Free Republic

Blogs dedicated to protecting America against terrorism are troubling the Muslim community. Kaufman's site is only one of a constellation of blogs with names like JihadWatch.com, MilitantIslamMonitor.org, and WesternResistance.com that are dedicated to the surveillance of American Muslims. The blogs link to one another, with more-traveled sites amplifying stories from more obscure ones, like Kaufman's. Last month, after Kaufman called a Tampa Muslim religious retreat a "jihad camp for children" and wrote that the speakers were "linked to al-Qaida," death threats poured in to the Presbyterian camp hosting the event. Muslims say the blogs breed hate. "He's spreading lies, slandering...

Muslim retreat sparks threats A retreat for young Muslims was to be held at a Presbyterian camp, until a blogger alleged a speaker was linked to al-Qaida. By S.I. ROSENBAUM Published December 31, 2005 LITHIA - Death threats have closed a church camp where a Muslim youth retreat was planned this weekend, after an Internet blogger alleged that a scheduled speaker was linked to al-Qaida. Mohamed Moharram, president of the Muslim American Society of Tampa, said the three-day event at Presbyterian Cedarkirk Camp and Conference Center was supposed to teach young Muslims leadership skills as well as the core tenets...

Threats force Muslim youth retreat to meet at secret location Careerbuilder December 31, 2005, 2:49 PM EST LITHIA, Fla. -- A weekend church retreat for young Muslims was moved to a secret location after Internet bloggers alleged a scheduled speaker had terrorist ties, prompting death threats. The three-day event was to be held at the rural Presbyterian Cedarkirk Camp and Conference Center to teach youth leadership skills and core religious studies. However, reports began to appear on Web logs that Mazen Mokhtar, a North Brunswick, N.J., man scheduled to speak, had ties to al-Qaida. "Nothing rings in the new year...

The Presbytery of the Pacific has taken steps to oust two ministers from Hollywood Presbyterian Church in California, one of the most prominent evangelical congregations in the United States. The presbytery's Committee on Ministry asked Alan J. Meenan, the senior minister, and David Manock, associate pastor of program and ministries, to resign, but they refused. They are supported by overwhelming majorities of the 2,700-member congregation and the 24-member session. Nonetheless, the committee – without specifying any reasons other than the "peace, purity and unity" of the congregation – is pressing for their resignations. The presbytery has scheduled a special meeting...

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge Wednesday declared improper a request by the Presbyterian Church (USA) to allow an immediate takeover of the property of First Presbyterian Church in Torrance, Calif., and the installation of former General Assembly Moderator Syngman Rhee as the interim minister. Judge David Yaffe ruled that their request was improperly timed and that he would not consider it until after conducting a hearing in June. The leaders of the 2,700-member Torrance congregation, the largest Korean church in the PCUSA, are seeking to renounce the jurisdiction of the PCUSA and stake claim to their property, which is...

In His Words, a Rubric For Unity A couple of years ago, as I sat down to lunch with a friend, he said, "I understand you Presbyterians don't believe in Jesus anymore." ...I responded, "Are you talking about your Jesus or my Jesus?" [snip] He chose John 14:6..."No one comes to the Father but through me." I reminded him of the first part of the verse: "I am the way, and the truth and the life." [snip] "I am the way." "The way" is an Eastern religious practice that some know as Taoism...which predates Jesus by anywhere from three to...

--snip-- The May 10 presbytery meeting included an interfaith worship service with a prayer to "Allah" a reading from the Koran and the second vote on the Hollywood issue. --snip-- But before the actual vote on the motion, the presbytery heard readings from Scripture and the Koran. The Islamic text, Surah 30:37-38, said: "When we give men the taste of a good thing they rejoice in it, but when evil befalls them through their own fault, they grow despondent. Do they not see that God gives abundantly to whom He will and sparingly to whom He pleases? Surely there are...

LOS ANGELES - When the Rev. Alan Meenan took over as senior pastor at the nationally prominent Hollywood First Presbyterian Church, it had been losing members for 20 years. Now, hundreds of new worshippers are flocking to an alternative service staged by the church at a nearby nightclub that offers live rock music and a casual atmosphere that doesn't frown on flip-flops and nose piercings. The service, called Contemporary Urban Experience, has bolstered membership at one of the most storied Presbyterian congregations in the country. But it has also created a deep rift between old and new members that threatens...

Equating filibusters with hearing minority voices, the Washington Office of the Presbyterian Church (USA) is urging that Congress' use of filibusters on President George Bush's judicial nominess not be ended. In its May/June 2005 Washington Report, Elenora Giddings Ivory, director of the Washington Office, said "Careful and independent scrutiny of judicial nominees can happen during the confirmation process in the Senate. Scrutiny should not be shortchanged by cutting off extended debate (filibuster). Without careful review we can almost guarantee that we will open our newspapers one morning and see stories of judges who are being impeached." According to Fox News,...

Three Catholic issues drive critics nuts. Articles criticizing Pope Benedict XVI keep singling out three issues: the celibacy of priests, the all-male priesthood and the prohibition of artificial contraception. During May, our editorials will look at each of them, starting this week with celibacy, which is a little bit different from the other two. It isn’t a teaching on faith or morals - the Church doesn’t teach that it is impossible for a married man to be a priest. In fact, celibacy wasn’t required of priests for the first millennium of the Church’s history (though most priests were, in fact,...

Seminary professor says PCUSA task force will follow Lutherans on ordaining active homosexuals By Paula R. Kincaid The Layman Online Saturday, June 18, 2005 EDINA, Minn. – "All mainline denominations are heading toward the rapids," said Robert A.J. Gagnon as he opened his workshop on "Scriptural Authority, Church Unity and Sexual Conduct" at the New Wineskins Convocation on Thursday. Gagnon at his Thursday workshop. "The United Church of Christ is has already gone over," he said, then asked, "Who's next?" His opinion – in order: The Episcopal Church (USA), the Evangelical Lutheran Church of American, the Presbyterian Church (USA) and...

The Presbyterian Church (USA) lost 43,175 members in 2004, the third straight year that more than 40,000 people have left the denomination. The 2004 loss was both the second highest numerically and as a percentage of membership since the Southern and Northern streams of mainline Presbyterians merged in 1983 to form the PCUSA. The 43,175 departing members represented 1.79 percent of the 2003 membership. The loss in 2003 was the highest – 46,658, or 1.9 percent of the 2002 membership. The ongoing declines have reduced the membership of the PCUSA by 401,869 since the mainline Presbyterian merger – down from...

With tempers flaring and many congregants bursting into tears, a contingent led by Rick Ufford-Chase, the moderator of the Presbyterian Church (USA), tried unsuccessfully to take over the June 26 worship service being conducted by the majority of First Presbyterian Church in Torrance, Calif. The service verged on pandemonium as Ufford-Chase and his allies milled around the chancel area, some of them talking loudly during prayers and hymn-singing and one, on at least two occasions, trying to forcibly grab the microphone, which was broken during one attempt. Church officials filed a police report, accusing the intruders of vandalism. Three security...

The group named heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar, communications giant Motorola, military contractor United Technologies and electronics manufacturer ITT Industries - all of which supply the Israel Defense Forces . . . The Church also listed international banking conglomerate Citigroup, which was cited in April by The Wall Street Journal for "having moved substantial funds from charities later seen to be fronts funneling money to terrorist organizations," including "funds [which] ended up as payments to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers" . . . The 2.5 million-strong church, the ninth largest in the U.S., represents most U.S. Presbyterians.

A special panel of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) appealed Thursday for the church's 2.4 million members to seek unity as they continue a divisive debate over homosexuality and the Bible. The panel urged the church's 2006 national General Assembly to make no changes to a 1997 law that limits clergy and lay officeholders to sex within heterosexual marriage, though liberals have submitted bills to repeal the rules. Instead, the panel outlined a strategy in a 39-page report it says "is designed to help the church maintain peace, unity, and faithfulness to scriptural and theological principles while that debate continues." The...

A special panel of the U.S. Presbyterian Church appealed Thursday for the church's 2.4 million members to seek unity as they continue their divisive debate over homosexuality and the Bible. The panel urged the church's 2006 national General Assembly to make no changes to a 1997 law that limits clergy and lay officeholders to sex within heterosexual marriage, although liberals have submitted bills to repeal the rules. Instead, the panel outlined a strategy in a 39-page report it says "is designed to help the church maintain peace, unity, and faithfulness to scriptural and theological principles while that debate continues." Continuing,...

Our Worst Fear Online Editorial by O. Benjamin Sparks 09/07/2005 Last week I was overcome with rage and shame at the pitiful responses to the onset of hurricane Katrina and its watery aftermath. I was ashamed at the helplessness of the government of the United States. I was angry that neither the mayor of New Orleans nor the governor of Louisiana did anything initially except to criticize the federal government for its lack of response. How many lives would have been saved by the immediate response of which we showed ourselves capable after 9/11 in New York – a disaster...

Ken Moe, the executive of the Presbytery of the Grand Canyon, delivered a scathing attack on the New Wineskins Initiative and the Presbyterian Lay Committee in his report to the presbytery during its meeting on Sept. 16. He said the two groups are promoting schism in the denomination by insisting on subscription to theological standards and moral imperatives. "Denomination watchers are predicting the greatest impact of the storm will occur next June in Birmingham, Alabama," Moe added. "That is the time and place of the 217th General Assembly." Moe told the presbytery. "And it is fitting that I make this...

The following statement was issued by the Session of First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood on Sept. 30, 2005. "We, the Session of First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood, met with Rev. Dr. Meenan and Rev. Dr. Manock. We made the very difficult decision that returning the pastors is not in the best interest of the church, or the pastors. Therefore we asked for their resignations." Our Session has called a Congregational Meeting on October 9th after services in the Sanctuary at 12:30 PM, for the purpose of at which time the A.C. will share it's research findings.

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley mistakenly welcomed a Palestinian nationalist group whose leader denies Israel's right to exist in the Holy Land by sending greetings to a Sabeel conference at the Lutheran School of Theology. "Sabeel masquerades as a peace group, but its founder, Anglican Canon Naim Ateek, has portrayed Israel as a baby- and Christ killing nation that blocks the political salvation of the Middle East," says Dexter Van Zile, Christian outreach director of the David Project Center for Jewish Leadership and member of the United Church of Christ. "He has also denied the Jews' right to live in the...