GINA COBB

The Pope Comes to America

Pope Benedict XVI celebrated mass for about 46,000 at Washington Nationals stadiium on Thursday.

Charter School Using Taxpayer Money to Teach Islam; Christians Take Heed

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports that a charter school is apparently taking taxpayer dollars to run what is for practical purposes an Islamic school:

Recently, I wrote about Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TIZA), a K-8 charter school in Inver Grove Heights. Charter schools are public schools and by law must not endorse or promote religion.

Evidence suggests, however, that TIZA is an Islamic school, funded by Minnesota taxpayers.

TIZA has many characteristics that suggest a religious school. It shares the headquarters building of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, whose mission is "establishing Islam in Minnesota." The building also houses a mosque. TIZA's executive director, Asad Zaman, is a Muslim imam, or religious leader, and its sponsor is an organization called Islamic Relief.

Students pray daily, the cafeteria serves halal food - permissible under Islamic law -- and "Islamic Studies" is offered at the end of the school day.

Zaman maintains that TIZA is not a religious school. He declined, however, to allow me to visit the school to see for myself, "due to the hectic schedule for statewide testing." But after I e-mailed him that the Minnesota Department of Education had told me that testing would not begin for several weeks, Zaman did not respond -- even to urgent calls and e-mails seeking comment before my first column on TIZA.

Now, however, an eyewitness has stepped forward. Amanda Getz of Bloomington is a substitute teacher. She worked as a substitute in two fifth-grade classrooms at TIZA on Friday, March 14. Her experience suggests that school-sponsored religious activity plays an integral role at TIZA.

Arriving on a Friday, the Muslim holy day, she says she was told that the day's schedule included a "school assembly" in the gym after lunch.

Before the assembly, she says she was told, her duties would include taking her fifth-grade students to the bathroom, four at a time, to perform "their ritual washing."

Afterward, Getz said, "teachers led the kids into the gym, where a man dressed in white with a white cap, who had been at the school all day," was preparing to lead prayer. Beside him, another man "was prostrating himself in prayer on a carpet as the students entered."

"The prayer I saw was not voluntary," Getz said. "The kids were corralled by adults and required to go to the assembly where prayer occurred."

Islamic Studies was also incorporated into the school day. "When I arrived, I was told 'after school we have Islamic Studies,' and I might have to stay for hall duty," Getz said. "The teachers had written assignments on the blackboard for classes like math and social studies. Islamic Studies was the last one -- the board said the kids were studying the Qu'ran. The students were told to copy it into their planner, along with everything else. That gave me the impression that Islamic Studies was a subject like any other."

After school, Getz's fifth-graders stayed in their classroom and the man in white who had led prayer in the gym came in to teach Islamic Studies. TIZA has in effect extended the school day -- buses leave only after Islamic Studies is over. Getz did not see evidence of other extra-curricular activity, except for a group of small children playing outside. Significantly, 77 percent of TIZA parents say that their "main reason for choosing TIZA ... was because of after-school programs conducted by various non-profit organizations at the end of the school period in the school building," according to a TIZA report. TIZA may be the only school in Minnesota with this distinction.

If this report is true, TIZA is being run much like a private Christian school.  The only difference is that TIZA is being paid for by taxpayers, establishing a governmentally-sponsored financial advantage for Muslims over other religions.

As Robert Spencer has written:

Can you imagine a public school founded by two Christian ministers, and housed in the same building as a church? Add to that -- in the same building -- a prominent chapel. And let’s say the students are required to fast during Lent, and attend Bible studies right after school. All with your tax dollars.

Inconceivable? Sure. If such a place existed, the ACLU lawyers would descend on it like locusts. It would be shut down before you could say “separation of church and state,” to the accompaniment of New York Times and Washington Post editorials full of indignant foreboding, warning darkly about the growing influence of the Religious Right in America.

But such a school does exist in Minnesota, in a different religious context, and so far the ACLU has uttered nary a peep.

Christian schools in Minnesota should take heed and re-establish themselves as charter schools, using all the same tactics TIZA does.  Something good will come of it.  Either Minnesota will be forced to bring TIZA into compliance, or it will have to allow all religions to operate charter schools.

Obama's Paster Rev. Wright Is a Former Muslim

Well, that helps explain it:  Obama's pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright is a former Muslim who got his Master's Degree on "Islam in West Africa."

ACLU Finds Reilgion -- Islam

The ACLU, famous for fighting to erase Christianity from public life, is now fighting for religion in prisons.

Islam.

Easter Blessings

"The fasts are done; the Aves said;
The moon has filled her horn
And in the solemn night I watch
Before the Easter morn.
So pure, so still the starry heaven,
So hushed the brooding air,
I could hear the sweep of an angel's wings
If one should earthward fare."  (Edna Dean Proctor, "Easter Morning")~ ~ ~

"Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in spring-time."  (Martin Luther)

Researcher Claims Moses Was High When He Received Ten Commandments

I ignored the story yesterday about an Israeli researcher who claims that Moses was suffering a drug hallucination when he received the Ten Commandments.  I initially ignored the story because it is pure speculation and slander to boot. 

It' s a direct assault on the Bible, of couse, but a rather odd one.  If the Ten Commandments are to be dismissed as a product of a drug hallucination, how is this researcher planning to explain the rest of the miracles in the Old Testament, from the parting of the Red Sea, to the Egyptian plagues, to a pillar of fire, to water from a rock, and manna from heaven?

Life in Saudi Arabia: Uncle Beheads 15-Month-Old Nephew in Supermarket

Unthinkable horror.  One hesitates to even publish the news because it multiplies the evil.

And yet this is an example of how misogynistic and violent life can be in Saudi Arabia and in many parts of the Middle East today.

Throughout so much of the Middle East, it's as if Morality 101 was never taught. 

"Honor" killings.  Mass bombings.  Beheadings.  Amputations.  Stonings.  Slow hangings.  Suicide bombers in crowds of children.  Using children as suicide bombers.

What about the preciousness of life?  Loving one's neighbor?  Forgiveness? 

They're not even on the radar screen.

Though shalt not murder. 

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. 

Love your neighbor as yourself. 

Turn the other cheek.

Forgive one another. 

But the greatest of these is love.

All successful nations live by these precepts, or at least try to do so.  Nations that ignore them carry the seeds of their own destruction.

Forgive me, but the Middle East desperately needs a dose of Christianity.

Religious Tolerance is Good

By DemocracyRules

OK, this is the kind of stuff that Jews have to put up with all the time.  There should be a Commandment against this.  The big dog looks strangely familiar -- perhaps the 'Naked Archaeologist' guy on TV?

Of course, certain other religions don't like being made fun of.  Then again, lots of Jews don't like it ether, that's why they have the wailing wall, where they can go to bang their heads against the wall after all the indignities they suffer.

Which of course leads to the inevitable joke.  So the new immigrant to Israel is so happy to arrive, and he rents a room and starts his new life.  One month later, 10 relatives come to visit and stay with him, and he is very welcoming to them for the first four months. 

 

Then he goes to the Rabbi, and says, "These people are driving me crazy, what should I do?"

 

"Wait 2 months, and see me again," says the Rabbi.

Two months later, the guy comes back and he cannot say enough about how miserable he is. "They're eating me out of house and home, there is no place to sit down, they watch loud TV on lousy channels... yadda, yadda and yadda."  The Rabbi says, "Well now I want you to buy a sheep, and keep it with you all the time in the room, and see me again in three months."

The guy does this, and comes back in three months.  "This is horrible, all the people, now the sheep, it stinks, it eats constantly, we have to clean up after it, it sometimes bites, it begs at the table, it's breath stinks, I cannot begin to describe how miserable I am."

"Get rid of the sheep and see me in a month," says the Rabbi.

One month later the guy returns, and the Rabbi asks him how he's feeling.  "Feeling?  Oh, I'm great, I'm so happy, I feel wonderful. I cannot tell you how grateful my 10 loving family and I are that you let us get rid of that sheep."

About New Year's Resolutions and Faith

For my Christian friends, here is an old New Year's week daily devotional that I stumbled across and found inspiring.  It's about New Year's resolutions, and (more importantly) mercy that is new every day.

Be kind to yourself, too.

82% of Americans are Christians and Attend Church; 44% Attend Frequently

A new Gallup poll confirms that about 82% of Americans are Christians.  In addition, the poll finds that more than 80% of Americans attend church at least occasionally and 44% of Americans attend church every week or almost every week.

These facts are frequently swept under the rug in the mainstream media, thanks to the secular nature of most news reporting these days. 

Yet religion on general, and Christianity in particular, are the beating heart of America.  From this beating heart flows much goodness, including human decency, respect for the individual and for human life, reverence, humility, perseverence, courage, and $300 billion in charitable donations every year.

Nine Democrats DON'T Wish You a Merry Christmas

Could the war on everything that is good and decent in America get any worse?

Apparently so.

Now we have to deal with anti-Christian Democrats.

From Liberty Pundit:

Wow. We always knew it, but rarely has it been so effectively displayed:

From the office of GOP Rep. Steve King:

Congressman Steve King reacted this morning to the nine “NO” votes on his resolution to honor Christmas and the Christian faith. The vote shocked Capitol Hill observers because votes on similar resolutions honoring the holidays of Islam and Hinduism passed without any NO votes.

Appearing this morning on the Fox News Channel’s Fox and Friends, King said, “The [nine] naysayers didn’t make it to the floor to debate. I would like to know how they could vote Yes on Islam, Yes on the Indian Religions and No on Christianity when the foundation of this nation and our American culture is Christianity…I think there’s an assault on Christianity in America.”

The nine Members voting NO were Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY), Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY), Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO), Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) (FL), Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA), Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA), and Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA). None of the nine voted against resolutions honoring the Islamic holiday of Ramadan and the Hindu holiday of Diwali.

If you don't think Christianity is being singled out for abuse, Liberty Pundit has a couple of questions for you:

[W]hen was the last time you heard of any non-Christian religion being sued for having a religious symbol on display? When was the last time you heard a lib scream “Church and State, Church and State!!!” when a non-Christian religion was mentioned on public property? That’s what I thought.

From Moonbattery:

Not all Democrats in Congress bother to be subtle about their hostility toward our culture, and their eagerness to pander to those who share that hostility.

A few weeks ago Congress passed a resolution recognizing the brutal terrorist cult Islam as "one of the great religions of the world" and honoring Ramadan. It passed unanimously.

Then came a resolution with similar wording, honoring Christmas, and decrying violence against Christians around the world. Nine Congresskooks were bold enough in their depravity to vote against it:

• Gary Ackerman (D-NY)
• Yvette Clarke (D-NY)
• Diana DeGette (D-CO)
• Alcee Hastings (D-FL)
• Barbara Lee (D-CA)
• Jim McDermott (D-WA)
• Robert Scott (D-VA)
• Pete Stark (D-CA)
• Lynn Woolsey (D-CA)

Ten others voted "present"; here's a surprise: one of them (Mike Pence of Indiana) isn't a Democrat.

Presumably all of these characters have more Christians in their districts than Muslims. Whoever they're representing, it isn't the misguided voters who put them in office.

Security Guard Who Stopped Colorado Church Shooter Speaks Out

The armed female security volunteer who stopped the man who fatally shot four people and wounded five more in Arvada and Colorado Springs on Sunday has spoken to the news media.  Jeanne Assam gives credit to God for her heroic actions:

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Jeanne Assam appeared before the news media for the first time Monday and said she "did not think for a minute to run away" when a gunman entered the New Life Church in Colorado Springs and started shooting.

There was applause as Assam spoke to reporters and TV cameras saying, "God guided me and protected me."

New Life's Senior Pastor Brady Boyd called Assam "a real hero" because Murray "had enough ammunition on him to cause a lot of damage."

When asked by a reporter if she felt like a hero, Assam said, "I wasn't just going to wait for him to do further damage."

"I give credit to God," she said.

Assam described how the gunman, Matthew Murray, entered the east entrance of the church firing his rifle.

"There was chaos," Assam said, as parishioners ran away, "I will never forget the gunshots. They were so loud."

"I saw him coming through the doors" and took cover, Assam said. "I came out of cover and identified myself and engaged him and took him down."

"God was with me," Assam said. "I didn't think for a minute to run away."

Assam said she believes God gave her the strength to confront Murray, keeping her calm and focused even though he appeared to be twice her size and was more heavily armed.

Murray was carrying two handguns, an assault rifle and over 1,000 rounds of ammunition, said Sgt. Jeff Johnson of the Colorado Springs Police Department.

"It seemed like it was me, the gunman and God," she said.

Assam worked as a police officer in downtown Minneapolis during the 1990s and is licensed to carry a weapon. She attends one of the morning services and then volunteers as a guard during another service.

Boyd said Assam was the one who suggested the church beef up its security Sunday following the Arvada shooting, which it did. The pastor credited the security plan and the extra security for preventing further bloodshed.

Tragically, the man killed four people before he was stopped, including two teenage daughters in the same family. 

It could have been even worse.

About 7,000 people were on the church campus at the time of the shooting, said Boyd.

. . . . Boyd said Assam's actions saved the lives of 50 to 100 people.

Assam said she was ending three days of fasting on Sunday when fate put her in the path of the gunman.

"I was praying to God that he direct me" in what to do in life, Assam said. "God made me strong."

Two interesting notes from Vox Popoli.  The killer said that he "hated all Christians" and wanted to kill as many as possible.  And, not to fault the other armed security volunteers on the scene, but Assam acted boldly while other armed men on the scene hesitated.  A Vietman veteran says it's the bravest thing he's ever seen:

Larry Bourbonnais, a combat-tested Vietnam veteran, said it was the bravest thing he's ever seen.

Bourbonnais, who was among those shot by a gunman Sunday at New Life Church, watched as a security guard, a woman later identified as Jeanne Assam, calmly returned fire and killed the shooter.

"She just started walking toward the gunman firing the whole way," said Bourbonnais, who was shot in the arm. "She was just yelling 'Surrender,' walking and shooting the whole time."

. . . .

Near an entryway in the church, Bourbonnais came upon the gunman and an armed male church security guard who was there with his gun drawn but not firing, he said.

Bourbonnais said he pleaded with the armed guard to give him his weapon.

"Give me your handgun. I've been in combat, and I'm going to take this guy out," Bourbonnais recalled telling the guard. "He kept yelling, 'Get behind me! Get behind me!' He wouldn't hand me his weapon, but he wouldn't do anything."

There was an additional armed security guard there, another man, who also didn't fire, Bourbonnais said.

. . . . 

At about that moment, Assam turned a corner with a drawn handgun, walked toward the gunman and yelled "Surrender!" Bourbonnais said.

The gunman pointed a handgun at Assam and fired three shots, Bourbonnais said. She returned fire and just kept walking toward the gunman pressing off round after round.

After the gunman went down, Bourbonnais asked Assam, a volunteer security guard with the church, how she remained so calm and focused.

Bourbonnais said she replied:

"I was asking the Holy Spirit to guide me the entire time."

Update 1:  A new report says the killer died from a self-inflicted shot to the head.  It will be interesting to hear how and when the man shot himself.  Based on witness accounts quoted above, the killer was still pointing his gun and shooting at Ms. Assam and, before that, Mr. Bouurbannais, right before he died.

Update 2:  Ah-hah! The answer I was looking for:

An autopsy determined that Murray killed himself with a bullet to the head after he was brought down by gunfire from a volunteer security guard at the church, authorities said.

It's clear, then, that the shooter did not stop his rampage until he was brought down by gunfire from Ms. Assam.

Christmas Slipping Away, If We Let It

So now Christmas trees are just . . . holiday trees.

What is the point of a "holiday tree," again, other than to decorate the living room for a few weeks?

And why, exactly, do we bother to hang sock laundry by the fireplace?

Sometimes I can feel the heart and soul of Christmas slipping away. 

I felt it as I wrote my generic "holiday" cards this week, hesitating to so much as include a picture of Santa on some cards for fear of offending a friend of unknown religious faith.

The chill of meaninglessness gripped me again this week as I read a note from my son's school telling me that a "winter music recital" will precede the "winter" break.

It's not Christmas anymore.  It's just "winter" now. 

How cold.  How empty.

The heart and soul of Christmas is fading into the whitewash of political correctness. 

We might as well just flip the calendar from November to January and be done with it. 

There are some enemies of Christmas who would like nothing more.

Friends, don't let Christmas fade so rapidly into that good night.  Realize that approximately 82% of Americans are Christians.

Do you realize that?   Our schools, colleges, and mass media are so thoroughly purged of any mention of God that it's easy to forget who we are, most of us.

Only about 1% of us are Jewish, and another 1% are Muslim.  Add a few agnostics, atheists, and persons of other religious faiths, and you've got yourself a nation.

That vast majority of Americans are Christians.  You wouldn't know if from our public celebrations, these days.  The dreidel song and Hanukkah seem to take equal billing with Christmas songs in many venues, including my children's schools.  No, it's worse than that.  The dreidel and Hanukkah compete with Frosty the Snowman.  Jesus is nowhere to be seen or heard.

Honestly, if you were to give it proportionate attention, references to Hanukkah in December should come up about 1 time for every 82 references to Christmas.  But it's equal billing for both holidays in many places or, worse yet, the soul-numbing whitewash of Happy Holidays, with an icy bow to winter.

All Americans should worship freely (as long as they worship side by side in peace.)  I know good and peaceful Jews and Muslims who share this American life with us.  Bless them!

But speaking to the 82% or so of my fellow Americans who share my faith, let us not forget our Christian heritage! 

Christianity is a huge part of what made this nation great.  It is Christianity, more than most other religions on earth, that recognizes the importance of separation between church and state.  Jesus recognized a separation between the things of God and the things of Caesar.  Christianity in America today is also a shining beacon of religious tolerance, particularly as compared to any Islamic nation on earth.

Yet we have walked willingly so far in the direction of political correctness that we are in danger of losing our own hearts and souls.

Finding nothing but "winter" in too much of the public square, I turn away from the world and seek out the tiny Christian music station on my radio, to hear every Christmas song I love.  I turn to my church and happily sing Gloria in Excelsis Deo!

If I drive by our church, there's a nativity scene out front.

There's one at the local El Pollo Loco, too -- surprisingly.  But someone has placed a lamb in the manger.  Baby Jesus is AWOL.

I will not forget Christmas.  But when you and I are long gone, will Christmas live on in America?

Please say that it will.  Please teach your children well.

Merry Christmas, my friends.

_______________________________

Cross-posted at Right Wing News

What, No Riots Over Hanukkah Hams?

No riots?  No calls for execution of the store clerk who offered hams for Hanukkah?

A posh food store in New York's Greenwich Village has found itself red faced after offering hams for sale with the slogan "Delicious for Hanukkah," the current Jewish religious holiday.

The non-kosher labelling was spotted at the weekend by Manhattan novelist Nancy Kay Shapiro, 46, who decided instead of alerting management to take a picture of the unorthodox sign and post it on the Internet.

"I just thought it was funny," Shapiro, who described herself as an unobservant Jew, told the New York Post. "I wasn't offended in any way. I just thought, here's somebody who knows nothing about what Jews eat."

Contrast this to the Islamist treatment of schoolteacher Gillian Gibbons for allowing her students to name the class teddy bear "Mohammed."

But in America, people are capable of cutting one another some slack for inadvertent religious offense.

There's this bizarre notion that it's more important to live in peace with one another than to take offense at every opportunity.

"I just though it was funny," she said.

Funny?  What a concept!

Mitt Romney's Speech on Faith in America

Did you catch Mitt Romney's speech on the role of faith in American public life?  Via Hugh Hewitt, here's the full transcript.

Or, if you prefer to watch rather than read, here's the video link.

Update:  Peggy Noonan liked the speech.

L.A. Times' Tim Rutten Says CNN "Corrupt" in Handling of Debate

In a surprising piece (coming from a left-leaning writer in a left-leaning newspaper), Tim Rutten at the Los Angeles Times cries foul on CNN's handling of the most recent Republican presidential debate.

Rutten questions why CNN spent the first 35 minutes of the debate on the issue of illegal immigration, which is not one of the top concerns of the American people as documented by public opinion polls, and accuses CNN of focusing on immigration in order to boost its own ratings:

So, why did CNN make immigration the keystone of this debate? What standard dictated the decision to give that much time to an issue so remote from the majority of voters' concerns? The answer is that CNN's most popular news-oriented personality, Lou Dobbs, has made opposition to illegal immigration and free trade the centerpiece of his neonativist/neopopulist platform. In fact, Dobbs led into Wednesday's debate with a good solid dose of immigrant bashing. His network is in a desperate ratings battle with Fox News and, in a critical prime-time slot, with MSNBC's Keith Olbermann. So, what's good for Dobbs is good for CNN.

In other words, CNN intentionally directed the Republicans' debate to advance its own interests. Make immigration a bigger issue and you've made a bigger audience for Dobbs.

That's corruption, and it's why the Republican candidates had to spend more than half an hour "debating" an issue on which their differences are essentially marginal -- and, more important, why GOP voters had to sit and wait, mostly in vain, for the issues that really concern them to be discussed.

Captain Ed thinks Rutten is over the top in accusing CNN of outright corruption, and I'd have to agree that the evidence to support that charge is thin at this point, but Rutten certainly is correct in questioning CNN's judgment in the questions it chose to highlight in the debate. 

As I and other commentators have pointed out, the questions CNN selected are ones that would be primarily of interest if one wanted to undermine the candidates and advance a Democratic Party agenda.  Not coincidentally, it turns out that one prominent question was asked by a member of a Hillary Clinton campaign steering committee who was not identified as such during the debate, and several other questions were asked by persons already publicly committed to other Democratic candidates (none of whom were disclosed as such).

Beyond that, Rutten is right to take offense at CNN's selection of a question that forced candidates to take a position on the inerrancy of the Bible: