Church sign: 'Islam – America's No. 1 enemy'

WorldNetDaily.com ^ | Tuesday, September 9, 2003

[JohnHuang2]

A Indiana Baptist pastor has been accused of spewing "hate speech" after he posted the following message on his church's marquee: "Sunday sermon 10:30 a.m. 'Islam: America's No. 1 Enemy.'"

Marc Monte has been pastor of Faith Baptist Church in Avon, Ind., for five years, according to a report in the Indianapolis Star. He says his sermon would included important information the pubic is not getting from the media.

"I want to stir interest, not alarm, but Islam is a false religion, dangerous and hate-promoting," Monte told the paper.

"If I were a pastor who read KKK literature or Hitler's 'Mein Kampf,' I would hope the members of my church would head to other churches. It is awful stuff. I repudiate it, and I put Islam in the same camp."

Not everyone feels placing such a message on a church marquee is appropriate, however.

"To call Islam an 'enemy' seems to be a message of hate," Susan Jones, who passes the sign twice a day, told the Star.

Sayyid M. Syeed, director of a nearby Islamic Center of North America, said such views were inflammatory and dangerous to society.

"Whether it is a pastor in Avon or Osama bin Laden, it is religion spoken with the same language – to incite others and provoke violence. It is the same treatment of religion; extremists think a lot alike," Syeed told the paper.

Monte says he met with Syeed shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks and afterward decided to study the Quran to learn more about Islam.

"I met with Syeed, and it got me very curious. In this personal conversation, there were things that struck me as odd," he is quoted by the Star as saying. "I opened the Quran and smelled a stinking, bloated, dead rat on every page."

Monte told the paper he has had only one call about the marquee. His church normally draws about 350 people to Sunday service, the report said.

Shortly after 9-11, both the Rev. Jerry Falwell and Christian evangelist Franklin Graham took heat in the media for articulating their opinions about Islam.

Graham called Islam a "very evil and wicked religion" in an interview about his latest book. In "The Name," he wrote, "Islam – unlike Christianity – has among its basic teachings a deep intolerance for those who follow other faiths."

In an interview with Beliefnet, he said, "I believe the Quran teaches violence, not peace," and, in an indirect criticism of President Bush, he said that after the Sept. 11 attacks "there was this hoo-rah around Islam being a peaceful religion – but then you start having suicide bombers, and people start saying, 'Wait a minute, something doesn't add up here.'"

Graham explained to Beliefnet last spring that "when people ask, I let them know I don't believe in their God. But I respect their right to believe whatever they want to believe."

[JohnHuang2]

Tuesday, September 9, 2003

Quote of the Day by MNLDS

[EternalVigilance]

Islam is a political ideology hiding behind the trappings of religion.

It is no different than Nazism or Communism...except in that it is quite possibly more dangerous than either.

I agree with the church's sign. I think it is exactly true.

[RLK]

I'm glad he had the guts to tell the truth.

[lainde]

bttt

[Rudder]

"To call Islam an 'enemy' seems to be a message of hate," Susan Jones, who passes the sign twice a day, told the Star.

I think little Susie has got it correct.

Hating America's mortal enemy is still legal and quite proper.

[awelliott]

Straight talk - how refreshing!

[EternalVigilance]

Well put.

[backhoe]

See my tagline...

[At _War_With_Liberals]

When telling the truth becomes a newly invented crime because of some vague relationship to a protected group, we are in real trouble. Hate crimes need to go. Criminals are already punished for the crime itself. There is no need for another charge.

Let activist judges use the sentencing guidelines already in place.

The Special int groups of our mortal enemies can now threaten Am citizens with jail time for speaking the truth about the threat they pose. It's insane!

[King Prout]

ah, well, pastor, time to pay up for telling it like it is.

[EternalVigilance]

Yep.

[pdjplano]

what an idiot. Islam is not the cause of the problem, it is the perversion of Islam that is the problem. Just like it is the perversion of people like Hill that give pro-life people bad names. Or people like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson and Jim Baker and Jim Jones and on and on and on.

If you are to claim Islam is the enemy, then by the same logic you use to draw that conclusion you must claim that RELIGION is the enemy.

There are MILLIONS of Muslims in this world who are peaceful, law abiding, upstanding citizens, and to claim that the religion they practice is anti-American is flat out ignorant... That the posts to date don't reflect this view is sad.

[At _War_With_Liberals]

And.. Dem lawmakers expand their rights by limiting our rights.

[EternalVigilance]

A Indiana Baptist pastor has been accused of spewing "hate speech" after he posted the following message on his church's marquee: "Sunday sermon 10:30 a.m. 'Islam: America's No. 1 Enemy.'"

Perhaps next week he should post:

I was wrong. I repent.
'Liberals: America's No. 1 Enemy'

[EternalVigilance]

That you would equate Falwell, Robertson, et al with Jim Jones makes your argument even less compelling.

[At _War_With_Liberals]

'Liberals: America's No. 1 Enemy'


Then he will definitely go down.

[At _War_With_Liberals]

Logic, philosophy, and common sense are not your forte.

Your post is something CAIR would relish, using it to further jihad.

[pdjplano]

why? all pervert religion to serve their own goals. some less then others, some more. OBL and Jim Jones are in the same camp. Falwell is on the tame side.

All cut from the same cloth, so to speak...

[pdjplano]

what a witty response. "jihad" is a stupid concept that most Muslims reject. It is used by the perverted. Ask the millions of Muslims here in the US if "jihad" is something they desire/want/will do and you'll get the same look as if you asked a Catholic to go on another Crusade.

[Monty22]

I hope you're not in the same city as me, you give us a bad name.