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Tea Party Protests Muslim Event: Hate Caught on Video
Independent Accreditation For Private Schools (HF 167) Survives Funnel Week in Iowa House
Jim Wallis and the What Would Jesus Cut Campaign

Tea Party Protests Muslim Event: Hate Caught on Video

Posted: 05 Mar 2011 07:15 PM PST

On February 13th the Islamic Circle of North America Relief held a fundraising banquet at the Yorba Linda Community Center. The event was entitled “Our Responsibility Towards Our Neighbors“, and the proceeds were to go to ICNA Relief projects including disaster response and relief, women’s housing, hunger prevention, family counseling, medical aid, emergency financial support, and funeral and burial assistance.

A tea party/Glenn Beck 912 group called “We Surround Them” organized to protest the event. The protest was also attended by several members of elected office, both at the local level and Congressmen (all Republican). One of the elected officials went so far as to imply threats against the lives of the families within the fundraiser, stating “"I know quite a few Marines who would be very happy to help these terrorists (i.e. organizers and attendees) to an early meeting in paradise” The following is a video of what took place:

As you can see, Muslim families, including women and small children arrived to find the crowd yelling hateful slurs and swearing. One mother described her child as terrified, saying

“My daughter was so frightened that she just didn’t say anything. She was really terrified because she did realize that these people were against us. As soon as we got out of the car, people started taking pictures and started shouting, there was so much noise,” she says. “My 2-and-a-half-year-old boy who was sleeping got up and started crying.”

This “We Surround Them” group is not much different than the Fred Phelp’s Westboro Baptist group, who protest military funerals. Fred Phelp’s group goes around the country saying very inflammatory things in an attempt to have their rights violated in some way, so that they can bring forward a lawsuit and make money. This “We Surround Them” group also use inflammatory language, not in an attempt to make money, but to induce a physical reaction by Muslim men, which they can use as “evidence” for their claim that they are not living here with peaceful intentions.

I am a pretty peaceful man, but I can say, I’m not sure I would have had the same level of self restraint shown by the men attending the event if similar things had been shouted at my wife and kids. It would be pretty understanding, even expected, if these events erupted into fistfights, but again, that is part of the reason the protesters are there, to stir the pot.

Not only was the response by the Muslim families civil during the protest, it remained so afterwards. Waqas Syed is a long time resident of Orange County and the current Deputy Secretary General of ICNA, released a statement located on the ICNA website:

What's most disturbing is not the protest itself or the ignorance expressed; in fact we at ICNA fully affirm the right of protesters to free speech. What should be of real concern to Orange County residents is the lack of civility displayed on their own front lawns.

To protesters, I remind you that prejudice and fear mongering will simply incite hatred. It is only through civil dialogue that we will be able to create an atmosphere of mutual understanding and peace. We must leave bigotry behind and work toward an Orange County that promotes cooperation, collaboration and respect for one another and ultimately upholds the American values of inclusion and fair treatment. The future of our nation depends on these principles, as our children will belong to a more diverse and multicultural society than our own. They will need to learn respect and tolerance to coexist with their fellow Americans, and the responsibility to teach them lies with us; what will remain of these honorable traits if they are already in such short supply?

As an American and a follower of Jesus, of Isa al Mesih, I apologize to those Muslims who attended the event and to anyone who has been offended by the events that took place there. The actions of those individuals was abhorrent. I love living in a country where we have the freedom of speech, and look forward to a time where more people stop and reconsider before filth streams from their lips in an attempt to hurt others. I’m sorry.

I will end by quoting from the injeel, the gospel of Matthew (5:9): “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” May we seek to be the peacemakers that Jesus teaches us to be.

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Independent Accreditation For Private Schools (HF 167) Survives Funnel Week in Iowa House

Posted: 05 Mar 2011 05:30 PM PST

Des Moines, IA – American Principles in Action would like to thank Representatives Cecil Dolecheck (R-Mount Ayr), Jason Schultz (R-Schleswig), and Greg Forristall (R- Macedonia) for their efforts to move the Independent Accreditation bill (HF 167) out of the House Education Committee this week. Its passage from the full House Education committee means it is eligible for debate on the House floor after making it through the Legislature’s first self-imposed deadline of March 4 to get bills through committee.

Iowa is one of only a handful of states that offers accreditation for private schools. Accreditation by the state is required for private schools to participate in any programs, appropriations, or regulations that would help level the playing field for private schools and make a high-quality private education available to all Iowa parents. This worked only when the State treaded lightly with private schools, and respected in particular the mission and role of a private religious education in Iowa. Recently the General Assembly has engaged in social issues that has impacted educational policy toward state accredited private schools. So we believe bill is critical to ensure Iowa’s private schools are able to maintain a rigorous level of academic accountability and it also ensures Iowa’s private schools are able to partner with parents in the best way that meets the needs and requirements of their children and their faith.

We'll be working with other coalition partners such as the Iowa Association of Christian Schools to ensure that private schools secure the option to obtain accreditation from regional or national accrediting bodies that better understand and respect the role and mission of our schools while maintaining their status as "accredited" schools under the law.

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Jim Wallis and the What Would Jesus Cut Campaign

Posted: 05 Mar 2011 10:45 AM PST

Jim Wallis and the evangelical left group Sojourners have started a "What Would Jesus Cut" Campaign. Wallis complaining about the proposed budget cuts that Republicans planned to make wrote at HuffPo:

It used to be very popular for Christians to ask, "What Would Jesus Do?" They even wore bracelets with the initials "WWJD." The bracelets acted as reminders that as Christians, our actions should always reflect the values and example we see in the life of Jesus. Already, in a first wave of response to the proposed cuts, thousands of Christians told their members of Congress that they need to ask themselves, "What Would Jesus Cut?" They believe, and so do I, that the moral test of any society is how it treats its poorest and most vulnerable citizens. And that is exactly what the Bible says, over and over again.

I believe that vaccines that save children’s lives; bed nets that protect them from malaria; and food that keeps their families from starving are more important to Jesus than tax cuts for the rich; bigger subsidies for corporations; and more weapons in a world already filled with conflict. I also believe that tested and effective domestic programs that clearly help to lift people out of poverty are more reflective of the compassion of Christ than tax and spending policies that make the super-rich even richer. And I don’t believe, as the Republicans keep saying, that the best way to help everybody is to keep helping the super-rich. That’s not smart economics and, as we say in the evangelical community, it’s not biblical. So many of us in the faith community are ready to make a moral argument against the proposed budget cuts to our members of Congress, especially to those who claim to be people of faith.

Wallis often wrongly applies Old Testament and New Testament passages to the State when God has been speaking to individuals. Hunter Baker gave an excellent response that reflects my own thinking so I want to share some excerpts here.

Applying the Bible to economic policy shouldn't be made to sound like it is a black and white proposition and that there is one Christian position. Hunter wrote:

Jim Wallis and a number of other Christians involved in politics are trying to gain attention for the question, "What would Jesus cut?" The answer to this question is supposed to be as obvious as it is in other moral contexts. For example, would Jesus lie about the useful life of a refrigerator he was selling for Best Buy? No way. Would he bully a kid into giving away his lunch money? Not a chance. Would you find him taking in the show at a strip club on interstate 40 in Arkansas? Unlikely to the extreme.

Would he agree to a 2% cut in the marginal tax rate for income made above $250,000? Would he EVER accept a cut in welfare spending? Those take a little more thought.

Wallis seems to overlook that the Biblical role of civil government is defense and punishing wrongdoing (Romans 13:1-4). Hunter also points out:

…he (Wallis) complains that some Republicans want to cut domestic spending and international aid, while they support an increase in military spending. The implication is that this is obviously a sub-Christian position. But is it? Probably the most essential purpose of government is to protect the life and freedom of citizens. The government achieves this goal through military means. Unless one takes the position that Christianity implies corporate pacificism, then it is unclear the Republicans have blundered according to Christian ethics.

Wallis claims that by cutting defense we'll be able to balance the budget, but that simply is not true. There have already been cuts made to defense spending, but the chart below demonstrates an increase in entitlement spending:

Yet Wallis has continuously been against any type of cuts or reform of entitlement spending.

Regarding taxes, Hunter responds…

Wallis complains bitterly that tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans add billions to the deficit. He is referring to the extension of George W. Bush's cuts in the marginal tax rates that existed under Bill Clinton. The first question I have is how does Jim Wallis know that the level of taxation was just to begin with? And why take Bill Clinton's tax levels as the Platonic form of taxation? Maybe they were too high or too low. The highest marginal tax rates have fluctuated drastically in the United States during the last century. John F. Kennedy made a big cut, with impressive economic effects, as did Ronald Reagan. Is Wallis sure that by cutting taxes those men robbed the poor and gave to the rich? Maybe a lot of poor people got jobs because of them. And we aren't even getting into the question of whether rich people actually have an enhanced duty to pay taxes. If there is a community need, is it righteous to grab a rich person and employ the power of legal coercion to extract the needed funds?

We already have a progressive tax rate, so apparently in Wallis' view it needs to be more progressive. I'm concerned by the redistributionist desires of the left as some believe that the wealthy's money is a national resource and it belongs to the people. That's state sanctioned theft.

I do have an answer to the question, "What would Jesus cut?" that I would hope Jim Wallis and I could agree on… how about Planned Parenthood funding? Perhaps George Soros' funding of Jim Wallis and Sojourners prevents him finding agreement with me here as well.

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duminică, 6 martie 2011

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