There’s a lot to pick through in our interview of Bryan Fischer, but one argument of his in particular caught my eye. Fischer, a social conservative activist and gadfly, claims “the Koran’s entire purpose is subversive” so Muslims should not be afforded freedom of religion.
Is this really what conservative U.S. Christians want to be hanging their hats on? Does Fischer need a refresher course on the origins of Christianity? On the revolutionary culture from which Jesus himself emerged?
I imagine some first or second century Roman named Fischer — a gadfly at Roman Family Values events perhaps? — leading the charge against the heretical followers of that “cult” that first emerged from one the empire’s far frontiers. If only Fischer’s early Christian forbears had been less “subversive” they might have avoided those Roman persecutions.
Without conceding his point that all Muslims are subversives, I wonder what brand of Christianity sees itself not as subversive but as defenders of the status quo?
I can’t say I saw this coming. But it turns out the claims of several members of Congress, that Muslim women were coming to America to birth terrorist-to-be anchor babies who could launch attacks in the 2030s turns out not to be true.
We just interviewed Bryan Fischer — the director of issues analysis for the American Family Association who argues that the U.S. should have “no more mosques, period” — and he takes things a step further into the anti-Islam abyss: “Every single mosque is a potential terror training center or recruitment center for jihad” so “you cannot claim first amendment protections if your religious organization is engaged in subversive activities.”
In the first version of this post I’d written that jurors had told the judge in the Blagojevich case that they were hopelessly deadlocked on all but two of the charges. But subsequent reports are not that clear cut. It seems rather that they’re saying they’ve only reached a decision on two of the counts. And the judge, as he did yesterday, may be telling them to go back and keep trying. We’re trying to get more clarity on just what happened and we’ll bring you more shortly.
(ed.note: This post has been revised from its original.)
Bennet v. Buck in the Colorado Senate race.
Click the TPM logo for full-sized graph.
Oddly, the trend looked better for Bennet vs. the candidate Democrats did not want him to face, Jane Norton.
In a new TV ad, Sharron Angle announces contrary to what you’ve heard she’s Social Security’s bestest friend ever.
Jon Stewart: John Boehner’s stance on the economy is “profoundly retarded.” Watch.