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Wash. Times on Muslim prayer event at Capitol: "This is not a joke"

September 11, 2009 3:47 pm ET by Terry Krepel

Blogger Richard Bartholomew notes the beginning of a Sept. 3 blog post by Washington Times religion editor Julia Duin:

On Sept. 25, Dar ul Islam, a mosque in Elizabeth, N.J., is slating a massive Friday "jummah" prayer event at the west front of the U.S. Capitol; on the very site that President Obama gave his inauguration speech not so long ago. This is not a joke.

As Bartholomew asks: "Why would it be 'a joke'?"

Duin goes on to write, "Well, I guess if Louis Farrakhan could preach from the same spot during the Million Man March nearly 14 years ago, so can these folks." Unmentioned by Duin, as Bartholomew points out, is that last year, the West Lawn of the Capitol was used for another event: a "Global Peace Festival" in which one featured speaker was the son of Unification Church founder -- and Washington Times owner -- Sun Myung Moon (as the Times reported).

Tags: The Washington Times

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    • Author by Bad News (September 11, 2009 3:55 pm ET)
      2  
      Freedom of Religion for Christians & no one else?
      Lets pass a "Jim Crow" law for Religion and protect Ourselves.
      Lets state in plain english were Muslims will be allowed to Pray.
      Yea, I like that, That's the American Way.

      Speak truth to power.


      Mr. News
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      • Author by Col. Harlan Sanders (September 11, 2009 5:13 pm ET)
        4  
        This is not a joke.

        Maybe that's the tag line the Washington Times feels it's necessary to add on to all of its stories.
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        • Author by njguy93 (September 12, 2009 7:04 am ET)
          1  
          No, the event being held there was not a joke, but Julia Duin is and so is her creepy Moonie paper.

          THANK YOU.
          njguy93@yahoo.com
          Report Abuse
      • Author by njguy93 (September 12, 2009 7:02 am ET)
        2  
        Freedom for everyone as long as they are White and Christian.

        THANK YOU.
        njguy93@yahoo.com
        Report Abuse
    • Author by mk3872 (September 11, 2009 5:23 pm ET)
      5  
      2 things scare conservatives very, very much:

      1. Black people
      2. Muslims

      Someone like Louis Farrahkan makes right wing nuts freak out.

      This is why they want everyone to think that Obama is actually Muslim.
      Report Abuse
      • Author by njguy93 (September 12, 2009 7:06 am ET)
        1  
        Black People have always scared conservatives. Muslims started really scaring conservatives after 9/11. You expose them to a Black Muslim and they just don't know what to do. They freak out and go into meltdown mode.

        THANK YOU.
        njguy93@yahoo.com
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        • Author by mk3872 (September 12, 2009 12:59 pm ET)
             
          I actually believe that conservatives were scared of Muslims prior to 9/11.

          You probably remember the right-wing freak-outs and fear in the previous decades over the Nation of Islam and Malcom X.

          Then you can more easily notice the build-up to today's complete intolerance now coming from the Right Wing.
          Report Abuse
    • Author by yancy derringer (September 11, 2009 5:46 pm ET)
      3  
      After the Million Man March, Farrakhan put on the Million Family March. Some of the speakers were operatives of the co-sponsor of the event, Sun Myung Moon.

      Million Moon March

      Though Moon may not address the march himself for what Schanker describes as "security reasons," internal FFWPU memos posted on a church Web site state that Moon, who turned 80 in February, decided to back the event after learning from his aides "of Minister Farrakhan's personal desire to ask him to bless all the families at the MFM."

      The alliance took some scholars and experts of the religious groups by surprise. Martha Lee, the Canadian author of "The Nation of Islam: An American Millenarian Movement" found it "curious ... that the two of them are trying to become respectable by allying with each other." But Chip Berlet, senior analyst at Political Research Associates in Somerville, Mass., was quick to point out similarities between the leaders: "They are both completely authoritarian, theocratic, male-dominated and homophobic." [...]

      "Bizarre," said Pricilla Coates, president of the Leo J. Ryan Foundation in Bridgeport, Conn., when asked what she thought of Moon's involvement. Coates blasted what she considers to be the Unification Church's record of deceptive recruiting and indoctrination tactics that separate people from their biological or adoptive families. "Moon has had no respect for families that I've dealt with," she said. "They are not allowed to see their children. The True Family means that the family that you grew up with is nothing," she concluded. "It's only the True Family that matters." [...]

      Lusane sees Farrakhan's collaboration with Moon as a "one-to-one convergence of interests" in which both gain an image of broader support and influence than actually exists. The alliance benefits Moon in this regard because, says Lusane, a close relationship with NOI "allows Moon to pretend that he has a base that is broader than it is in the African-American community."


      More Moon family values can be seen on display here

      Anyone who seriously wants to understand Moon's media, such as the Washington Times, and the role they play in his plans, would be well served by starting with this panel discussion featuring three very conservative former editors of Moon's media.
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      • Author by njguy93 (September 12, 2009 7:09 am ET)
        1  
        Moon is a dangerous fraud. He holds a significant amount of influence. George Bush and the late Gerald Ford both spoke at some of his events, usually for a hefty speaking fee. Don't forget that prayer service he held at the Capitol with a bunch of Senators and Congressman a few years back where he wore some sort of golden robe and lead them in prayer. The man needs to be exposed.

        THANK YOU.
        njguy93@yahoo.com
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    • Author by yancy derringer (September 11, 2009 5:52 pm ET)
      2  
      This is how Moon's Global Peace Festivals are viewed by him and others.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by bilbo_dies (September 11, 2009 8:20 pm ET)
      1  
      This is not a joke.

      Sad, isn't it. What used to be a major american paper is publishing stories where the reporter appears to be "amazed" that fellow americans might exercise their right for free speech, freedom of religion, freedom to peacefully assemble, etc.

      Maybe he is still stuck in the "Bush" years and thinks that they might be labeled "terrorists", or something.
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    • Author by njguy93 (September 12, 2009 6:58 am ET)
      2  
      No, Julia, this is not a joke. Muslims can hold Prayer Events just the same way that Christians can hold Prayer Events. There seems to be sudden outrage from conservatives when Muslims, Blacks, Brown People, or other non-white and/or non-Christians do certain things that White Christians do all the time. The reference to the event being at the site of President Obama's inauguration is probably a back-handed attempt to insinuate that President Obama is a Muslim to the paper's knuckledragging readers, although most of them probably believe that anyway.

      THANK YOU.
      njguy93@yahoo.com
      Report Abuse