Posted on 10/04/2006 1:04:46 AM PDT by rdb3
On Sunday, September 24, 2006, Ahmed Bedier led a delegation of Muslims from his organization, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), in a visit to the St. Paul’s Catholic Church of St. Petersburg, Florida. At the end of the visit, Bedier handed a check for $5000 to the pastor of St. Paul’s for the repair of churches that had been damaged recently in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, over one sentence spoken by the Pope. The money was for a good cause, but accepting the money came with a price.
Pope Benedict XVI, in a speech he gave during a trip to Germany on September 12, quoted a 14th Century Byzantine emperor as saying, “Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.” This set off a firestorm across the Muslim world, resulting in violence. Enraged crowds took their frustrations out on symbols of Christianity. This included the murder of an Italian nun and the firebombing of churches located in the West Bank and Gaza.
Taking advantage of this sensitive situation was CAIR, an organization that pawns itself off as a “civil liberties” group, while having numerous ties to Islamic extremism, including links to individuals convicted for terrorist crimes. At a press conference, on Thursday, September 21, Ahmed Bedier, the Director of CAIR’s Tampa office, and Rev. Robert Gibbons, the Vicar General of the Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Petersburg, held aloft a large poster-board check for $5000 bearing CAIR’s insignia. The money was said to be for the half-dozen churches that had been attacked, five of which were firebombed and shot at, the other doused with gasoline and set aflame.
It was a disquieting scene as Ahmed Bedier stood side by side with a high-ranking Diocese official. Exactly two months prior to the event, Bedier hosted a radio show where all three of his guests lauded Hezbollah, a group that is found on the U.S. State Department’s list of terrorist organizations. One of the guests went as far as to label the group “heroic.” One must question if Rev. Gibbons was aware of this fact.
The check, which CAIR described as “seed money,” was made out to the Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA), a humanitarian relief program run by the Catholic Church, based in New York City. Additionally, a CNEWA fund was created in CAIR’s name, to raise further monies.
In order to make a donation to the fund, people have been asked to forward their checks to the CNEWA office under the title, “CAIR Palestine Damaged Churches.” The term “Palestine” denotes statehood and seems to have been injected into the fund’s address purely for political purposes. If that is the case, the Catholic Church is being used for nothing more than to make a political statement, and being as such and the fact that the church accepted the money, the implication is that the church is in full agreement with the statement.
A situation similar to this occurred in October of 2001, when Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, a CAIR financier, offered New York City a check for $10 million dollars to go towards relief efforts, in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. The check was rejected by the former Mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani, on the grounds that the money was attached to a political statement made by Bin Talal, concerning America’s relationship to the Mid East.
While visiting the wreckage, Bin Talal called the attacks “a tremendous crime.” He added, “We are here to tell America and to tell New York that Saudi Arabia is with the United States wholeheartedly.” However, in a written statement handed out by his publicist, the Prince had another message for America. He stated, “At times like this one, we must address some of the issues that led to such a criminal attack. I believe the government of the United States of America should re-examine its policies in the Middle East and adopt a more balanced stance toward the Palestinian cause.”
Mayor Giuliani responded by stating, “There is no moral equivalent for this attack. The people who did it lost any right to ask for justification when they slaughtered 5,000, 6,000 innocent people. Not only are those statements wrong, they're part of the problem.” He said the statements were “highly irresponsible and very, very dangerous.”
Rudy Giuliani showed integrity, when he returned the check. The Catholic Diocese could have done the same. Instead, they kept the money and all of the extremist baggage that went along with it, while CAIR used the church to gain legitimacy and manipulated the media to gain publicity.
When Ahmed Bedier led his delegation to St. Paul’s, it was not to have dialogue with Catholics, as CAIR had stated in press releases and elsewhere. It just appeared that way, because, while Bedier acted like he was a friend to the Catholic community, the following day something occurred that would severely contradict the “friendship.”
On September 25, on WTVT-Tampa’s ‘Your Turn with Kathy Fountain,’ Bedier lashed out at the Pope, the figure whose picture adorns the website of the CNEWA, the group CAIR is raising money through. Bedier angrily stated, “He said his intention was to start a dialogue. Well, if you want to start a dialogue with someone, you don’t start it off by slapping them across the face and calling them names and say, ‘Well, now let’s talk.’” It seems CAIR was acting in the same disrespectful manner towards Catholicism’s most revered, as it was accusing the Pope of acting towards Islam’s most revered -- except in this case, while extremists across the world were screaming “Death to the Pope,” Catholics were embracing them by taking their money.
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Bump for later reading.
"He who pays the piper, calls the dance."
Cair =
Crap And I Repeat
Crap
I can dig it.
This is the diocese of Bishop Lynch, Terri Schiavo's bishop, who took no action when Michael refused to allow Terri visits from a priest and to receive the sacraments. You may recall that the Florida Catholic Bishops’ conference stated plainly that Terri’s means of receiving food and water did not constitute ‘extraordinary’ means of preserving her life, and was a simple requirement of ordinary care.
Given this history, it comes as no surprise to learn that this same bishop would accept a check for $5000 from CAIR. Note that the 5 firebombed churches included Orthodox and Anglican churches! That translates into $1,000 per church, hardly enough to cover the cost of sweeping up the debris, assuming any of these churches ever sees this blood money.
To voice your opinion, Contact Bishop Lynch:
P.O. Box 40200,
St. Petersburg, FL
33743-0200
(727) 341-6830
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This is the sort of thing that drove my husband away from the church. CAIR finances tuitions and training for terrorists. I've seen solicitations from a nonprofit in NJ, which I turned over to police. Fat lot of good that did!
Bishop Lynch is a disgrace and I have no idea why he is allowed to remain in his position.
That said, the more disturbing thing is CNEWA's "CAIR" fund. I used to contribute to them but I stopped years ago because of their decidedly pro-Muslim bias(even to the point of appearing not only anti-Israel but anti-Catholic!). I think there are a lot of old line leftist clergy and hangers on in the organization, and they have always been notoriously pro-Muslim in a way that is inappropriate, in my mind.
unfortunately in NJ...it is just a cesspool of lib/dems...that is where cair thrives the best...a great example is deerbornistan, michigan...it is more than half muzzie....the rate they are growing and the fawning by the lib/dems trying to be oh so pc,...just wait until they begin making bigger & bigger political gains in the US....eventually males will wear towels on their heads and women will be wearing burkas!
cair...is a non-profit with a national political voice that does get the msm to spew their crap...they are a true funnel of funds for terrorism all over the mideast!!!!...the irs/fbi/dept. of justice should being auditing and shutting them down!!!!!
I had thought after my post that I'd been too vocal. I know what I said is well known, but again we don't want to be non p.c. [/s]
Please, Lord, let TX stay redneck heaven!
It is unfortunate, that all too often forgiveness and blessings can be purchased.
This is an absolute vulgarity. Just f***ing sick.
Good Po$t. Good FReeper Comment$. Thank$ to all contributor$ to thi$ thread.
I've seen outrageous CAIR propaganda printed in "The Catholic Witness," published by the Harrisburg PA diocese. They also recently wrote a very biased news article about the Israeli offensive in Lebanon. Useful idiots, as the Bolsheviks said.
bttt
Good points. I did found the sum of $5,000 to be somewhat lacking, as well.
*************
And for only $5,000. They were cheaply bought.
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"Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Qur'an should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on earth"
--Omar Ahmed, Chairman of the Board of CAIR (Council of American Islamic Relations), San Ramon Valley Herald, July 1998
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