Monday, May 18, 2015
From: Gary L. Bauer
Defend Our Values
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Obama Attacks Christian Charity
Last week, I criticized comments that President Obama made during a panel discussion at Georgetown University about how Christian organizations could work together to address poverty.
Thinking more about this over the weekend, I recalled something from the president’s 2009 speech in Cairo, Egypt. The president said, “In the United States, rules on charitable giving have made it harder for Muslims to fulfill their religious obligation. That’s why I’m committed to working with American Muslims to ensure that they can fulfill zakat.”
The reason there were restrictions on Islamic charities is because many had been used as front groups for terrorist fundraising. Obama could have said, “If radical Muslims get rid of their obsession with killing infidels, we will get rid of these restrictions.” Instead he praised Islamic charity.
But at Georgetown last week, the president was at times dismissive of Christian charities. He suggested that concern for the poor “is oftentimes viewed as a ‘nice to have’ relative to an issue like abortion. . . . certainly that’s how it’s perceived in our political circles.”
Has President Obama ever heard of World Vision? How about Compassion International? Or Samaritan’s Purse? According to The Philanthropy Roundtable, U.S. churches donated more than $13 billion to “overseas relief and development” efforts in 2009.
Faith Under Fire
A left-wing organization is demanding that Major General Craig Olson “be immediately, aggressively and very visibly” court martialed “for his unforgivable crimes and transgressions.” What on earth did General Olson do? Did he sell nuclear secrets to the Iranians? No. Did he transfer weapons to ISIS? No. Did he compromise the identities of U.S. spies? No.
So what horrific thing is General Olson accused of? He declared himself to be a “redeemed believer in Christ” during a National Day of Prayer event. And for that “unforgivable crime,” Military Religious Freedom Foundation wants the general to be court martialed. No, I’m not making this up.
We have no idea how this will be resolved. The Pentagon ought to tell these radicals to take a hike. But in Obama’s military, such anti-religious bigotry is becoming the norm.
In recent years, when left-wing groups have filed similar complaints against the military, the Obama Administration has tended to side with them. And the Pentagon is increasingly cracking down on expressions of faith. So much so that I joined with other pro-family organizations to form the Restoring Military Religious Freedom Coalition.
The left’s tolerance for faith seems to include only justifications of its big government, redistributionist agenda and the promotion of Islam.
The Insanity Of Radical Islam
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was sentenced to death Friday for his role in the Boston Marathon bombing that killed three people and wounded more than 260 others. There was no doubt about his guilt. Tsarnaev’s defense lawyers did not even try to portray him as innocent. Instead they attempted to blame his actions on the influence of his older brother.
This much is absolutely clear: The radical Islamic household they grew up in had an influence on both of them. When Zubeidat Tsarnaeva learned of her son’s sentence, she condemned America in an online rant. Here is some of what she wrote:
“�we are the ones who will rejoice when Allah grants us the chance to behold [America] in the flames of an eternal and terrifying fire. . . I love my sons. With this love I will stand in front of Allah. Thank you dear and may Allah be happy with you.”
No amount of prattling by clueless politicians about terrorism having nothing to do with religion will change reality. It will only confuse many Americans about what we should be doing.
For example: As long as we continue to insist that acts of jihad have nothing to do with Islam, it sounds extreme to suggest that we ought to limit immigration from Muslim countries.
The Tsarnaev family sought refuge here from the ethnic fighting in the former Soviet Union. Their sons showed their gratitude by killing and maiming scores of Americans. The Somali families who settled in Minneapolis have many decent, hardworking members among them. But we know that area is perhaps the biggest recruiting center for jihadists.
There is no conceivable immigration system that can conduct adequate background checks on the millions of people being brought into the country under various legal schemes, let alone all the illegal immigrants we know absolutely nothing about. Not surprisingly, the FBI says that it is investigating ISIS recruits in all 50 states.
Given that the Islamic world is seething with anti-American, anti-Christian and anti-Semitic worldviews, it is societal insanity — bordering on suicide — not to limit the number of immigrants from Muslims nations. And yet in the middle of this resurgence of radical Islam, we are actually increasing the number of Muslim immigrants.
Controlling our borders and having responsible immigration policies is just common sense. There is something deeply wrong when neither political party is willing to make this case in the interest of national security.
Media Malpractice
One of the things the left is able to do by dominating the media is to routinely demoralize conservatives on a host of issues. A perfect example happened this weekend when virtually every media outlet reported that Pope Francis praised Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas as an “angel of peace.”
I have to believe this was an intentional misreporting of what the pope said. He did not call Abbas an angel of peace. If he had, it would have been a tremendous blow to his moral authority because Abbas is anything but an angel of peace.
According to the Italian newspaper La Stampa, Pope Francis actually said to Abbas, “May you be an angel of peace.” That is a far cry from what most English translations reported.
Pope Francis also gave Abbas a gift. National Review Online reports that it was a copy of Evangelii Gaudium, in which Pope Francis writes: “We hold the Jewish people in special regard because their covenant with God has never been revoked. . . . Dialogue and friendship with the children of Israel are part of the life of Jesus’ disciples.”
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