencies that track these terror attacks report that more than 14,000 such attacks have happened and most were directly inspired by Islamist doctrines.

    What is wrong with you that you cannot see that radical Islam is the biggest threat to all of humanity. Will you only wake up when it gets to the point where it’ll take 6 hours to get through airport security.

    YOu know, at Fort Hood the army investigated soldiers that were cmapaigning for the right to life, aparently seeing them as dangerously violent, and yet when warned about Nidal Hasan who had given EXPLICIT powerpoint demonstrations of what Muslims should do to kuffars those same army authorities did nothing out of fear of being labelled bigots.

    How many innocent people have to die, and how many atrocities have to be committed before you step down off your high horse and see this growing and potentailly catastrophic probleme for what it is?
    The MB has most certainly infiltrated many, many western institutions and gov’t departments.

    The current controversy around the firing of Gita Saghal for having exposed Moazzam Begg is but one example.

    Once again, instead of writing adolescent screeds about WND, why not cut to the chase and read Islam’s core texts AND the MB’s constitution?

    You life could depend on it.

  7. As for “Muslims want to Islamize Jesus”, that’s not news: Muslims have always regarded Jesus as a prophet, and rejected the Christian idea of the incarnation as a blunder. Given all the characters from the Hebrew Bible who have been “Christianized” – indeed, the text itself has been appropriated by Christians as the “Old Testament” – this is hardly an isolated phenomenon.

    You’re missing the point.

    Christianity appropriates the Old Testament, but does not attempt to modify it. Christianity does not claim that Moses and Abraham, for example were *really*, *really* Christian. Christians accept the Old Testament AS IS and make no attempt to expropriate it or to change it.

    Islam, on the other hand, claims that both Old and New testament figures aren’t who they say they are. They attempt to dishonestly reto-fit prophets and biblical characters with an Islamic identity they never had and certainly wouldn’t want.
    Christianity confirms old testament theology and builds on that base without changing any aspect of it.

    Islam steals Jewish and Christian theology, and then attempts to portray both as something they simply aren’t.

    There is an enormous difference.

    Below is a link to an article that talks about a subject most mainstream media shy away from. Islam’s aggresssion against religious minorities in Muslim-majority countries.

    http://www.newenglishreview.org/custpage.cfm/frm/56135/sec_id/56135

    • “It’s amazing you’d go to WND to glean your info on how Islam sees Christians ( and other non-Muslim religions). I would suggest that you consult Islam’s core texts directly and in them you’ll find plenty of irrefutable truth. the violence medted out to Buddhists in southern Thailand, or the Christians and Hindus of Pakistan or the Copts of Egypt are largely inspired by the Koran.”

      All you have to do to find out why Dubya went to war in Iraq is read the Bible. Apparently Israel needs to conquer half of the Middle-East before Jesus will return to Earth to kill all non-Christians, including Jews, and Dubya firmly believed he was on a crusade against the brown-skinned heathens just like his forefathers centuries before. The result? Over a million Muslims dead due to war and the resulting civil war. Or the Lords Resistance Army. According to the Bible its perfectly alright for them to kill non-Christians or people who deny God and the Bible. Its also perfectly alright to use child soldiers and rape them. Or when not raping them, its perfectly alright to rape and kill everyone else. After all, God/Jesus allowed it to be done to the Canaanites. Or the Christian Identity groups right there in the USA who are just following the Bible by raping and murdering all these non-white heathens and Jews who are an afront to God/Jesus according to the Bible. Or… I think we’ve had enough for now.

      “ In fact, gov’t agencies that track these terror attacks report that more than 14,000 such attacks have happened and most were directly inspired by Islamist doctrines.”

      Government agencies? http://www.rop.com is NOT a government agency. The BS espoused by that hate site is no different than any KKK site or other site showing us the numbers of black people jailed or guilty of assault and murder and then telling us that all these were done because these people are black. Nevermind the historical, socialogical or political factors, its all because theyre black! Thats the kind of nonsense you approve of. Unfortunately for you, we are of a more sound mind. We accept crime happens in Muslim countries. Gangs attack other people in Muslim countries just like they do in the US for example. And if 2 countries, Iraq and Afghanistan, are warzones, taking statisitics about peopkle killing and attacking each other and then painting that as attacks by Muslims according to Muslim doctrine is incredibly misleading and dishonest, but I dont expect you to acknowledge that, Hugh.

      “What is wrong with you that you cannot see that radical Islam is the biggest threat to all of humanity. Will you only wake up when it gets to the point where it’ll take 6 hours to get through airport security.”

      And this is the result of the slavelike obedience to the authors on those sites, who are no different than a preacher spreading hate about another group: a fevered state of disbelieve about other people not seeing the big bad wolf when you can clearly see it. Replace Islam with Jews in your post and you could be a member of any Christian Identity group.

      “YOu know, at Fort Hood the army investigated soldiers that were cmapaigning for the right to life, aparently seeing them as dangerously violent, and yet when warned about Nidal Hasan who had given EXPLICIT powerpoint demonstrations of what Muslims should do to kuffars those same army authorities did nothing out of fear of being labelled bigots.”

      You know whats so sad about the Fort Hood shootings? It’s been hijacked by stealth nazis and racists. Apparently if a Muslims shoots other soldiers, its all Islams fault and no Muslims should serve in the Military and all these anti-Islamics suddenly forget about any previous fragging incident in the US army. William Kreutzer is instantly forgiven. As is John Russell. And Dustin Thorson. Or Alberto Martinez. Or how about this little piece of info:

      “Between 1969 and 1971, the Army reported 600 fragging incidents that killed 82 Americans and injured 651, according to the Associated Press. In 1971 alone, there were 1.8 fraggings for every 1,000 American soldiers serving in Vietnam, not including gun and knife assaults.”

      Will you mention them too and name Christianity as the cause? Ofcourse not. Because that would require you to actually do some thinking, instead of being a slave to Spencer and others and let them to your thinking for you.

      “How many innocent people have to die, and how many atrocities have to be committed before you step down off your high horse and see this growing and potentailly catastrophic probleme for what it is?”

      Right back at you. The US has killed millions of non-Christians. When will you condemn those actions as the genocide of non-Christians demanded by God/Jesus in the Bible?

      “The MB has most certainly infiltrated many, many western institutions and gov’t departments. “

      You mean, like we carry out covert operations trying to blow stuff up in Muslim countries? Oh wait, theyre not blowing stuff up, theyre just joining our organizations and engagign in the debate instead of shooting and killing like us when we go over there. I have no problem with that. As long as people are not committing terrorist acts, they can do whatever the fuck they well please. That includes Muslims and whoever else.

      “Once again, instead of writing adolescent screeds about WND, why not cut to the chase and read Islam’s core texts AND the MB’s constitution?”

      Why not write about WorldNutDaily! Its used as a source for News by lots of right wing nutjobs and Christians. Theyre lies need to be put out there in the open. And ofcourse, you would also recommend us to read stuff like the Skeptics Annotated Bible, right? Thought so…

      “Christianity appropriates the Old Testament, but does not attempt to modify it. Christianity does not claim that Moses and Abraham, for example were *really*, *really* Christian. Christians accept the Old Testament AS IS and make no attempt to expropriate it or to change it.”

      No they just say that God/Jesus abrogated whatever the fuck he said in it when he was born as a human and that everyone that doesnt accept that will go to hell, and indeed deserves to. It tells us that the Jews are headed to hell just because they dont accept him as God/Jesus. It formed the foundation for centuries of anti-Semitism in Europe which eventually lead to a Christian named Hitler carrying out Jesus’ will against all who defy him.

      “Islam, on the other hand, claims that both Old and New testament figures aren’t who they say they are. They attempt to dishonestly reto-fit prophets and biblical characters with an Islamic identity they never had and certainly wouldn’t want.
      Christianity confirms old testament theology and builds on that base without changing any aspect of it.
      Islam steals Jewish and Christian theology, and then attempts to portray both as something they simply aren’t.”

      You only have to search Google for “Christianity stole from Pagans” and you will have to eat your words. Oh wait, I forgot humility and apologising isnt allowed for slaves like you. Fact is that Muslims believe that everyone who believes in God and submits to God, is a Muslim. That is what “Muslim” means, someone who believes and submits to God. Did Jesus not believe in God? Or didnt any of the other prophets in the Bible?

      “Below is a link to an article that talks about a subject most mainstream media shy away from. Islam’s aggresssion against religious minorities in Muslim-majority countries.”

      I also never see mainstream media equate the war in Iraq to a crusade even though Bush and Blair vehemently said it was and agreed due to their religious duty to kill non-white heathens and expand Israel for the return of their Lord and Saviour! Hallelujah! Or anything about Christian terrorism in Africa, India, Mexico and South-America. I did hear something about the Christian Identity movements and gangs in the US though, so fair play there.

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