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Chairman's Report for March 13, 2007
March 15, 2007 11:00AM EST

The Chairman's Action Report - March 13, 2007

INTERNATIONAL

ARIEL, SAMARIA - Over the last several issues of the Chairman’s Report I have not discussed the involvement of the Religious Freedom Coalition in the Middle East as much as I have in the past. This does not mean that we have abandoned either our Christian or our Jewish friends in the Holy Land.

On March 7, 2007 the Religious Freedom Coalition participated in a fund raising dinner in Aventura, Florida for a civic center in Ariel, Samaria. The reception and dinner were held at the Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center. Several churches and Christian organizations such as ours participated and this was a great witness to the many Jewish people who attended.

As part of the Religious Freedom Coalition’s participation, a full page ad was placed in the event program. Both my wife Nancy and I attended the dinner along with RFC Board Member Bob Armstrong. My good friend, Dr. Ron Wexler of the Ten Commandments Commission attended the event as my guest. Dr. Wexler, who is an Orthodox Jew, was recently in Washington, DC with me to promote the establishment of a Ten Commandments Day by Congress.

During our time at the event for Ariel we had ample time to spend with our good friend former Ambassador to the United States Daniel Ayalon, who was the keynote speaker. In his keynote address the Ambassador warned that Iran was not only an enemy of Israel but of all the civilized world and that Iran must be stopped from obtaining nuclear weapons at any cost.

The Israeli city of Ariel is in the center of Samaria which the Western media refers to as the West Bank. Mayor Ron Nachman pointed out in his speech that the same Katyusha rockets that rained down on northern Israel last year from Lebanon would be able to strike the Tel Aviv Airport if Ariel were surrendered to the Palestinians. The Religious Freedom Coalition supports projects in Ariel financially, including an evangelistic outreach to Palestinians who live in surrounding areas.

EUROPEAN ANTI-SEMITISM - CRIF, the representative council of Jewish institutions in France, reported this month that physical attacks on Jews rose almost 50 percent in 2006, propelled by anti-Semitic attacks following the brutal murder of a young Jew at the start of the year and by last summer's war in Lebanon. The attacks are driven by the decline in Christian churches in France at a time that the Islamic population is increasing.

During some private time with Ariel mayor Ron Nachman he told me that a great influx of Jews is starting to come from Europe and particularly from France as the Islamic population grows there. He said that many who have not as yet moved are buying businesses and property in Israel as insurance for a safe place to move if things become worse for them in France.

 

Page 2

ISLAM AND TERROR

ARE THERE MODERATE MUSLIMS? - Religious Freedom Coalition Board member Bob Armstrong attended the Secular Islamic Summit held in St. Petersburg, Florida, March 4-5. Many "moderate" Muslim leaders and Muslim dissenters participated in what was billed as "The Next Islamic Enlightenment Starts Now!" Even CNN’s "token conservative," Glenn Beck, broadcast live from the summit. Below are Bob Armstrong’s observations:

Attendees were quite a mixed breed, mainly spearheaded by intellectual secular humanists who want reforms for all humankind, in every area, not just an anti-terrorist twist. Security was tight, as some invited guests did not show, as a result of direct threats against their lives.

After much dialogue and discussion, they released the "St. Petersburg Declaration" to the world, including the Muslim press, which was in attendance. They referred to the "common moral heritage of humankind" and rejected Sharia law, etc., in accordance with Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Their ‘human secularist’ ideology showed forth as panelists agreed, "We say to Muslim believers: there is a noble future for Islam as a personal faith, not a political doctrine. Before any of us is a member of the Umma, the Body of Christ, or the Chosen People, we are all members of the community of conscience, the people who must choose for themselves."

Obviously, of the 200 or so attendees, the evangelical Christians could be counted on one or two hands. However, even on national television, division agitated the summit when many believed that Muslims could no longer be true Muslims when they are "enlightened," while others said that these so-called enlightened Muslims no longer have a valid voice to the Muslim world.

It certainly did not live up to the purported "dialogue of civilizations" that Muslim World Today said in their February 23 edition. Phyllis Chesler, in her column in The Times of London (March 7) said, "Now is the time for Western intellectuals who claim to be antiracists and committed to human rights to stand with these dissidents…"

But to sum it up from my "outsider" perception, I agreed with Bret Stephens who said in his March 6 column in the Wall Street Journal: "At this landmark Summit of Secular Islam, there are no ‘moderate’ Muslims."

The bottom line: There is a true jihad---a genuine Holy War. Just like in Christianity with Christians who do not read or believe all the Bible, there are 50% of Muslims who do not read or believe the Koran. If they read all the Koran, and truly believed every word, they would no longer be moderate; and the world would be in an even more precarious state of fear. The RFC believes in true religious freedom, among Christians, but at the expense of no group of human beings. This summit only wanted to recognize the secular humanism of mankind, something that a jihadist does not care to comprehend.

MORE ISLAMIC "MODERATES" - Back in October I reported to you that I traveled with a group of evangelical Christians to the Sudan where I met with President Al-Bashir who is a mass murderer. Our escort on the fact finding mission wanted to prove to our group that there were "moderate" Muslims who could work with Christians rather than to persecute them. That escort was Abdel Azim El-Siddiq of Palos Heights, Illinois, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Sudan. On March 9, 2007 he was arrested on a federal warrant for connections to terrorist organizations. Moderate!?

THE HOUSE

CONGRESSMAN KENNEDY AND THE DICTATOR - Why do liberal Democrats like dictators so much? From Castro to the Mullahs of Iran, Democrats just can't get enough of cozying up to dictators. Republican Congressman Connie Mack had enough of it when former Democrat Congressman Joe Kennedy (D-MA) did a commercial for Venezuelan strong man and America-hater, Hugo Chavez.

"Joe Kennedy is acting as a propaganda tool for Comrade Hugo Chavez," Mack told Investors Daily. "He's trying to create the impression that Chavez is a warm, fuzzy person. But what we know is that Chavez is destroying freedom in Venezuela and has launched alliances with nations like Iran. I have no idea why Joe Kennedy thinks this is a good idea." Kennedy appears in TV ads thanking Chavez for cheap oil.

SPECIAL ELECTION - My good friend Bill Greene who is the leader of Rightmarch.com is running for Congress in Georgia to replace Congressman Norwood who recently died after a long battle with cancer. Bill is a lightning rod because of the street demonstrations he has led for pro-life and other issues. The entire Republican establishment will rally against him to support someone more "moderate." The political action committee I head, GING-PAC, gave Bill Greene the first check he received, just a few days after he formed his committee. The special election for the 10th Congressional district is set for June 19, 2007. More election news is available at www.gingpac.org.

FORCED REPORTING - The Democrat controlled House Judiciary Committee is trying to add a reporting requirement to the Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act of 2007 which would force the Religious Freedom Coalition to report to the Federal Government every time I mail one of these Chairman’s Reports to you. Only elected officials and unions would be exempted from reporting whom they contacted and why. This same measure was defeated in the Senate but has been resurrected by Speaker Nancy Pelosi to try to silence conservative groups such as ours.

TEN COMMANDMENTS - This week Dr. Wexler of the Ten Commandments Commission and I met with several congressmen in an effort to initiate legislation for a "Day of Recognition" for the Ten Commandments as the source of Western law. We spent a great deal of time with my old friend Congressman Trent Franks of Arizona.

Congressman Franks recently became the "Ranking Member" of the Sub-Committee on the Constitution. As a result he will become the chairman of that committee if the Republicans regain the House in 2008. It is this committee that considers all Constitutional Amendments and laws which must have Constitutional scrutiny. This is a great place for a true social conservative like Trent Franks to be. If he becomes the chairman he will greatly influence the direction of the House on issues such as school prayer and "under God" in the Pledge.

PLEDGE PROTECTION ACT - This month the Religious Freedom Coalition began a massive direct mail campaign urging those who support "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance to contact Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Earlier this year we sent petitions to sign to supporters of the Religious Freedom Coalition. Now we are mailing to the supporters of other social conservative organizations asking them to sign the petition and mail it to Pelosi as well.

We are hoping and praying for tens of thousands of letters to be signed by supporters of the Pledge of Allegiance to be delivered to Speaker Pelosi within the next few months. As a result of the size of this campaign it is possible you could receive a duplicate petition to sign.

Page 4

THE SENATE

CHINESE OR VENEZUELAN JUDGES TO ALTER U.S. LAWS? - How about any judge in the entire world having the right to dictate changes to any law in any state in the United States, plus having the power to force any private organization to alter how it does business? That is what the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) proposes. Article 5 of the treaty would require us "to modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women."

This treaty never had a chance to be ratified under a Republican Senate, but now the Democrat leaders are bringing it forward and women in the United States may not understand that it will actually erase the special status they have in this nation.

GENETIC DISCRIMINATION - The Information Nondiscrimination Act (S.358) is a bipartisan bill which would prohibit insurance companies and employers from using genetic information to discriminate. It would also prohibit insurance companies and employers from asking for genetic samples as a condition for insurance or employment.

Without this bill, an insurance company could refuse to insure someone’s life or health not because of any actual illness, but just because of a genetic tendency toward certain illnesses. Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) is attempting to expand the bill to cover prenatal children as well. Please contact your Senators and remind them that those in the womb, as well as adults, deserve protection with regard to genetic discrimination.

RELIGION AND SOCIETY

IS AMERICAN TV ANTI-SEMITIC? - I don't watch much TV and have to confess that the only movies I have seen in years are those I am forced to watch on airline flights. So I was shocked on February 27th when I flipped the TV on to a Law and Order: Criminal Intent episode that was vehemently anti-Israel and anti-Semitic. It portrayed American Jews as being unpatriotic and Israelis as brutal uncivilized brutes.

Apparently I was not the only one who noticed because the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America did a lengthy analysis of the program. Oddly, some conservatives still cling to the idea that the media is controlled by "leftist Jews." Far from it, the media in the United States is controlled by secularists who despise anything Judeo-Christian. Click here for details.

SUPPORT

Thank you for your continued support of the Religious Freedom Coalition. It would not be possible to operate an office just a few blocks from the Capitol Building without your financial help. Contributions to continue our work may be made to the address below or online at www.rfcnet.org.

William J. Murray, Chairman

Religious Freedom Coaltion, PO Box 77511, Washington, DC 20013

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