MICHIGAN FAITH COMMUNITIES IN THE
CROSS-HAIRS
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:
Islam’s goal in the West, as articulated in the
Muslim Brotherhood’s Explanatory Memorandum, is to destroy the legal and
political institutions of our society and replace them with the rule of
shariah (Islamic Law). To accomplish this goal, U.S. Muslim political
leaders have partnered with the Left, giving them otherwise unavailable
access to the many institutions controlled by the Left.
As described further on, and as most of us know through our own
experience, this control extends to many U.S. mainline churches and
synagogues, which the Left has turned into little more than propaganda
shops for the latest leftwing fad. In so doing, they have opened the
door to Islam to first present itself to Christians and Jews in a
non-threatening manner and then to begin the process of “dawah,” that
is, the proselytizing or preaching of Islam. Today, even some
evangelical churches have fallen for the trap. It is called “Interfaith
Dialogue.”
According to Gallup Polls, about 75 percent of Americans consider
themselves Christians.[1] In Michigan, a Pew Research poll on religion
found that 70 percent of adults identify as Christians. Of these, 25
percent are evangelicals, 18 percent are what Pew terms “mainline”
Protestants, with another 8 percent categorized as “Historically Black
Protestant.” Eighteen percent are Catholic, and about 1 percent are
Orthodox, Mormon, Jehovah’s Witnesses or others. Non-Christian believers
make up only 5 percent of Michigan’s population.
Only one percent identify as Muslims according to the poll.[2] As
discussed in the Red-Green Axis chapter (published as an Occasional Paper
at the CSP website on October 19 2018)[3],
Michigan Arabs believe the number is much larger, closer to 3 percent.
Also discussed in that chapter, there is a “tipping point,” when the
Muslim population grows to about 5 percent. They begin blocking streets
to pray, demand halal food in supermarkets and self-rule within
predominantly Muslim communities.[4] This
is already happening in Michigan. Whatever their actual numbers,
Muslims are having a profound impact on Michigan’s faith communities.
Interfaith Dialogue can take credit for much of this.
Interfaith Dialogue is a term that has been developed to describe
efforts to bridge theological distinctions between religions, especially
Christianity and Islam. The U.S. Institute of Peace describes it as
follows:
The term interfaith dialogue refers to cooperative, constructive and
positive interaction between people of different religious traditions
and/or spiritual or humanistic beliefs, at both the individual and
institutional levels. It is distinct from syncretism or alternative
religion, in that dialogue often involves promoting understanding
between different religions to increase acceptance of others, rather
than to synthesize new beliefs. Throughout the world there are local,
regional, national and international interfaith initiatives; many are
formally or informally linked and constitute larger networks or
federations. The often quoted “There will be no peace among the nations
without peace among the religions. There will be no peace among the
religions without dialogue among the religions” was formulated by Dr.
Hans Küng, a Professor of Ecumenical Theology and President of the
Foundation for a Global Ethic.[5]
The Institute goes on to say that, “Interfaith dialogue forms a major role
in the study of religion and peacebuilding.”[6]
This emphasis on obtaining “peace through dialogue” of course implies
a meeting of minds on the very differing beliefs about God and
salvation. The fact that this effort was born of those with globalist
“peace” perspectives should put up red flags. The objective of most
religions is conversion, not“peace,” whatever peace means in this context.
Furthermore, in practice, Interfaith Dialogue has become a vehicle
for Muslims who preach and practice an ideology of uncompromising
domination and subjugation to draw Christians, sometimes well-meaning,
sometimes with ulterior motives, into acceptance of Islam, without any
corresponding acceptance of Christianity. Interfaith Dialogue is often
referred to as “Building Bridges,” and some programs are specifically
so-named.[7] But as Center for Security Policy President Frank Gaffney
has noted:
While the interfaith dialogue movement presents itself as a laudable
effort to ‘bridge’ the distance between faiths, those more familiar with
the doctrine of the Muslim Brotherhood know that the actual agenda of
too many such efforts is, in fact, modeled after the well-known dictum
of Sayyid Qutb, who candidly reminded Muslims that such a ‘bridge’ is
‘only so that the people of Jahiliyyah [society of unbelievers] may come
over to Islam.[8]
Interfaith Dialogue does invite participation from other faiths,
especially Judaism, but Christianity is the main target because our
country remains a primarily Christian one. So, for Muslim activists and
the Left to succeed in their subjugation of the West, its largest
population has to be taught to accommodate them first. Once that is
accomplished, those weaker Christians souls and/or pretenders to the
faith can be drawn into the service of the civilization jihad objective.
And this is exactly what is happening through Interfaith Dialogue.
History of Interfaith Dialogue
Various interfaith dialogue efforts, especially between Christians
and Muslims, have been attempted off and on for centuries, with the
recognition that the history of Christian/Muslim interaction has been
largely one of either conflict or separation. Like many modern
iterations of controversies with deep historic roots, the most recent
version has been captured by communists.[9]
Modern discussions of Interfaith Dialogue began in the early 1900s,
with the birth of the ecumenical movement — an effort to unify Christian
churches under one banner. At that time, as now, the objection to
interfaith dialogue as well as ecumenism from the most clear-headed
Christian leaders was syncretism, i.e., the notion that
different faiths could be combined. For example, there had even been
discussion among some liberal Protestant churches to create a universal
religion.[10]
This was also a time when the “social gospel” began creeping into
mainline Protestant denominations. Sound Christian teaching was replaced
by focus on the day’s social problems.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) grew out of the ecumenical
movement. Born in 1948, it took under its wing many of the mainline
denominations around the world. Today it claims 350 member churches in
almost 150 countries comprising some 590 million members worldwide.[11]
Major American denominations include:
- African Methodist Episcopal Church
- African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church
- American Baptist Churches in the USA
- Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
- Christian Methodist Episcopal Church
- Church of the Brethren
- Episcopal Church
- Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
- Moravian Church in North America
- National Baptist Convention of America
- Orthodox Church in America
- Presbyterian Church U.S.A.
- Progressive National Baptist Convention
- Reformed Church in America
- United Church of Christ
- United Methodist Church
East Bloc intelligence agencies and the Soviet KGB targeted the WCC for
infiltration as early as 1961 or before.[12] With their influence came Liberation
Theology, a KGB-spawned invention which turned Christian doctrine into
Marxist theology.[13]It was introduced first in Latin America, not coincidentally
by a Peruvian Catholic priest, Gustavo Gutiérrez, and a few others, where
conservative Catholicism stood in the way of communist efforts to
overthrow rightwing authoritarian governments. At the same time, the WCC
began discussing Interfaith Dialogue at its international conferences
in 1961, 1963, 1964, 1967, 1968 and 1970, and adopted it as a program in
1971.[14]
The WCC has national affiliates in many countries. The U.S. branch is
the National Council of Churches, formed in 1950 as a follow-on to the
Federal Council of Churches, a communist front.[15] NCC’s
subsidiary, Church World Service, is one of nine federal government
contractors paid millions annually to resettle refugees in the U.S.
NCC brags “38 member communions and over 40 million individuals –
100,000 congregations from Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox, Evangelical,
historic African-American, and Living Peace traditions.”[16] Those
denominations listed under WCC membership are all members of the NCC as
well. NCC is a leader in the interfaith movement. Its Interreligious
Relations and Collaboration Convening Table meets regularly to:[17]
- study interfaith issues,
- build relationships between the churches and people of other religious
- traditions,
- develop opportunities for the fullest possible sharing of ideas and
counsel among the churches on the topic of interfaith relations,
- nurture relationships with local and national ecumenical and interfaith
- bodies,
- promote interreligious dialogue and understanding,
- assist the NCC-member churches in developing their relationships with
- other faith communities,
- provide resources for the churches for education in interreligious
relations, and to promote interfaith study, dialogue, and common action.
In a 2016 article for Eastern Mennonite University, NCC
communications director, Rev. Steven D. Martin, described his
“interfaith journey” following 9-11, and his involvement in Know Your
Neighbor, an Obama White House interfaith initiative.He
described how, “Concerned about the recent rise in anti-Muslim
rhetoric, member organizations have created religious resources and
toolkits to help facilitate learning about other faiths, including how
to organize a town hall meeting and host a “speed faithing” event.”[18]
Martin also described getting involved in such lefty antics as
joining the Standing Rock Sioux tribe in North Dakota to protest the
Dakota Pipeline. This should be no surprise. NCC’s “21st Century Social
Creed” reads like a platform document for Democratic Socialists of
America, including such items as a living wage, income redistribution,
“just” immigration policies, nuclear disarmament, and other far left
nonsense.[19]
NCC’s
A.C.T. to End Racism project looks like a page taken from an Antifa
website. It dedicates itself to “awaken to the trauma of racism and the
legacy of white privilege in the United States.”[20] Agendas
include prison deinstitutionalization, income redistribution (as
retribution for past exploitation) and an effort to shape media
messaging. As usual there is an army of useful idiots willing to virtue
signal their support by underwriting the cost. In this case, sponsors
include Ben & Jerry’s, Nestle, Aetna, National Geographic and
others.[21]
The WCC had its own Program to Combat Racismfrom the 1970s
through the 1990s. This took the form of providing $9,749,500 to
Soviet-supported communist guerrilla groups around the world, including
those in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Mozambique, Angola, Southwest Africa,
South Africa and elsewhere.[22] These
Guerrilla groups conduct white genocide campaigns, but slaughter just
as many, if not more, blacks. Time Magazine summed up concerns in a 1978
article titled, “Going Beyond Charity: Should Christian cash be given
to terrorists?”[23]
Most of the churches involved in the interfaith dialogue are liberal
denominations under the NCC umbrella and the Catholic Church, although,
in the past few years, evangelical churches have been sucked into the
Interfaith orbit as well.
While the NCC and WCC are ground zero for the Interfaith movement,
they have had a lot of help. Here are a few other national and regional
organizations, many of them religious groups, but all politically
aligned with the hard left, that promote the Interfaith Dialogue mantra:
Interfaith Alliance– a 13 state network whose issues are LGBT
equality, hate crimes legislation, opposition to school vouchers,
bigotry toward religious minorities and bullying of same.[24] Its State of
Belief weekly radio program parallels leftwing talking points on political issues.
Dialogue Institute– Since 1978 publishes the Journal of
Ecumenical Studies (JES). Created the “Dialogue Decalog,” (available in
21 languages), which put forth 10 principles to guide interfaith and
interreligious dialogue.[25] In
2015, the Institute hosted a three-day conference on “Islamophobia and
anti-Muslim bigotry.” Notably, evangelical Christians were not invited.[26]
It devoted its entire Spring 2016 issue of JES to the subject of Islamophobia.
American Islamic Conference– “To change the discourse both within the
American Muslim community and in American society in general.”
Religions for Peace– “Transform violent conflict, promote just and harmonious
societies, advance human development, protect the Earth.”
Council for a Parliament of the Worlds Religions– “exists to
cultivate harmony among the world’s religious and spiritual communities
and foster their engagement with the world and its guiding institutions
in order to achieve a just, peaceful and sustainable world.”
Industrial Areas Foundation(IAF)[27]–
Marxist-oriented, founded by radical leftist organizer Saul Alinsky in
1940, deeply involved nationwide in the Interfaith Dialogue movement –
affiliated with both the Catholic Church (liberation theology, social
justice themes)[28] and
the Muslim Brotherhood-dominated U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations
(USCMO) by way of the USCMO Secretary General Oussama Jamaal, who was
listed among the top leadership of the Dupage United Metro Industrial
Areas Foundation in a 20 November 2016 Action Memo[29]
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)[30]– deeply involved in
Interfaith Dialogue movement nationwide in collaboration with both the IAF[31]
and Muslim Brotherhood front groups such as CAIR (Council on American
Islamic Relations), ICNA (Islamic Circle of North America), ISNA
(Islamic Society of North America), MPAC (Muslim Public Affairs Council)
and others.[32]
Catholic Campaign for Human Development(CCHD) – CCHD is the
grant-making vehicle of the USCCB. It was founded in Chicago in 1969
with the help of radical organizer Saul Alinsky, specifically to fund
Alinsky’s Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF). CCHD has been a radical
leftist funding vehicle ever since, giving millions to ACORN, the
radical training school, Midwest Academy and others. IAF receives the
largest percentage of CCHD grants of any CCHD grantee.[33]
Call to Action[34]–
a nationwide U.S. organization that calls for fundamental changes to
Catholic Church doctrine and practice, in part in response to the Second
Vatican Council (1962-1965) – in October 1976, then-National Council of
Catholic Bishops (NCCB, now the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops)
called a 3-day conference in Detroit, MI – Monsignor Jack Egan of
Chicago, “a long-time Alinsky supporter, IAF board member, and activist
on Chicago urban issues”[35] served as co-chair of the 1976 Call to Action
plenary sessions.[36]
International Religious Freedom[37]–
Ambassador Samuel D. Brownback was sworn in as Department of State’s
Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom in February
2018, but in the context of Interfaith Dialogue has been targeted and
enmeshed by myriad Muslim Brotherhood front organizations that likely
pre-date his appointment
In total, there are about 91 prominent organizations spread around
the globe, with at least 35 of these in the U.S. A complete listing,
including a world map, can be found at the online Directory of InterFaith
and InterReligious Organizations.[38]
Interfaith Dialogue: An Influence Operation
Interfaith Dialogue presents itself as an effort to find common
ground between different religions in the interest of harmony and peace.
Unfortunately, anyone with an even nodding acquaintance with Islam,
Christianity, and Judaism knows that there are irreconcilable
differences between them. Christians see the Great Commission as
bringing people to Christ, however, Christianity leaves that choice to
the individual. Similarly, Judaism and most other religions practice a
live-and-let-live philosophy toward other religions. Not so with Islam,
which seeks converts or subjects. Individual choice does not exist. So,
what is Interfaith Dialogue really, if it is a foregone conclusion that
Islam is intractably at odds with other religions?
Another question that arises frequently in this context is the
seeming incompatibility between Islamic beliefs and those of secular
leftists, for example on the issue of gay marriage and women’s rights.
But one must understand that those at the core of the Left do not care
about those issues for their own sake. They are used to define and
capture voting blocs, and as a wedge to balkanize society into segments
of competing groups. Their overall goal is to subvert and destroy
Western society.
Early Soviet COMINTERN agent Willi Münzenberg can be described as the
father of Cultural Marxism. We know it as “political correctness.” In
1923, he helped found the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt,
Germany — commonly called the “Frankfurt School.” This organization
invented “Critical Theory,” following Marx’s command for “a ruthless
criticism of everything existing.”[39]
The Frankfurt school relocated to Columbia University’s Teacher’s
College in 1933, and its poison has since metastasized and spread to
colleges and universities throughout the U.S. The Frankfurt School’s
critical theorists advocated:[40]
- Creation of racism offenses
- Continual change to create confusion
- Teaching sex and homosexuality to children
- Undermining of schools’ and teachers’ authority
- Huge immigration to destroy identity
- Promotion of excessive drinking
- Emptying of churches
- Unreliable legal system & bias against crime victims
- Dependency on the state or state benefits
- Control and dumbing down of media
- Encouraging the breakdown of the family
Münzenberg articulated this effort succinctly: “We must organize the
intellectuals, and use them to make Western civilization stink… Only
then, after they have corrupted all its values and made life base, can
we impose the dictatorship of the proletariat.”[41]
Most of the Left’s issues are ultimately devoted to this cause. They
could care less about “gay rights,” “women’s rights,” or any other
“rights.” As formulated by the Left, they are all wedge issues designed
specifically to undermine Western culture as articulated by Münzenberg
and the Frankfurt School. To the Left, Islam is a perfect wrecking bar
against the West because it introduces a competing legal system, Islamic
Law (shariah), while hiding under the First Amendment’s religious
liberty protections. Muslim terrorism has become an existential threat
to our citizens, while Islamic leaders seek to supplant Western
Judeo-Christian beliefs with Islam.
Our objections to this assault were predictable and anticipated. The
equally predictable response from the Left is that we are “haters,”
“bigots,” “Islamophobes,” etc. So, they introduce the concept of
“dialogue” that allows us to redeem ourselves by partnering with them
“building bridges” of communication that they themselves first destroyed
and will now control. Those who participate then become “good”
Christians, while the rest of us are marginalized, whether Christian or
not.
Interfaith Dialogue is nothing more than a communist-contrived
influence operation that continues the Cultural Marxist attack on
Western Civilization. The American hard Left has partnered with Islam in
an unholy alliance we call the Red-Green Axis. Their mutual goal is the
subversion of Western laws, culture, and traditions, and our nation’s
ultimate destruction, in preparation for the imposition of totalitarian
rule.
Interfaith Dialogue is one element of the multifaceted strategy to
subvert, discredit, and shut down all opposition to that goal. It takes
the form of a disinformation campaign designed to enlist gullible and
largely ignorant Christians, Jews, and others to work against their own
interests while interjecting Islam as a religion worthy not merely of
respect, but submission to. Lefty “Christians” have fed right into it as
the latest cool fad. You know, . But now, evangelical Christians
have gotten into the act. They are in fact, Interfaith Dialogue’s prime
target. [42]
Does this mean that everyone involved is knowingly working on behalf
of our enemies? Of course not. Those involved in the Interfaith movement
run the gamut from extreme leftists and committed Muslim activists to
well-meaning citizens of every persuasion. The entire purpose of
recruiting mainline Christians, Jews, and now even evangelicals, is to
give the movement a patina of legitimacy it could not have otherwise. It
has the added benefit of putting its biggest target, Christianity, at
war with itself.
It is a dangerous, malevolent agenda. Unfortunately, we tend to give
the Left the benefit of the doubt. Because they have recruited
well-meaning people, we impute good motives to all of them, assuming
they are just naïve or ignorant. This is an understandable but dangerous
assumption and is exactly the reaction the enemy is looking for. It
allows us to congratulate ourselves on being fair-minded towards our
opponents while flattering ourselves to think we know better than them.
This self-serving rationalization allows us to deny their truly
malevolent intentions. We thus ignore or minimize the danger, and
rationalize doing nothing, because confronting them carries real risk.
We may publicly embarrass ourselves if not articulate or clever enough.
We also open ourselves up to being called, “Islamophobes,” “haters,”
“bigots,” etc. The Left deeply understands this aspect of human nature
and has used it to manipulate entire societies into death traps. We
ignore it at our peril.
Michigan’s Interfaith Community
The Interfaith Dialogue Movement is widespread in Michigan, with
dedicated organizations across the state. The following is a rundown on
some of them. Note, however, that examined closely, many are actually
small groups, with a Facebook page and/or only a rudimentary web
presence. As with most leftist organizations, they seek to magnify their
presence to gain public acceptance and discourage opponents. Virtually
all spout the meaningless dog whistles of the Left, like “peace,”
“justice,” “oppression,” “sustainability,” etc. This is true especially
of the Muslim groups, which deliberately co-opt the language of the Left
— more evidence of their willingness to at least pay lip-service to
leftwing dogma.
Council of Interfaith Communities of the United States (CIC-USA)
Ann Arbor-based CIC-USA describes itself as “the ecclesiastic home
for all interfaith, interspiritual and integral communities and
organizations creating ‘interfaith as a spiritual expression’ through
co-worship, education, service or community building activities.
Engaging in the practice of ‘Inclusive Theology, Spirituality and
Consciousness.’”[43] CIC-USA has a Facebook page with 393 followers and
a defunct website (www.interfaithcongregations.org).
Dearborn Area Interfaith Network (DIAN)
Formed in 2013 as Dearborn Area Faith Network, DIAN describes Its
mission as “Building Bridges for the sake of loving neighbors.” Its
internet presence is a Facebook site only, but its Facebook connections
are revealing. They include Michigan Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell,
the League of Women Voters, Take on Hate (described in the Red-Green chapter),
Chicago-based Interfaith Youth Core, and Michigan’s Remember Me Quilt project
(an anti-gun group).[44] The exclusively leftwing associations is more evidence
that Interfaith movement is just another facet of the Red-Green agenda.
Fetzer Institute (FI)
Named after its founder, John Fetzer, Kalamazoo-based FI describes its mission
as “inspiring and serving a movement for:
- Personal transformation: Encouraging spiritual development for all people.
- Societal transformation: Supporting inclusive communities and institutions
- around the world that are grounded in spirit.
- Scientific and spiritual inquiry: Exploring the relationship between
science and spirituality to support a fuller understanding of our
existence.[45]
Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice (ICPJ)
On its Aboutpage, Ann Arbor-based ICPJ claims it: “envisions
a world free from violence, including the violence of war, poverty,
oppression, and environmental devastation. To enact this vision, we
commit to nurture a community in which compassion and respect foster
actions that dismantle systems of violence while simultaneously creating
systems of peace, justice, and ecological sustainability.”[46]
ICPJ’s 2017 IRS Tax-Exempt filing lists one paid officer, Chuck
Warpehoski, who worked 26 hours/week on average and received $28,549 in
compensation. ICPJ 2017 revenues were $171,701, the highest in three
years.[47]
Muslim Unity Center (MUC)
Based in Bloomfield Hills, MUC is “where faith, family, and fun come
together.” Its mission statement announces, “The objective of MUC is to
develop, support and promote an Islamic way of life and to ensure the
emergence of an American Muslim identity.”[48]
Under its, Building Bridges with our Neighbors Program, the
MUC announces, “…the launch of Dual Interfaith Visitation Program that
will allow your community or congregation members to visit the MUC and
host MUC members. We humbly invite you for an opportunity to share
resources and improve our community.”[49]
MUC’s Building Bridges program includes such topics as:
- Interfaith Presentations
- Muslim Contributions to Civilization
- Islamophobia and Its Impact
- The Story of Mary In the Holy Quran
- Muslim Americans after 9/11
Note that while all Interfaith organizations understand that a major
part of their mission is to combat “Islamophobia,” this is one of the
few willing to openly admit it.
In its statement of principles, MUC declares in #8, “There is no
compulsion in religion as stated in the holy book Al-Qur’an. The role of
MUC is to remind people to the message of Almighty God, not to compel.”
Also, principle #10 states, “MUC honors the constitution of the United
States as the guiding legal principle of the nation and shall abide by
all the applicable laws of the land.”
These and other statements reinforce the idea that MUC has no agenda
other than “projecting and promoting Islam in an egalitarian and
enlightened manner.” Principle #1, however, states “The Source of MUC’s
goals and way of life are derived from the holy book Al-Qur’an and the
authentic traditions of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).” This and other
statements conflict with the assertion that they regard other religions
in an “egalitarian and enlightened manner.”
Islamic Organization of North America
The Islamic Organization of North America (IONA) is a Warren,
Michigan-based group. Its mission states that its “Divinely ordained
obligations are as follows: (1) the cultivation of a strong and
authentic faith; (2) the loving and sincere obedience to the will of
Allah (SWT); (3) calling all of humankind towards Islam in the most
beautiful and convincing way; and, (4) engaging in the struggle to
establish social, political, and economic justice.”[50]
There is no mistaking the agenda here. The first three points make
clear the Islamic belief in the supremacy of Islam and the intention to
convert the world. Other religions don’t even warrant mention. The
fourth point reflects the Islamic collaboration with the Left in its
strategy to parrot the Left’s social justice dog whistles.
Despite, or perhaps because of its open embrace of Islam as the only
solution, IONA is deeply involved in Michigan’s Interfaith movement.
IONA’s president is Imam Mustafa (Steve) Elturk. His affiliations
include the following:[51]
- Treasurer, Detroit Interfaith Leadership Council
- Executive Board, Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion
- Member, Religious Leaders Forum of the Abrahamic Faiths
- Executive Board, Interfaith Center for Racial Justice (ICRJ)
- Executive Board, American Society for Religious and Cultural
- Understanding (ASRCU).
Interestingly, Elturk describes ASRCU as a “dawah (propagation)
organization focuses on prisons and correctional facilities in
Michigan.” In other words, despite its harmless sounding title, ASRCU’s
mission is to cultivate Muslim converts in prisons.
ASRCU has either disappeared or exists in name only. Guidestar
records consist of a 2007 IRS Tax-Exempt Form 990 filing that lists
income for that year of $8,650.[52]The
form is signed by Steve Elturk, President. Guidestar lists the
principal officer as Mustafa Elturk. The address provided is a suburban
private residence, presumably Elturk’s, in Troy, Michigan. The founding
year is given as 1988, but according to Guidestar only two years, 2007
and 2008, list any financial assets.[53]
IONA is also affiliated with Michigan Interfaith Power and Light.
Michigan Interfaith Power and Light
Michigan’s Interfaith Power and Light, (MI IP&L) is a
well-funded national organization with 39 state chapters that beckons
the “faith community” into the whole global warming issue. MI IP&L’s
stated goal is to “inspire and equip people of faith to exercise
stewardship of and love for all Creation.”[54] In
this context that means saving the earth from global warming, which,
they claim, is the verdict of “the vast consensus of the scientific
community.” Except there is no consensus among the experts at all. Those
studies that claim there is have been thoroughly debunked.[55] MI IP&L’s
board includes William Antoun of IONA.[56]
This is yet another example of the Interfaith movement being assimilated
into every single agenda of the Red-Green Axis.
Interfaith Center for Racial Justice (ICRJ)
ICRJ is a Macomb County organization that claims its mission is to
“Initiate relationships and build bridges of understanding among people
of different races, cultures and faith traditions to create a strong
community while promoting social and racial justice.”[57]
As noted earlier, IONA’s Imam Elturk claims a seat on the ICRJ
executive board. Also affiliated with ICRJ are the League of Women
Voters and Welcoming Michigan – a subsidiary of the open-borders
advocates, Welcoming America. Like many such organizations, ICRJ is
likely a paper tiger. The website is defunct. The Facebook page has 141
followers. Its most recent post is from January 2017, and it still
advertises an event from 2015 at the top of its “Community” page.[58]
The 2015 advertisement, however, is a good example of how Red-Green
agendas intersect — in this case, Interfaith Dialogue and refugee
resettlement — and how they have sucked state and local officials and
groups into promoting them. It features a prominent photo of Elturk
along with an invitation to the “Breakfast of Nations: Diverse Past…
Shared Future.”
Hosted by the Italian American Culture Center in Clinton Township, it
features a list of Macomb County Democrat officials, a video speech by
then Republican State Rep. Anthony Forlini, and a panel of Macomb County
immigrants and refugees. The event was sponsored by One Macomb, (a
county government organization), Catholic Charities, Welcoming Michigan,
the local Chamber of Commerce and others — all with a vested interest
in promoting refugee resettlement. A similar event was advertised for
2014 as well, hosted by the same usual suspects. No other events are
listed.
Interfaith Leadership Council & Michigan Roundtable
Detroit’s Interfaith Leadership Council (ILC) was founded the day
after 9-11. According to its History page, Rev. Daniel Krichbaum
moderated monthly meetings.[59] Krichbaum
was then executive director of the National Conference for Community
Justice’s Detroit office. In 2006, that office became the Michigan
Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion. The Roundtable was actually an
evolution of a separate organization, starting in 1941 as the Detroit
Council of Catholics, Jews, and Protestants.[60] As shown in the chart,
the Roundtable is one of 16 state affiliates of the National Conference.
What all these organizations have in common is a complete lack of
religious references. They are all dedicated to combating “racism,”
“fear, and “intolerance,” and promoting “justice,” “inclusion,” and
“diversity” — all the dog whistles of the Left. Instead of recognizing
America as the country that has done more than any other to overcome
racial and ethnic conflict, this group claims to battle against
America’s “persistent racism,” and now the new word, “Nativism.”
In a letter published on the ILC website titled Countering Nativism, Chairman
Robert Bruttell states:
Nativism is essentially a fear of immigrants… 21st-century Nativists
are scapegoating immigrants and their religions – especially Muslims and
Hispanic peoples – for the anxieties they feel about the future of
America.
The truth is the opposite. Nativism, alongside America’s persistent racism,
tear at the soul of America… Studies consistently show that the net
contribution of immigrants is vast and positive. Sadly this information
is willfully ignored in favor of demagoguery and short-term political
gains. (Emphasis added.)[61]
Americans of all races and religions have been enormously tolerant
and welcoming to immigrant communities — an example to the world. Were
this not so, there would not be millions of people from the world over
clamoring to get here. For this tolerance, Americans have been rewarded
with the loss of tens of thousands of jobs, businesses, and lives.
America has always been a welcoming nation. But the reaction to vast
numbers of immigrants, legal and illegal, mostly from alien cultures
that use welfare at astronomical rates while undercutting American
workers, depressing wages and undermining the rule of law, is taking a
heavy toll. It is not nativism, for example, that drove a record number
of Blacks to the Republican Party in the last election. It is the
decades of destruction visited on Black communities by calamitous
Democrat economic and immigration policies.
And then they are talked down to by “religious” leaders, who, rather
than address the real issues, jump aboard the Hate America train to fix
our “persistent racism.” In so doing, the ILC and similar organizations
reveal their true agenda. They are merely another lobbying arm of the
open borders, hard Left. Just like “Welcoming America,” they don’t
actually cultivate a welcoming attitude among Americans; they instead
vilify anyone who expresses the concerns that rest on all of our tongues
and try to arm twist us into their politically correct view of the
world. There is nothing remotely “Biblical,” “religious,” or even
spiritual about this.
Shalom Center for Justice and Peace
The Lansing-based Shalom Center claims to provide “education,
activism and spiritual community concerning areas of social justice,
world peace, and peace within local towns and cities in the Lansing
District.” It seeks to “facilitate activism with the Social Principles
of the United Methodist Church and our Book of Discipline.”[62]The Shalom
Center partners with Michigan State’s Campus Interfaith Council.
Kaufman Interfaith Institute (KII)
Housed at Grand Valley State University (GVSU) in Grand Rapids, KII
was founded in 2006 following a triennial Jewish-Christian Dialogue that
had begun decades earlier in Muskegon by Sylvia Kaufman, a Jewish
community leader. KII declares its mission to be “To promote interfaith
understanding & mutual respect in West Michigan.”[63]
It hosts numerous events, the largest being its Jewish/Christian/Muslim Triennial
Interfaith Dialogue, held once every three years. The 2018 event will feature
Eboo Patel, an Islamic apologist who served on President Barack Obama’s Advisory
Council on Faith-Based Neighborhood Partnerships, and founder of Interfaith
Youth Core(IFYC), a wealthy Chicago-based organization described further on.
The kicker is that Patel’s IFYC provides funding for these events.[64]
The Triennial Dialogue will also feature Jennifer Howe Peace,Professor
of Interfaith Studies (yes there is such a thing), at Andover Newton, a
school affiliated with Yale Divinity, and Elliot Cosgrove, senior rabbi
at Park Avenue Synagogue in New York City.[65]
A major project of KII is Campus Interfaith Resources(CIR).
CIR seeks “to support and celebrate the religious, secular, and
spiritual diversity of our campus. Campus Interfaith Resources exists to
both accommodate the unique needs of various faith-based groups on
campus while also proactively appreciating the richness of our diversity
through educational and engaging programs.”[66]
CIR hosts annual training seminars for students who want to be
involved in organizing the interfaith crusade. These seminars are funded
through IFYC.
For example, GVSU’s Made in Michigan Interfaith Labis open
to religious and secular leaders of student organizations, faculty and
staff, and any students “who want to explore connections between
interfaith and social justice.”[67] The Orwellian “learning outcomes” include:
- Establish a basic knowledge of correct interfaith terms and usages…
- Explore effective dialogue facilitation skills, diverse religious and
- philosophical traditions, and shared values…
- Create a plan to bring interfaith leadership learned at the conference
- to campuses…
Interfaith Dialogue Association (IDA)
An affiliate of the Kaufman Institute at GVSU, IDA has “for almost 3
decades worked toward advancing knowledge, understanding, tolerance and
acceptance among the various world religions that have expression in
Michigan and beyond.”[68]
Michigan State University Campus Interfaith Council (CIC)
CIC appears to be a prominent organization on the campus of Michigan
State. It has a very slick website which states its mission “to promote
relationships between peoples of differing faiths, work to integrate a
religious aspect into student life, and encourage interfaith cooperation
and understanding.”[69]
CIC claims to be “the official voice to ASMSU about religious life on
campus.” CIC partners with the Shalom Center for Justice and Peace and
Michigan State’s Wesley Foundation, and also works with Interfaith Youth
Core, described below.
Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC)
IFYC is a Chicago-based organization founded in 2004 by Dr. Eboo
(Ebraham) Patel. According to its website, IFYC’s mission is “…creating
an ecosystem of people and campuses designed to make interfaith
cooperation the norm, while creating the next generation of interfaith
leaders.”[70]
IFYC has created administrator, faculty, alumni and student networks,
and underwrites undergraduate courses that incorporate interfaith
concepts, as well as annual conferences, training seminars for students
and other activities at colleges and universities across the U.S.[71]
IFYC can afford it. It listed $16.9 million in assets and revenues of $6.6
million as of 2016.[72] According to Foundation Search, a subscription
service which compiles donation data from grantor foundations, IFYC
received at least $26.3 million since 2003 from a broad variety of Chicago-
based and national foundations. This includes Rockefeller, the Woods Fund
(Obama’s old employer), the Pritzker Foundation (Chicago billionaire Penny Pritzker
was Obama’s national campaign chairman and Commerce secretary), The
Clinton Family Foundation ($35,000), and many others.
The Henry Luce Foundation donated $358,500 over five years. Henry
must be spinning in his grave. The strong conservative, anti-communist
Republican once owned Time, Life, Fortune, Sports Illustrated, and other
magazines and declared the 20th Century to be “the American Century.”
Soviet spy-turned anti-communist informant Whittaker Chambers became a
Time Magazine senior editor under Luce’s reign. Like so many other
foundations created by wealthy philanthropists for truly charitable
causes, the Luce Foundation appears to have been captured by the extreme
Left.
The largest donor was the Einhorn Family Charitable Trust, created by
liberal Greenlight Capital hedge fund billionaire, David Einhorn. It
contributed $11.9 million over eight years. The Trust’s five-word
mission statement is “Helping people get along better.”[73]
IFYC has taken a prominent role in bringing the Interfaith Dialogue
to Michigan. IFYC founder Eboo Patel is a Muslim and former Rhodes
Scholar, with a PhD in the sociology of religion from Oxford University,
who also served on President Obama’s Inaugural Faith Council.[74]The
well-heeled leftist foundation infrastructure makes sure that its
agendas are richly rewarding for those willing to facilitate them. For
his part, Dr. Patel received $269,441 in 2016 as IFYC president — doing
well by doing good.[75]
Order of Universal Interfaith (OUnI) & World Council of Interfaith
Congregations (WCIC)
Founded in 2009, the World Council of Interfaith Congregations is
co-located with the Order of Universal Interfaith at the same Ann Arbor
address. Together they are dedicated to “organizing the world interfaith
community…”[76]
OUnI describes itself as “a religious society that was incorporated
in Michigan to gather together the leaders of the Interfaith movement
into one ecclesiastic body. It is meant to be a living example of how
people from different backgrounds, cultures and religious traditions can
live, work and create a spiritual community together.”[77]
OUni’s leadership reflects the drift from traditional Christian
principles, or indeed principles identified with any religion at all.
For example, Rev. David Mitchell, one of three OUnI leaders, is an
ordained “Eco-Minister,” and “a frequent speaker on the relationship of
spiritual knowledge and issues like global sustainability, climate
change, climate engineering, and cultural attitudes.”[78] He
is also President of Divine Mission, described as “an organization that
provides instruction on the Yoga of the Bhagavad Gita and on yogic
techniques with ashrams in Silver City, Nevada and Tiruvannamalai,
India.”[79]
OUnI has received chaplaincy endorsements from the Department of
Defense, International Conference of Police Chaplains, Association of
Professional Chaplains and many others. In addition to traditional
ministries, OUnI works with the United Nations Committee for
Spirituality, Values and Global Concerns, the U.N. Eco-Spirituality
Working Group and the U.N. Interfaith Harmony Week Breakfasts.[80]
Interfaith Dialogue’s Corroding Influence in Western Michigan
Western Michigan is unique in its heritage of faithful, seasoned
Christianity, imported directly from Europe in the 19th century. In the
1840s, family-oriented, faith-based, Reformed Dutch immigrants arrived
in West Michigan from their homeland. The areas surrounding Grand Rapids
and Holland still bear the mark of their settlement, permeated by
churches, Christian colleges and seminaries, publishing houses, and so
forth. This area thus presents an apt example of how recent cultural
changes have both allowed and reflect the Interfaith Dialogue’s
influence.
In 2013, the Fremont, Michigan local newspaper published an article titled
“Fremont library to host ‘Muslim Journeys’ series.”[81] The
library had received a $4,500 federal grant from the National Endowment
for the Humanities (NEH), a federal agency, and the American Library
Association (ALA) to host a five-part reading and discussion series
titled “Let’s Talk About it. Muslim Journeys.” According to the ALA:
Between 2011 and 2015, NEH and ALA collaborated on the Muslim
Journeys initiative, hosting two planning meetings, six pilot programs, a
collection development grant for 1,000 libraries and state humanities
councils, a scholar-led reading and discussion grant for 125 libraries
and state humanities councils, two national orientation workshops for
grant project directors and local scholars, and a third-party evaluation
of the project.[82]
Nationwide 953 libraries and state humanities councils have received Muslim
Journeys Bookshelfgrants,[83]and 125 libraries and councils have received
grants for Let’s Talk About It(LTAI).[84] The
Bookshelf program provided books, films essays and other teaching
materials. Participating libraries were required to hold at least one
public forum over the program year.
Bookshelf grantees could apply for the LTAI, which offered up to
$4,500 for speakers, programming and other resources with a mandate to
“educate” communities about Islam.[85] The Muslim Journeys program was
created by the Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studiesat George Mason
University, with support provided by ALA, the NEH and private foundations.[86]
In Michigan alone, 49 Bookshelfgrants and 10 LTAIgrants were given to the
following libraries and councils. Note: the starred organizations** received both:
Allen Park Public Library |
Allen Park |
Michigan Humanities Council** |
Lansing |
Ferris State University |
Big Rapids |
Lincoln Park Public Library |
Lincoln Park |
Canton Public Library |
Canton |
Peter White Public Library** |
Marquette |
Branch District Library |
Coldwater |
Melvindale Public Library |
Melvindale |
Dearborn Public Library** |
Dearborn |
Monroe County Community College** |
Monroe |
Bryant Branch |
Dearborn |
Stair Public Library** |
Morenci |
Esper Branch |
Dearborn |
Capital Area District Library-Okemos |
Okemos |
Caroline Kennedy Library |
Dearborn Hts |
North Central Michigan College** |
Petoskey |
John F. Kennedy, Jr. Public Library |
Dearborn Hts |
Pickford Community Library |
Pickford |
Wayne State U. Library System |
Detroit |
River Rouge Public Library |
River Rouge |
East Lansing Public library |
East Lansing |
Rochester Hills Public Library |
Rochester |
Michigan State U. Libraries** |
East Lansing |
Rochester College |
Rochester Hills |
Ecorse Public Library |
Ecorse |
Hoyt Library |
Saginaw |
Mott Community College |
Flint |
Taylor Community Library |
Taylor |
Fremont Area District Library** |
Fremont |
Trenton Veterans Memorial Library |
Trenton |
Loutit District Library |
Grand Haven |
Delta College |
University Center |
Davenport University |
Grand Rapids |
Saginaw Valley State University** |
University Center |
Grand Rapids Community College |
Grand Rapids |
Macomb Community College** |
Warren |
Cromaine District Library |
Hartland |
Waterford Township Public Library |
Waterford |
Cromaine District Library |
Hartland |
Westland Public Library |
Westland |
Hastings Public Library |
Hastings |
Wayne County Library |
Westland |
Cromaine Crossroads Branch |
Howell |
White Lake Township Library |
White Lake |
Howell Carnegie District Library |
Howell |
Eastern Michigan University |
Ypsilanti |
Orion Township Public Library |
Lake Orion |
Ypsilanti District Library |
Ypsilanti |
Capital Area District Library |
Lansing |
|
|
The Muslim Journeys website credits Interfaith Youth Core’s Eboo
Patel with “leading a global interfaith movement.” Patel’s IFYC website
is promoted and his book, Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim,
the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation, is one of the volumes featured
in the Muslim Journeys Bookshelf.[87]
Muslim Journeys is a form of “dawah,” that is, the proselytizing or
preaching of Islam. By promoting Islam in a highly controlled fashion,
this program appears to have advanced that agenda. The NEH slides past
Establishment Clause objections by casting this as part of a “Bridging
Cultures” initiative that “encourages study and informed conversation
about commonalities across cultures and subcultures, both within the
United States and abroad…”[88]
The program listed initial goals to be:
- an exploration of the role of civility in bridging differences and sustaining
- democracy in America, and
- a parallel effort to enrich in Americans’ understanding of international
- perspectives, beginning with the Muslim world.
NEH claims, “As the initiative develops, NEH expects to take up
related themes and encourage the study of other parts of the world, with
a focus on the potential of the humanities to deepen understanding of
intellectual and cultural traditions.”[89]
It is not clear, however, how far NEH got past its Muslim Journeys
program. Under the “Bridging Cultures Through Film” program, NEH did
report one film production, “1913: Seeds of Conflict… a film that
incorporates new scholarship about the earliest origins of the modern
Mideast conflict.”[90] Its
“Bridging Cultures at Community Colleges Project,” created a grant
program for 36 community college faculty and administrators in five
states to study “Native Americans in the Midwest.”[91] Current
and past projects include 7 focused on Islam, 6 on Christianity, 4 on
Judaism, 6 on other faiths, and numerous studies on interactions between
Christianity, Judaism and Islam.[92] But the most ambitious program
appears to have been Muslim Journeys.
Two important Muslim Journeys contributors
were Arsalan Iftikar and Susan L. Douglass. Iftikar was Senior Fellow
and Douglass was Senior Research Assistant at George Mason University’s
Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies, which developed the
program, as noted earlier.[93]
Iftikar was National Legal Director of the Muslim Brotherhood front
group, CAIR, until mid-2007 when he abruptly left, and disassociated
himself with CAIR altogether. That summer, CAIR was identified as a
co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terrorist financing trial.[94]
Like many CAIR operatives, Iftikar refuses to condemn Hamas and Hezbollah
as terrorist groups.[95]
Iftikar is very well known. He created The Muslim Guywebsite and
publishes columns in major outlets like CNN, USA Today and others. In
2016 he published a book titled, Scapegoats: How Islamophobia Helps
Our Enemies and Threatens Our Freedoms.[96] He
is currently Senior Research Fellow at Georgetown University’s Prince
Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (ACMCU),
where he participates in its Bridge Initiative, which focuses entirely
on “Islamophobia.”[97]
Susan
Douglass is an American Muslim convert. She taught social studies at
the Islamic Saudi Academy in Alexandria, Virginia, along with her
husband, Usama Amer, earlier in her career.[98]The
school, a strict, anti-Western adherent to Wahhabism, has faced intense
scrutiny for its textbooks that condemn Jews and Christians as infidels
and enemies of Islam.
For ten years Douglass was an Affiliated Scholar with the Council on
Islamic Education. In that capacity she reviewed textbooks, state
curricula and standards, and developed instructional resources.[99]This
work is credited with soft-peddling Islam into public school curricula across
the country, especially through her Teacher’s Guide to Religion in the Public
Schools, which has been characterized as “an interfaith ‘First Amendment’
plan.”[100]
At GMU’s Ali Vural Ak Center, Douglass wasMuslim Journeysgrant manager.
[101]She gained a PhD from George Mason in 2016. Presently she again
works alongside Iftikar as an education consultant at Georgetown University’s
ACMCU.
Bill Johnson is a former public school teacher and founder of the
Michigan-based American Decency Association. Desiring to get a sense of
what kinds of material the local libraries would be getting, he perused a
movie entitled Koran by Heart.[102] He
described that in the movie, a young boy asked his father why he had to
memorize the Koran. The father answered that Islam is a religion of
peace; that the Koran is a vehicle of peace. The country where the boy
and his father live is a breeding ground for terrorism, not a land of
peace. The movie is a propaganda piece crafted to give an impression of
beauty and grace when instead it is an opening salvo of dawah.[103]
The Muslim Journeys program was brought into the community
by Ray Arnett, a conservative Christian and head deacon at a local
Baptist Church, who was also, until recently, the head librarian of the
Fremont District Library. According to Johnson, the library featured Muslim
Journeys throughout most of the year until the program was completed.
Johnson sent Arnett a letter, met with him at the library for 40
minutes and gave him a copy of the Center for Security Policy’s book,
Shariah: The Threat to America.[104] Johnson
went through key pages of the book, highlighting doctrines of the Koran
and how it conflicts with the U.S. Constitution and the Bible. Despite
his conservative Christian credentials, Arnett was hostile throughout
the conversation. Johnson stated, “I have met with state legislators and
pornography dealers who were more diplomatic than this individual.”[105]
The news was not all bad. A local township, the Dayton Town Board,
wrote a letter protesting the library’s decision to host Muslim
Journeys. It stated in part:[106]
Dayton Township has been proud of the performance of the Fremont Area
District Library and the positive impact it has had on the community.
Extremely troubling, however, is the upcoming presentation of the Muslim
Journeys Programs…
The 9/11 Commission Report clearly stated that Islam had declared war
on the United States, which they consider the Great Satan. The method
of achieving “submission” can be overt, as was demonstrated recently at
the Boston Marathon, or covert, as demonstrated by programs as Muslim
Journeys.
The Council for American-Islamic Relations had a hand in the
development of the enlightenment program you are presenting. This
organization (CAIR) was referred to as a terrorist group by the U.S.
Justice Department in the landmark Holy Land Foundation Trial in the
U.S. District Court in Dallas and was named an unindicted co-conspirator
in that trial.[107]
Our hope as an elected board is that the Fremont Library will pursue
and present programs that offer a more holistic and truthful description
of the legal, economic, and theological system encompassed by Islam…
Taqiyya and Interfaith Dialogue
At the core of Interfaith dialogue is the concept of Taqiyya, a term for
lying or deception for the sake of Islam. Quoting from Shariah the
Threat to America:
Taqiyya is a concept in Islamic law that translates as “deceit or
dissimulation,” particularly towards infidels. It is based on Quran 3:28
and 16:106 as well as hadiths, tafsirliterature, and judicial
commentaries that permit and encourage precautionary dissimulation as a
means for hiding true faith in times of persecution or deception when
penetrating the enemy camp…
[I]t is imperative that those whose duty is to protect the United
States from shariah grasp the centrality of taqiyya in the arsenal of
its adherents. This is critical because the consequences of taqiyya
extend to real-world issues related, for example, to Muslim overtures
for interfaith dialogue, peace, and mutual tolerance – all of which must
be viewed in the light of Islamic doctrine on lying…
American officials charged with national and homeland security have a
duty to understand that which is within the sphere of their
professional competence. For anyone with such responsibilities,
knowledge of these attributes of shariah is a requirement.[108]
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has been another instrument to open the
door to shariah in Michigan. Snyder and his staff have been deceived by
Taqiyya. In 2014, the American Decency Association encouraged citizens
to call and express concern that Governor Snyder had plans to address
the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). According to Bill Johnson,
Snyder staff told them that they had investigated the organization, that
it had no ties to terrorists and that ISNA is the largest peaceful
Islamic organization in the country.[109]
Readers familiar with the Holy Land Foundation trial will recognize
ISNA as a Muslim Brotherhood organization and an unindicted
co-conspirator in the largest terrorist finance case in American
history.[110]
As Muslims speak of using Interfaith Dialogue to promote “peace,”
it’s imperative that Christians understand the Islamic meaning of
“peace.” Sayyid Qutb, one of the Muslim Brotherhood’s most important
leaders, said:
When Islam strives for peace, its objective is not that superficial
peace which requires that only that part of the earth where the
followers of Islam are residing remain secure. The peace which Islam
desires is that the religion (i.e., the Law of the society) be
purified for God, that the obedience of all people be for God alone, and
that some people should not be lords over others. After the period of
the Prophet — peace be on him — only the final stages of the movement of
Jihad are to be followed; the initial or middle stages are not
applicable.[111]
Muslims are torturing, raping, and killing Christians around the
world, while Christians in America are trying to tell the world how
peaceful they are. How can brothers and sisters in Christ—pulpit and pew
alike—have so little regard for the plight of the 2.5 million
persecuted Christians around the world? Indeed, the apostle Paul exhorts
Christians to remember the persecuted as though they were bound with
them. Instead, too many pulpits are more concerned with telling
Christians that Muslims don’t really believe what they say they believe.
Calvin College was once a trusted conservative Christian institution
of higher learning. However, as with many Christian colleges, Calvin has
lost its anchors and drifted leftward. With that change has come all
the various ill-informed, leftwing-biased programs that are a common
feature of academia today. One good example was a December 2015
Calvin-sponsored program on Islam titled ISIS, Terrorism & Refugees:
A Teach In. The program featured five Calvin faculty members speaking
on the subjects below:[112]
Doug Howard (History) — ISIS and Politics in the Middle East
Bert De Vries (History/Archaeology) — The Refugee Crisis in the Middle East
Jason VanHorn (Geography) — The Geographical Dimensions of Terrorism
Joel Westra (Political Science) — The Strategy of Terrorism
Frans van Liere (History/Medieval Studies) — Is Islam a Violent Religion?
Each gave a short presentation followed by a Q&A session and the
program concluded with a panel discussion. It was a timely event that
had the potential of dealing with topics of great import and societal
impact — especially considering that the terrorist attack in San
Bernardino, California, which took 14 lives and seriously injured 22,
occurred just one day earlier.[113]
Bill Johnson attended the event. He said that the San Bernardino
terrorist attack was never brought up by any of the professors except
when he raised it during the Q&A. According to Johnson, “In a
150-minute time frame, there was no mention of border control, vetting
of refugees, illegal immigration, civilization jihad, taqiyya, shariah
law, the caliphate, honor killing, etc.”[114]
Johnson recounted the experience in ADA’s monthly newsletter, picking
out a couple of memorable exchanges:
The philosophy/worldview communicated by Professor de Vries could be
best encapsulated by an emotional slide show that he had created for his
students from a visit to Syria. That slideshow was his strongest
pro-refugee argument — no discussion regarding vetting, cautions, or
issues surrounding potential dangers at all.
The final presenter, Frans Van Liere, was also the moderator. The
title of his presentation was, “Is Islam a Violent Religion?” Professor
Van Liere stated right from the top that he wasn’t a Koranic scholar,
knew no Arabic and was not a specialist on the subject of Islam. What he
had to share, he said, were personal observations and also his
interactions with students on the subject.
Quoting Professor Van Liere: “You cannot just compare violent
episodes in the history of Islam with peaceful periods in the history of
Christianity. That makes about as much sense as taking Jihadi John as a
representative of Islam and Mother Teresa as the representative of
Christianity. It’s no comparison. Yet, this rhetorical technique, he
opined, is often applied by Christians in the discussion about Islam and
violence. As he stated: All the places where the Bible preaches peace
then are juxtaposed to all the places where the Koran seems to condone
violence. That will simply not do. “Because you can just find lots of
places where the Bible condones violence and where the Koran preaches
peace. This kind of proof-texting only proves that both religions have
their origins in ancient culture where warfare and feuding were endemic.”
One female questioner from the audience was given the opportunity to
ask the last question of the evening, which left the panel stumbling for
an answer and debunked the academic tone of the evening.
“So, my heart is with the Christian communities in the Middle
East and North Africa who have been decimated with a concerted,
intentional systematic effort to religiously cleanse Christians in the
Middle East whether it’s from Boko Haram in Nigeria and Jajui in Sudan
[sic]. But I hear unless I’m not listening fully – an apologist for this
Islamic wave of mass murder which has touched every continent and
nearly every common country. My question is, Christians who live as
neighbors with their Muslim friends and neighbors in these countries in
the Middle East with identical living circumstances, under the same
weather/agricultural circumstances, and political and economic
situations — do not engage in systematic campaigns of terror. What’s the
difference?”
At several junctures, I raised concerns that the teach-in was so
heavily one-sided in perspective making it dangerous for the young
college students who were being slowly but surely indoctrinated to see
the Koran as nonviolent, on the same level as the Bible.[115]
One month later, Calvin College hosted another event, this time featuring
the ubiquitous Eboo Patel of the Interfaith Youth Core. His topic was
Interfaith Leadership: Engaging Religious and Philosophical Diversity in the
21stCentury. The event was underwritten by the Christian Reformed Church
in North America.[116]
In West Michigan, Grand Valley State University’s Kaufman Interfaith
Institute is spreading the same message as Eboo Patel. Kaufman has a
nice publicity arm, which includes the Grand Rapids Press.
Almost weekly the newspaper has an article in its Religion section
featuring Interfaith Dialogue propaganda. That section also appears in
many of their affiliated newspapers in the MLive group, the parent
company of many Michigan newspapers,[117] and the Institute holds
regular interfaith events.
One example of these took place in 2013 at Saginaw Valley State
University where senior Islamic scholar Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf was to
speak. Rauf gained infamy as the Imam for the proposed “Ground Zero”
Mosque, that was to be built near the site of the Sept. 11, 2001 attack
in New York City. Here, again, Rauf demonstrates how cannily so-called
‘moderate Muslims’ like himself can insert Islamic propaganda points
into dialogue that the uninformed often find persuasive. This is how
Johnson described the event:
Rauf stated that Islamic shariah law is consistent with the U.S.
Constitution. This high-powered figure greases the skids for the
incremental but sure acceptance of shariah. All of this is part of what
is referred to as Civilization Jihad. In other words, efforts by
radical Islamists [sic] to attack America, our freedoms, and ideals,
from within – seeking to indoctrinate and disarm via smooth talk and
deception.
At the meeting in Saginaw, I raised the question: “You say that
shariah is consistent with the U.S. Constitution and yet under shariah
if a Jew, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, secularist does not convert to
Islam, they can be beheaded. How does that make shariah consistent with
the Constitution?”
Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf spent 25 minutes negating the question stating
things such as “there will always be those few militants. However, that
doesn’t represent the millions of moderate Muslims who love America and
her freedoms.” He spoke of the uniqueness of America and how there is
no other nation like it.[118]
It will be noted how Rauf cleverly inserts expressions of ostensible
American patriotism into what is, in fact, intended to be a whitewash of
Islam and Muslims generally. Rauf, of course, is the 2004 founder of
The Cordoba Initiative, “a multi-national, multi-faith organization
dedicated to improving Muslim-West relations.”[119] Unfortunately
for the uninformed, “Cordoba” was the seat of the Cordoba Caliphate for
more than 100 years (929-1031) during a time when Muslim invaders ruled
the Christian Iberian Peninsula. The naming of Rauf’s Initiative is no
coincidence. Furthermore, Rauf is the author of “Defining Islamic
Statehood,” a 2015 book that defines the ideal Islamic State.[120]
As we can see, countering shariah, unfortunately, is not on the
agenda for those Islamic organizations fronting the Red-Green Axis. This
is a subversive agenda, facilitated by the Left, at colleges,
universities, and in churches. Many in Christian circles are walking
down that road with eyes wide shut and their brains or discernment shut
off. They see taqiyya as truth and civilization jihad as their civilized
duty. It is perhaps worthwhile here to expound on what Civilization
Jihad (also called stealth Jihad) means:
According to shariah, this “pre-violent” form of jihad is considered
an integral, even dominant element of jihad that is at least as
obligatory for shariah’s adherents as the violent kind. Dawa, the call
to Islam that by Islamic law must precede jihad, is all-too-often
dismissed – as are its manifestations under the rubric of non-violent
jihad – simply because this kind of assault does not kill but intends
“merely” to subjugate. Absent an appreciation of the threat posed by
stealth jihad, the pre-violent jihadist is free to proceed unimpeded
under the radar in Western societies, infiltrating and subverting along
lines specifically tailored to today’s liberal, multicultural-minded
non-Muslim populations in ways that are genuinely difficult to
recognize, oppose or counter.[121]
Following is a more recent glimpse into the nefarious and ongoing
efforts of Interfaith Dialogue influencers via the Kauffman Interfaith
Institute. Snaring the minds of our college-age students and adults is
not enough; now they want to actively pursue our children too. In an
April 2018 column that appeared in the Grand Rapids Press, Kauffman
Institute’s Kyle Kooyers writes:
Kaufman Institute, in partnership with Kent Career Tech Center, is
launching a Youth Interfaith Service Day Camp in Grand Rapids for
students (8th to 11th grade), led by interfaith counselors/facilitators.
The group will spend four days engaging with local centers of worship
and service organizations building new friendships, learning about other
worldviews and cultures, and serving alongside people who are doing
incredible work in our community. The hope is that, out of this week, we
will form a Youth Interfaith Council so that middle and high School
voices also have a place at the interfaith table as Kaufman looks to the
future!
We believe that middle and high school students are the next
generation of interfaith leaders who offer the world a rich perspective
and energy. They have a longing to lead in the work of dismantling bias,
fear, and hate in order that our schools and communities may become
places where everyone is valued, respected, and loved.[122]
Conclusion
The Interfaith Dialogue movement is an influence operation being
carried out by agents of the Red-Green Axis with knowing and/or innocent
complicity of media, faith leaders, academics, NGOs, and government
agencies. Michigan’s secondary schools and institutes of higher
learning, as well as its churches and synagogues, are being assaulted
with a well-funded, omnipresent effort to indoctrinate traditional
America into accepting the alien, counter-Constitutional doctrines of
shariah.
Political correctness mutes anyone who would speak out against any
aspect of this assault because to do so invites slanderous accusations
of bigotry. Instead of responding to legitimate questions and concerns,
influencers invite Christians and Jews to “build bridges” with Islam
through the means of interfaith dialogue. The clear implication is that
“building bridges” is a positive, compassionate move, that distinguishes
one from those reactionary “Islamophobes”. As we have seen, however,
and as the Brotherhood’s Sayyid Qutb has made clear, those “bridges” are
never meant to allow the free exchange of belief, opinion, and thought,
but only to disarm the unwary non-Muslim sufficiently to allow the
advance of Islamic doctrine, law, and scripture.
That is the context of the threat to Michigan, and by extension, much
of the United States: a society founded on Judeo-Christian principles,
whose core values have been reduced to “be nice,” finds its traditions
and culture under constant attack. This has opened the door for
“Interfaith Dialogue” to create a vacuum of purpose and meaning in
Christian and Jewish beliefs. And as the saying goes, “If you don’t
believe in something, you’ll fall for anything.”