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FBI agents hoping to break up an alleged interstate crime ring dealing in arson, fraud and possibly stolen vehicles, ended up in a gunfight at a Detroit-area warehouse, after which a suspect lay dead. The FBI sought to arrest Luqman Ameen Abdullah, a.k.a. Christopher Thomas, 53, who a criminal complaint said was the imam of a radical fundamentalist Sunni group called Masjid Al-Haqq that seeks to establish a sovereign Islamic state inside the United States... Abdullah and 10 others were charged today in a criminal complaint with conspiracy and theft of interstate shipments, mail fraud to obtain the proceeds of...

DETROIT–A man described as a leader of a radical Sunni Islam group in the U.S. was fatally shot this afternoon while resisting arrest and exchanging gunfire with federal agents, authorities said. Agents at a warehouse in Dearborn were trying to arrest Luqman Ameen Abdullah, 53, on charges that included conspiracy to sell stolen goods and illegal possession and sale of firearms. Ten followers listed in a criminal complaint were also being rounded up in the area. Three – Mujahid Carswell, 30, Mohammad Alsahi, 33, and Yassir Ali Khan, 30 – are Ontario residents, the FBI said in a release. Abdullah...

Catholic Spain Has a New Herald: Juan Manuel de Prada From acclaimed author to staunch apologist for the Church and the pope, including in "L'Osservatore Romano." His is one of the many stories of conversion from unbelief to the Christian faith, in Europe. Against progressive "tyranny" by Sandro Magister ROME, October 12, 2009 – For a few days now, Italian bookstores have been selling a collection of interviews with converts to the Catholic faith, some of whom are very prominent: from Jean-Claude Guillebaud of France to Janne Haaland Matlary of Norway, former deputy foreign minister of her country and an...

SNIPPET: "For all his public activity, Bray has rarely, if ever, discussed his life story in detail. His own MAS biography offers vague descriptions of his work as "a long time civil and human rights advocate." A charismatic African-American convert to Islam, Bray spent this entire decade working for Islamist organizations. Prior to joining MAS, Bray was political director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC). Those jobs have helped him build a growing public profile and given him access to politicians and policy makers. And that may explain his reluctance to discuss his life before political activism. The Investigative...

CHICAGO (AP) — A 29-year-old Illinois man who idolized American-born Taliban soldier John Walker Lindh has been arrested after attempting to detonate what he thought was a bomb inside a van outside a federal courthouse, officials said Thursday. Michael C. Finton, also known as Talib Islam, was arrested Wednesday and charged in a criminal complaint with one count of attempting to murder federal officers or employees and trying to detonate a weapon of mass destruction. Federal officials said the case has no connections with the major terrorism investigation under way in Colorado and New York. "This alleged plot drives home...

A spiritual journey that began seven years ago ended in the sanctuary of a Catonsville convent Sept. 3 when 10 Episcopal nuns and their priest chaplain were received into full communion with the Catholic Church. In administering the sacrament of confirmation, Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien traced a cross on the foreheads of each candidate as he anointed them with sacred chrism oil and called on them to be sealed with the Holy Spirit. The sisters then renewed their vows of poverty, chastity and obedience as some 120 worshipers looked on.

Churches and whole dioceses have left the Episcopal Church since the 2003 consecretation of an openly gay bishop brought a lonstanding divide over homosexuality within the nation's sixth-largest Protestant denomination out into the open. But on Thursday, 10 Episcopal nuns from a Catonsville convent took what scholars say is the unprecedented step of joining the Catholic Church. At a Mass celebrated by Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien, each vowed to continue their tradition of consecrated life, now as a religious institute within the Archdiocese of Baltimore. "We know our beliefs and where we are," Mother Christina Christie, superior of All Saints...

Where To Begin   Now that you have decided to learn more about your Catholic Faith, where do you begin? Rather than point you to a text book or a list of facts, our unique 10-step plan uses a more "holistic" approach to teaching the Catholic Faith.  In addition to presenting the teachings of the Catholic Church, our method also makes use of the Sacraments, prayer, Sacred Scripture and the intercession of The Blessed Mother.  You will also have the ability to ask us questions and receive prompt responses.    The benefit of this approach is that, in addition...

I grew up in the era of headlong evangelism by the LDS church. We were out to convert the world. Back then, it was "every young man on a mission" and "every member a missionary." The church didn't just leave it to our imagination how to accomplish this. Full-time missionaries were expected to memorize verbatim an entire series of official gospel "discussions." Regular members were exhorted to ask acquaintances, complete strangers, or anyone who held still for five seconds, "What do you know about the Mormon Church, and would you like to know more?" I did the first one on...

our America before Obama - a true American judge...BEAUTIFUL! MUST READ and Pass it on, just to remind everybody what we are loosing because of IDIOTS!!! Remember the shoe bomber? When America was "a shining city upon a hill whose beacon light guides freedom-loving people everywhere"? Remember the guy who got on a plane with a bomb built into his shoe and tried to light it? Did you know his trial is over? Did you know he was sentenced? Did you see/hear any of the judge's comments on TV or Radio? Didn't think so.!!! Everyone should hear what the judge...

IQUITOS, Peru — If Ronald Reátegui Levy someday finds that he is the last Jew of Iquitos, it may well be of his own doing. His dream, which he has vigorously pursued, is to persuade the descendants of Sephardic merchants who settled in this remote corner of the Amazon basin more than a century ago to reaffirm their ties to Judaism and emigrate to Israel. “It is getting very lonely here,” said Mr. Reátegui Levy, 52, an inspector at Peru’s national oil company, referring to the more than 400 descendants of Jewish pioneers who have formally converted to Judaism this...

The Kurdish Halabja Centre CHAK has submitted new and possibly incriminating evidence in the appeal case against Dutch businessman Frans van Anraat. The documents were reportedly supplied by the Iraqi tribunal that sentenced former dictator Saddam Hussein to death. In December last year, Frans van Anraat was sentenced to 15 years in jail. The court in The Hague found him guilty of supplying materials for chemical weapons to the Saddam Hussein regime in the 1980s. He was acquitted of complicity in genocide because he reportedly did not know that Saddam Hussein intended to use poison gas on the Iraqi population....

Man admits threat to Bush By Jeff Zent The Forum - 05/18/2004 A Nevada man pleaded guilty in Fargo's federal court Monday to threatening the life of President Bush. Joshua Aliwishes Banks was three days away from completing a two-year prison sentence at the James River Correctional Center in Jamestown, N.D., when, on Jan. 10, 2003, he became combative with prison guards and threatened to kill President Bush, court records say. The now-32-year-old inmate became angry after guards conducted a random search of his dorm and confiscated a journal in which he wrote about how to become an effective assassin,...

Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman said Tuesday he will enlist dozens of former military chaplains to serve, on a voluntary basis, as dayanim in the state's special conversion courts, to speed up the process for tens of thousands of immigrants who are not Jewish according to religious law. Neeman spoke in Efrat at the end of a conference organized by the Sha'arei Mishpat College-Hod Hasharon and the Efrat local council on "Conversion as a National Mission." "I repeat the concrete proposal I have made, and I will have it approved no matter what," said Neeman. "That is to take dozens of...

NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The man accused of fatally shooting a soldier outside a recruiting center begged for FBI agents to free him from a Yemeni jail where he was "radicalized" by Islamic terrorists, his lawyer told The Associated Press on Thursday. Lawyer Jim Hensley described Abdulhakim Muhammad as an impressionable youth driven to public service in an impoverished Middle Eastern country. But teachings by "hardened" terrorists in Yemen and experiences with Afghan child refugees who were missing limbs drove him to become someone his parents didn't recognize, Hensley said. "Here comes the FBI, who may be able...

Nuradin Abdi was convicted in 2007 of planning to blow up an Ohio shopping mall. Iyman Faris was convicted in 2003 of planning to blow up the Brooklyn Bridge. Christopher Paul was convicted in 2008 of conspiring to use explosives against targets in the U.S. and Europe. All three terrorists worshiped and socialized at a small mosque in Columbus, Ohio, and, according to David B. Smith, an attorney for Faris, were part of a larger group of jihadists and extremists who frequented the mosque. The FBI now is investigating reports of links to that same mosque by Muslim-convert Abdulhakim Muhammad...

Freepers: After sleeping on it, I have decided to call you to action! A great injustice is being perpetrated by our main stream media (MSM) and our Commander In Chief (CINC), President Barrack Hussein Obama. The time now is 10:04 CST, 02 JUNE 09, exactly 24 hours after Privates William Long, 23 of Conway, AR, and Private Second Class Quinton Ezeagwula, 18, of Jacksonville, AR became the first victims of terrorism on American soil since 11 SEP 01 and we have heard no statement from their Commander in Chief, President Barrack Hussein Obama. Almost as egregious as Obama’s silence, we...

Shooter identified himself as a muslim, Mr. Abdul Mohammad, formerly Mr. Bledsoe. previously of Memphis and Nashville. Recently converted to Islam while in Prison.Breaking live on LRPD press conference.

This video was produced by NET TV, a new faith-centered cable TV network based in New York City. It features an Easter Sunday discussion with a couple of this year’s Easter converts to Catholicism, Daniel Robinson and Linda Hoff, speaking about their journey into the Church with Elizabeth Scalia of the Anchoress blog, Grant Gallicho, associate editor for Commonweal magazine, and Gary Arkin, a convert who is director of NET TV and an RCIA sponsor.

A SCOTTISH Muslim convert, dubbed the "Tartan Taleban", has re-emerged in Pakistan where he has reportedly been arrested as a terror suspect. Pakistan television paraded images of a man said to be James Alexander McLintock, who had been detained in the north-west city of Peshawar in late February. The 44-year-old father of four, originally from Dundee, converted to Islam in his 20s but came to international attention in December 2001 when he was arrested in Afghanistan on suspicion of being a foreign fighter. Mr McLintock was released five weeks later after strenuous denials of links to terror organisations and sent...

WASHINGTON -- As many as 150,000 new or returning Catholics are expected to join the Catholic Church in 2009 in the United States. Many of them will do so at the Easter Vigil liturgies, April 11, in parishes across the country. In some cases the numbers show the growth and vitality of the Catholic Church in places where it has traditionally been a small minority. For instance, the Archdiocese of Atlanta estimates that 513 catechumens and 2,195 candidates will join the ranks of the Archdiocese in 2009. About 1,800 of them will do so at Easter. These numbers do not...

DUBAI, JANUARY 29 - Almost 3,000 people, the majority of them women, from dozens of nationalities became Muslims in Dubai last year, it was announced as reported by Arabian Business online. A total of 2,763 individuals - 1,869 of them women - from 72 countries embraced Islam in 2008, an increase of 71% over 2007, according to figures released by the Islamic affairs and charitable activities department. Announcing the data, Hamad bin Al Sheikh Al Shaibani, director general of the department, said: "We are delivering our message properly by spreading Islamic culture and instilling national identity through giving greater attention...

DHAKA, Bangladesh – Muslims in a village in western Bangladesh have forced two brothers to expel their parents from their home for converting to Christianity. Ishmael Sheikh, 70, and his wife Rahima Khatun, 55, were baptized on Nov. 9. By the end of the month, Sheikh told Compass, Muslim neighbors in Kathuly village, near Gangni town in Meherpur district, had compelled their two sons to expel them from their house. The ailing Sheikh told Compass that his two sons had come under tremendous pressure from neighbors in the village, which was entirely Muslim before the coupled received Christ. The neighbors...

just as Spaniards get smug about their perceived racial superiority, along comes a new study which implies that many Spanish anti-Semites actually have Jewish blood. An examination of the genetic signatures of the Spanish population shows that 20 percent of contemporary Spaniards have Jewish origins. As it turns out, far more Jews than previously thought did not comply with the order to leave Spain back in 1492 and simply converted to Catholicism instead. Many of those conversos tried to blend in by adopting surnames that indicated trades or professions...

Reports are filtering through via Pakistani intelligence sources that a special training camp for Islamic militants..........................

(IsraelNN.com) Dr. Uri Davis, who has often termed Israel an "apartheid state" and refused to serve in the IDF, converted to Islam about a week ago and married a Fatah activist in Ramallah. The conversion ceremony involved two oaths in which Davis recognized Allah and the Muslim prophet Mohammed. Davis said he plans to follow the laws of Islam, but not devoutly. The conversion took place in a Moslem religious court in Baka el-Garbiye, an Israeli-Arab town just outside northwestern Samaria (Shomron). Davis's lawyer explained that the Arabs of the Palestinian Authority know him for his great sacrifices on behalf...

“Send regards to Israel, I miss it. I respect Israel and admire it as a country,” - these words are not something you would expect to hear from a Palestinian, let alone someone who grew up in the family that has led the radical and terrorist Islamic ideology of Hamas. But these are the words coming from non other than Masab Yousef - son of one of the leaders of Hamas in the West Bank, Sheikh Hassan Yousef. Masab Yousef - a Christian convert now living in California - in an interview with Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz talks about the “bottom...

A growing number of Christians in Britain from a Muslim background are facing harassment and persecution, warns Release International. They include ‘Yasmin’, whose ex-husband planned to kill her. She’s been attacked in the street, driven from her home and was taken under police protection. Yasmin became a Christian after receiving a vision of Jesus during the difficult birth of her son. She tried to keep her faith a secret from her family, but eventually told her mother. “When my mother found out I had become a Christian she went to the local mosque and told them that I had gone...

Al-Jazeerah Website Synopsis from The American Thinker by James M. Arlandson. This translation of a televised conversation reveals a rare glimpse into the outlook of Muslim scholars who are concerned about Christianity’s growth. The invited guest is Sheikh Ahmad Al Katani; the president of The Companions Lighthouse for the Science of Islamic Law in Libya, which is an institution specializing in graduating imams and Islamic preachers. Katani starts off describing the overall problem: Islam used to represent, as you previously mentioned, Africa’s main religion and there were 30 African languages that used to be written in Arabic script. The...

Pope Benedict XVI said Saturday that the Roman Catholic Church has the indisputable right and duty to convert anyone to Christianity. The Church’s central mission is evangelism, the pope firmly told a Vatican body responsible for encouraging Catholic missionary activity, according to Agence France-Presse. Jesus Christ, as recorded in the Gospels, called on the conversion of “all nations,� Benedict said,� and this commission remains “an obligatory mandate for the entire Church and for every believer in Christ.� "This apostolic commitment is both a duty and an inalienable right, the very expression of religious freedom with its moral, social and political...

Converts from Islam to Christianity are increasingly concerned about a number of reports in recent months which have cited astounding statistics on conversion. It is true - and a matter for thankfulness to God - that more Muslims are now coming to Christ than at any other time in history. However, they are not converting on the vast scale alleged in some reports. These false reports, often initiated by non-Christians and then circulated by Christians, are a matter of grave concern, not just for those who love truth and accuracy, but also for the many individuals whose lives are being...

There's a widespread belief that the penalty for leaving Islam is death - hence, perhaps, the killing of a British teacher last week. But Shiraz Maher believes attitudes may be softening. Ziya Meral's parents disowned him when he converted from Islam to Christianity. "They said 'go away, you're not our son.' They told people I died in an accident rather than having the shame of their son leaving Islam." Born and raised in Turkey, he decided to convert to Christianity after moving to university. He knew telling his parents would be a difficult moment even though they're not particularly observant...

Cradle Catholics preparing for Easter might not be familiar with one Holy Week celebration: the preparation rites on Saturday morning for those who will be received into the church that evening. Those who will receive sacraments at the Easter Vigil, and the Catholic community that supports them, gather to share stories of their faith journeys. The bishop touches their ears and their lips, symbolizing they hear God’s call and proclaim the Gospel with their lives. Some 700 candidates and catechumens – candidates are Christians baptized in other denominations and catechumens have never been baptized – were received into full communion...

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - A former Navy sailor was convicted Wednesday of leaking details about ship movements to suspected terrorism supporters, an act that could have endangered his own crewmates. Jurors convicted Hassan Abu-Jihaad, 32, of Phoenix of providing material support to terrorists and disclosing classified national defense information on the second day of deliberations. The American-born Muslim convert formerly known as Paul R. Hall faces up to 25 years in federal prison when he is sentenced in May. His attorney, Dan LaBelle, said an appeal was likely. "We're disappointed with the verdict, but we respect the process. It was...

Author Ed Decker, a former Mormon who has been one of the religion's staunchest critics for decades, says a vast majority of people who convert to Mormonism leave the religion within a year because they realize it's not Christian. Decker's latest book is called My Kingdom Come: A Mormon Quest for Godhood. He says the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sends out about 60,000 volunteer missionaries around the world -- but most of the 300,000 annual converts, he notes, do not stick around. "Eighty percent [of converts] actually leave the Mormon church within the first year," states Decker....

A convert to Islam stands an election victory away from becoming the second Muslim elected to Congress and a role model for a faith community seeking to make its mark in national politics. Political newcomer Andre Carson is the Democratic nominee in a March 11 special election to succeed his late grandmother, Julia Carson, representing Indiana's 7th District. She died in December of lung cancer, and her grandson is seeking to fill out the rest of her sixth term, which expires at year's end. If Andre Carson wins the Democratic-leaning Indianapolis district over a freshman Republican legislator and a long...

Two women who grew up in country New South Wales and converted to Islam decades ago have defended their beliefs in an extraordinary interview to be aired tonight on ABC television. The women, neither of whom have ever faced terrorism-related charges, are speaking on camera for the first time, offering an insight into their lives and their dedication to their religion. They both subscribe to Wahhabism, the strand of Islam followed by Osama bin Laden. The two women defend their religion in the interviews, but know their beliefs make them suspect to non-Muslims. Their movements have also been closely watched...

Terror watch over Muslim prisoners NEWS.com.au, Australia - February 03, 2008 By Paula Doneman Life behind bars for some Muslim prisoners, and those who have converted to Islam after their incarceration, has been monitored...

LONDON -- Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has converted to Catholicism, a long-rumored move, British media reported Saturday. Blair converted during a Mass held on Friday night at a chapel in London, Sky News, the British Broadcasting Corp. and the British news agency Press Association reported, quoting an unidentified spokesman. There had long been rumors that Blair, a member of the Church of England who stepped down as prime minister earlier this year, planned to convert. Blair's wife, Cherie, is Roman Catholic, the couple's children have attended Catholic schools and Blair had habitually attended Catholic rather than Anglican services.

Christian converts risk Muslim attack The issue of apostasy from Islam is beginning to receive mainstream media attention in Britain UK Times Online From The Sunday Times September 16, 2007 By Abul Taher Christian converts risk Muslim attack ONE of Britain’s most senior bishops has warned that a sustained campaign by Muslim extremists to intimidate and attack converts to Christianity risks ending in a murder. Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester, says that the persecution of Christian converts from Islam is so widespread that it may be only a matter of time before there is an “honour killing” of a...

BERLIN -- Religious converts are playing an increasingly influential role in Islamic militant networks, having transformed themselves in recent years from curiosities to key players in terrorist cells in Europe, according to counterterrorism officials and analysts... ...The number of converts, it seems, is definitely on the rise," said Michael Taarnby, a terrorism researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies. "We've reached a point where I think al-Qaeda and other groups recognize the value of converts, not just from an operational viewpoint but from a cultural one as well." Religious converts are sometimes more prone to radicalization because of their...

Much as this June's failed terrorist attacks in London and Glasgow focused attention on the participation of doctors and other professionals in jihadist terror, the plot disrupted in Germany this week seems certain to put the spotlight on another key group within violent Islamism: converts. We don't know much thus far about Fritz Gelowicz or Daniel Martin Schneider, the two German converts who were apprehended earlier this week along with Adem Yilmaz, who has been identified as a Turk. Another seven conspirators, about whom very little has been released, are also being hunted. But the hundreds of gallons of concentrated...

Three men have been arrested for planning attacks on Frankfurt's international airport and the U.S. military base in Ramstein, the German Defense Minister said Wednesday. "There was an imminent threat," Franz Josef Jung told Germany's ARD broadcaster. He declined to elaborate. Two of the suspects had German citizenship while the third was Pakistani, Germany's Sudwestrundfunk public broadcaster said. German federal prosecutors said they had arrested three suspected members of "an Islamic motivated terrorist organization." It was not immediately clear whether the three were suspected of having links to al Qaeda. Sudwestrundfunk said the men were arrested Tuesday evening and were...

Three people have been arrested in Germany on suspicion of planning terror attacks. Two of the suspects were Germans who had converted to Islam while the third held Turkish and German passports. The sources said the three all had links to Pakistan and that they had been experimenting with explosives and trying to build car bombs. They were arrested during a series of raids carried out overnight. A German radio station said the suspects had been planning to bomb Frankfurt airport and the US military base at Ramstein in western Germany.

Ferry plots and Filipino Muslim converts By Michelle Malkin  •  August 30, 2007 02:46 PM  The FBI is still sifting through hundreds of tips on the two suspicious men in Seattle whom ferry employees witnessed photographing restricted areas and pacing several ferry routes, “as if trying to measure distances,” over the past several weeks.I have learned that these men have been the subject of much investigative energy within homeland security bureaucracies for quite some time. Indeed, one source told me that until the FBI released the photos of the men, the snapshots had been handled as classified material.Arab-American and Muslim groups...

It started with Scott Hahn and it is still going strong.  The number of prominent Protestant clergy and theologians coming to the Catholic Church has been nothing short of remarkable.  Priests like Father Dwight Longenecker and Father Alvin Kimel are new to the Church and they bring a lot of enthusiasm, scholarship and wit and humor with them.  Father Longenecker might be the only priest who is a graduate of the admittedly anti-Catholic institute of higher learning, Bob Jones University.  Deacon Alex Jones, a former pastor in a prominent African-American Pentacostalist Church in Detroit left behind a vibrant, growing congregation. ...

Here's an interesting hypothetical for you: Upon reading that Benjamin Franklin initially supported the Stamp Act, reader Luke was, he says, "struck by the relevance to Gov. Romney's conversion" and penned the below. It's quite good: January 5, 1775 Dear Benjamin Franklin, Sir, I write to you today with a heavy heart to inform you that after conferring with my fellow “true patriots,” you are an unacceptable convert to our most noble cause. Please do not leave England and come to America. Our cause will prosper well enough without your assistance. We see your recent pro-American positions for what they...

Friday, May 18, 2007 Lutheran professor of philosophy prepares to enter Catholic Church Dr. Robert Koons, professor of philosophy at the University of Texas, will be entering the Catholic Church next week following several years of considering the teachings and history of the Catholic Church. In a post over at Right Reason, he writes: Several weeks ago, I learned through a mutual friend that Frank Beckwith was intending to return to the Roman Catholic Church. At the same time, Frank learned that I myself have been moving in the direction of Rome for the last several years. I am very...

Last month, Francis Beckwith--president of the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS), noted evangelical philosopher, "God-blogger" and professor of church-state relations at Baylor University--was received into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church. Shortly after, he resigned his presidency and membership in ETS, sending shock waves through the religious blogosphere and parts of the evangelical community.Read the full article at the link.

<p>Last month, Francis Beckwith--president of the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS), noted evangelical philosopher, "God-blogger" and professor of church-state relations at Baylor University--was received into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church. Shortly after, he resigned his presidency and membership in ETS, sending shock waves through the religious blogosphere and parts of the evangelical community.</p>