An Example of the Uselessness of Journalists

This was a news story this weekend (May 12, 2007) about a church that had put on its sign outside the following (one on each side)

The message of Islam is "submit, convert or die."

and

"When is the last time you heard of a Jew or Christian with a bomb strapped to their body?"

So this station did a story about it that essentially noticed the sign.. then went to an Islamic group for comment.  The Islamic group said "Islam is a religion of peace", and then a majority of the story is the Church pastor defending himself against charges of bigotry, ignorance, malice , racism, and of course Islamophobia.

There was nothing in the story about the actual content of the words on the sign.

The story is here

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/1407899/

and video is here

http://www.wral.com/news/local/video/1407909/

 

I know very many things about Islam.. and nowhere in Islam is it taught that the Non-Muslims should not be eventually converted or killed. In this age, a 3rd option of being a religious minority with essentially no rights, is permitted.

Islam is not a religion of peace if you are not a Muslim.

So the first thing I did was to write the Islamic center an email.  Please read it very carefully and note that all the information I used comes from Islamic teachers and sources. These are things that Muslims around the world believe in with no much controversy or disagreement.  And yes, this email is confrontational by design.

Can you please provide me the doctrinal basis for this statement attributed to you in the news?

According to Surah 2:177, A Muslim must accept all these things:

It is not righteousness that ye turn your faces to the East and the West; but righteous is he who believeth in Allah and the Last Day and the angels and the Scripture and the prophets

The Last Day is the most important thing after belief in Allah.

The Last Day consists of the coming of the Imam Mahdi along with the appearance of the Muslim Jesus. For the Last Day to come, the Muslims must go to war and slaughter the Jews

The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him; but the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews.

But the Muslims don’t stop there.. once that’s accomplished:

al-Mahdi will receive a pledge of allegiance as a caliph for Muslims. He will lead Muslims in many battles of jihad.  His reign will be a caliphate that follows the guidance of the Prophet.  Many battles will ensue between Muslims and the disbelievers during the Mahdi’s reign…

Harun Yahya, a moderate and very popular Muslim author refers to the Mahdi’s invasion of numerous non-Muslim lands:

The Mahdi will invade all the places between East and West.

In today’s world.. non-Muslims are not killed or forced to convert if they pay the Jizya in Muslim lands and agree to live as dhimmis.   Well apparently even that wonderful option will be eliminated during the Muslim Last Day. I’m assuming the pigs in this quote means Jews.

Volume 3, Book 43, Number 656: Narrated Abu Huraira:

Allah's Apostle said, "The Hour will not be established until the son of Mary (i.e. Jesus) descends amongst you as a just ruler, he will break the cross, kill the pigs, and abolish the Jizya tax. Money will be in abundance so that nobody will accept it (as charitable gifts).

Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri (d. 1368) from The Reliance of the Traveller, the classic Shafi manual of Islamic jurisprudence states:

"... the time and the place for [the poll tax] is before the final descent of Jesus (upon whom be peace). After his final coming, nothing but Islam will be accepted from them, for taking the poll tax is only effective until Jesus' descent (upon him and our Prophet be peace) ..."

Ayatollah Ibrahim Amini clearly articulates this vision:

 The Mahdi will offer the religion of Islam to the Jews and Christians; if they accept it they will be spared, otherwise they will be killed.

Sheikh Kabbani, Chairman of the Islamic Supreme Council of America clearly articulates the Islamic perspective regarding Jesus’ evangelistic role when He returns.

Like all prophets, Prophet Jesus came with the divine message of surrender to God Almighty, which is Islam.  This verse shows that when Jesus returns he will personally correct the misrepresentations and misinterpretations about himself.  He will affirm the true message that he brought in his time as a prophet, and that he never claimed to be the Son of God.  Furthermore, he will reaffirm in his second coming what he prophesied in his first coming bearing witness to the seal of the Messengers, Prophet Muhammad.  In his second coming many non-Muslims will accept Jesus as a servant of Allah Almighty, as a Muslim and a member of the Community of Muhammad.

Al-Sadr and Mutahhari, likewise articulate this same expectation:

Jesus will descend from heaven and espouse the cause of the Mahdi.  The Christians and the Jews will see him and recognize his true status.  The Christians will abandon their faith in his godhead (sic).

So tell me Debbie: How is your death cult religion of war a “religion of peace”

 

 

 

I then wrote an email to the news director.. here is the entire exchange:

I continue to be dismayed by the lack of curiousity journalists show in these topics.

I saw the story about the Church and you people report it as if these statements cannot be substantiated or examined... You reduce it to almost the level of gossip.

Now I am no journalist, but here are the questions I sent to "Debbie". Can no one in your newsroom think to actually determine what exactly makes Islam a religion of peace other than people like Debbie telling reporters it is? So is what I asked her... because i did a little research.

Why am I doing your job?


Here is the pathetic response I got

Thank you for contacting WRAL and sharing your thoughts. Challenging the tenets of the Muslim faith was beyond the scope of our story. Our intent was to present a fair and balanced story by providing different opinions and thereby allowing viewers to decide for themselves as to whether the sign was appropriate. We don't take sides on issues, but we do provide a forum for them to be aired and discussed.

And here is my reply back

I realize this issue is over but perhaps you’ll consider my words for the future. My questions are rhetorical and I realize we all have jobs and lives to attend to, so , with all respect, I am not expecting a reply (though one would be nice)

Is this what journalism is now… airing people’s opinion? Do you believe most viewers expectation of the news is that they will get FACTS and from the FACTS they draw the conclusions? What you done is take the church’s sign and then allowed the Islamic center to use that opportunity to call the Pastor a know-nothing racist bigot. That isn’t “fair and balanced”… How exactly can a viewer judge anything from that? Or was the intention all along to belittle the church and put it on the defensive which I believe was the subconscious decision.

What exactly is the public value of that exchange? How is this any different than gossip.

Well hopefully you read my first email to the center carefully and you see the types of things that are inherent to Islam.. how Muslims are raised to believe their destiny is the slaughter or conversion of the world. You have to know how passionately they believe in their faith and how passionately they defend it.

Perhaps one day you’ll do a truly FAIR and BALANCED and RESPONSIBLE news story about these Islamic Dogma and ask the Imam if he’s a racist bigot. That would truly be brave , ground-breaking reporting . Which is why I expect to never see it.