Alabama

Alabama Town Offers 'Church Or Jail' Sentencing Choice

Jillian Rayfield | September 26, 2011, 1:20PM

A small town in Alabama is offering non-violent offenders the choice between doing prison time and paying a fine, or working their sentence off by going to church every week.

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David Barton

Jon Stewart Spars With Social Conservative David Barton Over Church And State (VIDEO)

Jillian Rayfield | May 6, 2011, 2:23PM

Jon Stewart isn't having any of top social conservative David Barton's views on the separation of church and state.

In an extended segment of The Daily Show on Wednesday, Stewart and Barton argued over the Founders' views of religion, and how religion is reconciled in American culture. Barton is known for preaching a somewhat revisionist version of American history, which focuses on the religious beliefs of the Founders, arguing that the country has mistakenly ignored those beliefs when it comes to teaching American history. Among his arguments is that "the Declaration of Independence is nothing more than a listing of all of the sermons that folks had been hearing in church in the decades leading up to the American Revolution."

But Stewart isn't impressed. "You seem to be taking your religious views," he told Barton, "channeling them through sort of a faux-scientific or historical method for use in political and curriculum activities. And that's where I think it creates some trouble."

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Bomb-Making

Drifter Arrested In Connection With Synagogue Explosion

Melissa Jeltsen | April 12, 2011, 10:00AM

Ron Hirsch

A 60 year old man, described by the FBI as an "extremely dangerous" transient, was arrested on Monday evening in Ohio, in connection with a powerful explosion that rocked a synagogue on Thursday morning in Santa Monica, California.

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Sandy McGriff

Pastor Accused Of Xmas Eve Robbery: I Was Just Trying To Help! (VIDEO)

Eric Lach | December 29, 2010, 8:57AM

A Dallas pastor accused of stealing more than $10,000 worth of fur coats, designer purses and electronics from a church member's home on Christmas Eve says that she's really innocent.

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Bryan Fischer

Searching For Bryan Fischer: One Top Social Conservative's Record Of Xenophobia

Jillian Rayfield | August 16, 2010, 8:40AM

Bryan Fischer

Top social conservative Bryan Fischer has attracted a lot of notice over the last week for his polarizing comments about Muslims. And while Fischer may be the "Director of Issues Analysis" for the conservative Christian group the American Family Association, AFA spokesman Cindy Roberts remains emphatic that his "analysis" of the "issues" is his and his alone. Roberts told TPM that Fischer's writings, many of which are featured on Fischer's AFA website blog "Focal Point," are "his personal opinion" and "not AFA's position."

But Fischer and the AFA alike, both with ties to mainstream conservative politicians, have a long and colorful history of championing social conservative causes that are often discriminatory, and in some cases, just plain bizarre.

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Bryan Fischer

Social Conservative Bryan Fischer: Paterson Wants To Impose Sharia Law On New York

Jillian Rayfield | August 13, 2010, 3:37PM

Bryan Fischer

Bryan Fischer, the "Director of Issues Analysis" for the American Family Association who said there should be "no more mosques, period," now believes that Gov. David Paterson is attempting to impose sharia law on New York.

Paterson had offered to help the Cordoba House developers get state land for their proposed Muslim community center that's become known as the "Ground Zero mosque." Fischer wrote in a blog post today that Paterson "quite deliberately offered to grant Islam a favored status under New York public policy that is denied to Christian churches."

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Stephen Colbert

Colbert: Bryan Fischer's Right -- NYC 'Mosque' Is 'Weapon Of Mass Construction' (VIDEO)

Jillian Rayfield | August 13, 2010, 10:20AM

Stephen Colbert agreed with critics last night who say that the "Ground Zero mosque" is a "weapon of mass construction" and a "slapping eye-stab" to America. In fact, Colbert said he agrees with Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association "who blogged where angels fear to tweet," and said that there should be "no more mosques, period."

"Every permit granted to a mosque," Colbert continued, "is one denied to an American house of worship" -- "a mall."

He added that we should also ban barns since Timothy McVeigh used one of those. And since Unabomber Ted Kaczynski used a shack "let's get rid of shacks. And just to be safe, let's get rid of Shaq. After all, I think I've seen him in a turban," Colbert said, referring to the 1996 movie Kazaam.

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American Family Association

Top Social Conservative Doubles Down: 'Every Single Mosque' In U.S. Is Terror Threat

Jillian Rayfield | August 12, 2010, 1:19PM

Bryan Fischer of Americans United with a mosque inset.

Bryan Fischer, who wrote a blog post this week arguing that the U.S. should have "no more mosques, period," explained to TPM today that "every single mosque is a potential terror training center or recruitment center for jihad" and thus "you cannot claim first amendment protections if your religious organization is engaged in subversive activities."

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Feisal Abdul Rauf

'Ground Zero Mosque' Imam Was A Bush-Era Partner For Mideast Peace

Megan Carpentier | August 12, 2010, 8:20AM

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and Karen Hughes

Tuesday, Reps. Peter King (R-NY) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) called Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf -- best known for his work with multicultural Cordoba Initiative to build a mosque and community center in Lower Manhattan -- a "radical" and criticized the Obama Administration for including him on a Middle East speaking tour. That tour, which includes stops in Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, is designed by the public diplomacy office to explain to Muslims abroad what it's like to be a Muslim in America.

Outside of how getting constantly called a radical by American politicians busy flacking the proposed "Ground Zero mosque" for political purposes might affect Rauf's view of what it's like to be a Muslim in America, there's one other big problem with King's and Ros-Lehtinen's accusation: Rauf already represented America in this way, under the Bush Administration.

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American Family Association

Top Social Conservative: 'No More Mosques, Period'

Jillian Rayfield | August 11, 2010, 1:02PM

Bryan Fischer

Bryan Fischer, the "Director of Issues Analysis" for the American Family Association, wrote a blog post yesterday on the AFA's site arguing that the United States should have "no more mosques, period."

"This is for one simple reason," he writes. "Each Islamic mosque is dedicated to the overthrow of the American government."

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Jon Stewart

Daily Show Introduces Mosque Opponents To Halal Meat Carts (VIDEO)

Jillian Rayfield | August 11, 2010, 10:14AM

Jon Stewart was a little bit confused last night about the controversy over the so-called "Ground Zero mosque," and with people like Tennessee Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey (R), who said that Islam may be a "cult" and not a religion.

"You know," said Stewart, "I can see being confused by Scientology, or the thing Madonna does with the red bracelets, or this whole Justin Bieber craze, certain 'World of Warcraft' guilds, Harry Potter book clubs. But I think 1400 years" pretty much qualifies Islam as a religion.

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'Ground Zero Mosque'

'Museum Of Tolerance' Director Opposes Mosque But Built Museum On Muslim Cemetery

Rachel Slajda | August 6, 2010, 5:57PM

The Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles

The group behind the recently opened "Museum of Tolerance" museum in Manhattan has come out against a planned Islamic community center, which includes a mosque, near Ground Zero.

"Religious freedom does not mean being insensitive...or an idiot," Rabbi Meyer May, the Wiesenthal Center's executive director, told Crain's New York.

"Religion is supposed to be beautiful," he said. "Why create pain in the name of religion?"

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Religion

The New GOP Anti-Mosque Talking Point: Ground Zero Is Our Auschwitz

Megan Carpentier | August 4, 2010, 4:46PM

Protesters against the proposed Cordoba House, a community center and mosque near ground zero (Islamic Center of America inset).

It isn't enough for Republicans to call on "peaceful Muslims" to "refudiate" the mosque and community center proposed for a site near Ground Zero, or to imply that the funding for it comes from terrorist organizations, or even to tell American Muslims that their religious freedoms should be held hostage to the decisions of the Saudi government. Nope. The new Republican talking point used to try to stop the construction of the community center and mosque -- and to make political hay of that opposition -- is that Ground Zero is their Auschwitz, and the Muslims who seek to build anywhere near it should know better, just like some nice nuns did in the eighties.

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Muslims

#BigotryFail: Plan To Harass Muslims With Dogs At CA Rally Collapses

Evan McMorris-Santoro | August 3, 2010, 6:17PM

In the end, the people trying to stop the construction of a mosque in Temecula, California were vastly outnumbered by the crowd welcoming the growth of the Muslim community in Riverside County. Last week, we told you about the plan by some conservatives opposed to the construction of the new mosque to show up over the weekend outside the Temecula-area Muslim group's current digs to tell those inside they weren't welcome. To prove the point, the group planned to bring dogs -- which one protester characterized as pretty much the Muslims' mortal enemy, saying that Muslims "hate dogs."

Here's how it all turned out: the anti-mosque protesters were outnumbered by pro-mosque supporters, the local tea party disavowed the protest and called it hate speech, the protester we talked to dropped off the face of the earth and only one dog made it to the planned protest.

It was a fittingly unexpected end to an extraordinary tale.

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Muslims

Koran-Burning Pastor: Muslims Are Welcome In America (VIDEO)

Evan McMorris-Santoro | July 30, 2010, 12:38PM

Dr. Terry Jones, leader of the Dove World Outreach Center

Dove World Outreach Center pastor Terry Jones -- the man who hopes to lead his flock in a mass Koran-burning in September to commemorate 9/11 -- says that he's as welcoming of other faiths as the next guy. Assuming, that is, that the next guy also thinks that "Islam Is Of The Devil," as Jones likes to say to anyone and everyone who drives past his Gainesville, Florida church.

In a recent interview with CNN's Rick "The List" Sanchez, Jones said that the book burning was all part of his plan to welcome Muslims to American while simultaneously reminding them that their faith is an evil thing that must be destroyed at all costs (or, saving that, desecrated publicly in the name of Jesus.)

"We have nothing against Muslims," Jones told Sanchez. "They are welcome in our country."

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'Ground Zero Mosque'

Anti-Defamation League Comes Out Against Ground Zero Mosque

Rachel Slajda | July 30, 2010, 11:54AM

Abraham Foxman, Director, Anti-Defamation League

The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish organization whose programs "counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry," has released a statement excoriating plans to build an Islamic community center and mosque near Ground Zero.

"Proponents of the Islamic Center may have every right to build at this site, and may even have chosen the site to send a positive message about Islam. The bigotry some have expressed in attacking them is unfair, and wrong," the statement reads.

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Muslims

Anti-Mosque Protester To TPM: Muslims Hate Dogs And America Too

Evan McMorris-Santoro | July 29, 2010, 2:57PM

Let's get one thing straight, Diane Serafin told me this afternoon -- the people (and their dogs) protesting a planned mosque in Temecula, California tomorrow are not bigots. It's not Muslims per se that they have a problem with -- it's the fact that Imams are slowly infiltrating American society, hoping to force Sharia law on us all.

Muslim construction projects have been the subject of public protests nationwide these days (as we've reported), but Serafin's demonstration is different from all the rest. She's calling on people to bring their dogs and join in song tomorrow afternoon because, she told me, Muslims just hate dogs and songs. Of course, Muslim antipathy toward canines isn't their worst offense, she told me.

"They hate Jews, they hate Chrisitans, they hate women, they hate dogs," Serafin said. "[The idea of the new mosque] scares the daylights out of me."

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Sarah Palin

Who's Afraid Of The Big Bad Mosque? TPM Rounds Up The Latest In Right-Wing Fear-Mongering

Jillian Rayfield | July 29, 2010, 8:30AM

Clockwise from top left: Former Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin, former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA), Rep. Peter King (R-NY), and NY Gov. candidate Carl Paladino (R). Center: A mosque.

The right-wing controversy du jour? Construction of several mosques throughout the U.S. -- perhaps most notably, a Muslim community center near Ground Zero in New York City. In many cases, the right-wing fear-mongering has fed a shrill campaign warning against Muslims inevitably using their places of worship to conspire to implant sharia law in the lives of unsuspecting Americans.

So which right-wingers are most afraid of the big bad mosques? TPM rounds up the worst offenders.

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Dove World Outreach Center

Florida 'Church' Demonstrates How Christians Should Burn Koran (VIDEO)

Evan McMorris-Santoro | July 28, 2010, 10:01AM

Pastor Wayne Sapp

On Sept. 11, 2010, members of the Dove World Outreach Center -- a non-denominational Christian church of dubious credibility in Gainesville, Florida -- plan to burn copies of the Koran in a public ceremony billed as a memorial for the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

"Uh, what?" you may be asking. How about we let Dove World pastor Wayne Sapp explain it:

"Why would we burn the Koran?" he says in a video the church posted to YouTube last week. "The Koran, the holy book of Islam? Because we're Christian."

Prior to the whole book burning scheme, Dove World Outreach Center was best known for using the slogan "Islam Is Of The Devil," which it has plastered across its website and in large signs outside the church's headquarters. Sapp says in the video that Islam's devilishness is why the Koran must burn.

"Being Christian does not mean you go to church. Being Christian does not mean you believe in God. Being Christian means you are Christ-like, or at least attempting to go in that direction," he says. "And Jesus, the Christ, he was sent -- he appeared -- to destroy the works of the Devil. So that's what we're gonna do."

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Muslims

CA Anti-Mosque Protest Organizers: Bring Dogs Because Muslims 'Hate Dogs'

Evan McMorris-Santoro | July 27, 2010, 3:26PM

It seems the anti-mosque protesters in California have torn a few pages from the Abu Ghraib field manual. Protesters of a planned mosque and Muslim community center in Riverside County, California are calling on locals to come to a rally outside an existing mosque with their pet dogs because, as the protest organizer says, Muslims "hate dogs."

As the Valley News of Fallbrook reports, the leader of the anti-community center rally -- who the paper does not name -- has "been active with Republican and Tea Party functions" in the past. Recently, the activist distributed an email to area media outlets calling on those opposed to the construction of the Islamic Center in Temecula to come to a "one-hour 'singing - praying - patriotic rally'" July 30 at the site of the town's existing Islamic center, which local Muslims are trying to replace with new construction.

Details on the event, from the Valley News:

"We will not be submissive," the notice proclaimed. "Our voices are going to be heard!" The alert went on to question what its authors described as Islamic beliefs. It suggested that participants sing during the rally because Muslim "women are forbidden to sing." It suggested that rally participants bring dogs because Muslims "hate dogs."

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Muslims

Mosque Trial Team: More Tales From The Anti-Muslim Front Lines

Evan McMorris-Santoro | July 23, 2010, 8:48AM

A mosque in Detroit (protesters decrying a planned Islamic community center and mosque near ground zero in New York inset).

Earlier this week, we delved into the growing anti-Muslim sentiment from conservatives -- often taking the form of outraged opposition to the construction of new mosques and Islamic cultural centers around the country. We offered three examples -- the vitriol aimed cultural centers set to be built in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, Riverside County, California, and, of course, New York City -- to show that the real problem conservatives have with new buildings for Muslims to worship in isn't their proximity Ground Zero, but the very idea of new mosques themselves.

In the following days, reader emails poured in offering more examples of anti-mosque protests in all corners of the country. What's particularly interesting is it's not just new mosque construction that angers the right -- even the idea of Muslims reusing existing, non-mosque-looking buildings seems to be a step too far for many Americans.

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Muslims

Mosque Ado About Fear-Mongering: Right Wing Takes On Muslim Worship Anywhere And Everywhere

Evan McMorris-Santoro | July 20, 2010, 8:58AM

Protesters against the proposed Cordoba House, a community center and mosque near ground zero (Islamic Center of America inset).

Long story short: It's starting to become clear that some conservative groups think that if Muslims are able to worship on American soil, the terrorists have won.

In big cities and small rural communities, from New York to Tennessee to California, the right-wing fear machine is spinning up to take on the construction of mosques and Muslim community centers. In each case, the argument is essentially the same, when the hedging is peeled away: you don't necessarily have to exercise your freedom of religion in the privacy of your own home, but hey, you can't do it in public here either.

July is proving to be the month where the tea party movement is finally coming to grips with -- and rebuking -- some of its more racist elements, a move that many observers would say is a long time coming. But at the same time, plans to build an Islamic community center near the Ground Zero site in New York City has brought to the surface a different kind of bigotry among some conservatives -- namely, the idea that if Muslims are allowed to worship where they want, terrorist violence will spread across the country.

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Texas Textbook Hearings

Evangelical Minister 'Expert' Spars With TX Board Of Ed Members About Inclusion Of Minorities

Justin Elliott | September 17, 2009, 1:34PM

Rev. Peter Marshall

The Rev. Peter Marshall is one of the "experts" appointed by the Texas State Board of Education who has come under fire for his lack of academic credentials and unapologetic right-wing Christian agenda.

Testifying today at the board of ed hearing on controversial new social studies standards, Marshall didn't disappoint. He got things started with a rousing 10-minute tour through a Christian-centric version of US history.

"It is obvious beyond contradiction that [the founders] structured American government on the natural rights of mankind, which they firmly believe were the gift of God," he said.

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