Randall Terry is going ahead with his plan to rip up statements from the Koran in New York City and Washington, D.C.
His first event will take place Wednesday morning near the proposed site of the Cordoba mosque, while his press conference on Thursday will take place near the headquarters of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in D.C.
Terry’s group, the Society for Truth and Justice, has invited Imam Abdul Rauf to join them in New York and CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad to join them in D.C. “to tell the world plainly that they renounce these threats, and the violence against Christians around the world that resulted from Quran protests in America.”
“We invite you – the Islamic political and religious leaders of Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, Syria, and other Islamic nations – to cease imposing Sharia law on your citizens,” Terry said. “Be men of honor and courage: Lay down the sword of Muhammad, and respect the right of all peoples in your realms to publicly practice their religion, as defined in the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”
Events are also being organized in Granite City, IL, Grand Rapids, MI, and Cincinnati, OH, according to a spokesman. Event organizers signed up online.
Spokesman John Lepanto told TPMMuckraker that Sharia law was a threat to the United States.
“Considering the recent case in New Jersey, where, I think it was a district judge, who ruled that it was a man’s right because of religious rights to be able to abuse his wife. Thankfully it was overturned at the state level I believe, the appellate level, but it’s a highly known case right now,” Lepanto said.
“We must say that there are many people even within our own court system who are willing to blindly accept a sort of special deference for Sharia law,” he said. “It’s here, it’s on our door step, it’s a whole environment of fear that is being developed that is coming through so many media outlets, to say that we should defer to Sharia law, and that in the name of tolerance we should just allow it to come on in,” Lepanto said.
Lepanto said that “softball” interviews with the Imam’s wife on ABC and on the “Today Show” with the Imam were enabling Sharia law’s takeover of the U.S.
We asked if Lepanto was worried that events like the Koran burning could lead to backlash against Muslim Americans.
“That’s not our concern, our concern first of all is to defend the first Amendment rights that protect all of us Americans, and in that way, defend everybody in the U.S.,” he said.
“If we’re unwilling to speak up right now, when will we be willing to speak up? Will it be when Sharia law has already [embedded] itself in U.S. law? This is the time to speak,” he said.
Terry also posted this video late last month filmed outside of the proposed site of the Cordoba house.
