Ramadan Prayer Day 9 – Media: “The Scales Fall When Faced With the Truth”
Filmmaker Eric Allen Bell learned firsthand of U.S. media bias toward Islam. Bell, taking a break from his work in Hollywood, had moved to Murfreesboro, TN. He found himself in the middle of a controversy that continues today.
The Islamic Center of Murfreesboro was planning to build a 53,000 square foot mosque on some farmland on the outer edge of town. Bell, not a fan of religion as he describes himself, felt the controversy was one of fanatical Evangelicals bullying peaceful Muslims who simply wanted to build a place of worship. When he learned of an anti-mosque parade planned for the community, he decided to make a documentary to illustrate what he believed to be typical Christian intolerance. This documentary was to be titled “Not Welcome.”
The dominant liberal, mainstream media picked up on his project and soon he wrote several pieces for Michael Moore and others. He returned to California to show a short version of his documentary attempting to gain additional support to finish the project. He found someone who promised they would back him to finish the movie. The documentary on the Murfreesboro mosque would be used to focus on what he considered America’s “religious lunatic fringe” ignoring any serious investigation into the Muslims.
Around this time he returned to Tennessee and while in a taxi driven by an Egyptian cab driver, his views began to change. It began when he asked the driver, a Coptic Christian, how he felt about the fall of Mubarak. The cab driver replied he was concerned because he feared for his family back home. He said if the Muslims took control, it would become very dangerous for his family. After this conversation, Bell took a fresh look at Islam. He began to read reports from authors like Robert Spencer and Frank Gaffney, and he did his own independent research, which verified this newly discovered information for him. Indeed, this fear is especially well founded when considering how the most ancient of Christian populations is being driven from their homes in many nations in the Middle East including Iraq and Egypt. This is a good example of an Islamist government taking over from a Sunni, secular government and then systematically persecuting Christians.
Bell’s change of perspective did not endear him to his former supporters as he soon discovered as he began to share his findings with them. They told Bell his judgment was unsound and unclear and suggested he step away from the project. He was even told to make the documentary the way it was originally planned painting a strong negative perspective on Christians or to return the money. To his credit, he decided to stick to the truth.
In January of 2012, he wrote three articles for Daily Kos. The first was called, “Loonwatch.com and Radical Islam” asserting Loonwatch was “fundamentally a radical Islamic front for terrorism, spreading distorted information about the reality of rapidly spreading Islamic fundamentalism – through lies of omission.” The next day Loonwatch.com called Eric Bell the “Loon at Large.” All three articles were ultimately met with cries of Islamophobia and “hate speech.” The attacks were not on the truth of the information he presented, rather they were personal attacks no his character. His final article called, “Are You in Favor of Human Rights?” led to him being banned from Daily Kos.
Unfortunately, Eric Bell’s experiences are not unique, as we have seen recently with the personal attacks against Rep. Michele Bachmann.
PRAYER FOR MEDIA:
- Pray that more members of the press will have their eyes open to the truth and have the strength to stand up to the personal attacks.
- Pray that Americans will stop tolerating personal attacks by journalists and demand that media outlets present facts without prejudice.
- Like Eric Bell, pray that American Muslims will begin to question the Islamist agenda and those that claim to speak for them. Pray that as they question they will come to know the truth about the system of Islam and come to know the one who is the Truth, Jesus Christ.
Ramadan Prayer Day 2 – Media: Media and Islamophobia
A quick Google search on the name of Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-MN) brings some interesting results. From the Los Angeles Times Op-Ed headline “Paranoia in the House” to the Huffington Post’s “It’s Time for Ms. Bachmann to Leave Washington”, Rep. Bachmann is being accused even by her own former campaign manager, Ed Rollins as being “downright vicious.” Senators John McCain, Marco Rubio, Scott Brown and House Speaker John Boehner have condemned her and fellow Minnesotan Congressman and Muslim Keith Ellison is calling for her to stop her “McCarthyistic witch hunt.”
What did Rep. Bachmann do to warrant such a response from the media and other members of Congress? On June 13, 2012, she, along with Reps. Louie Gohmert, Trent Franks, Thomas Rooney and Lynn Westmoreland sent letters to the Inspectors General of Department of Defense, Department of Justice, Department of State, Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The letters questioned the direct influence within the intelligence community of members of the Muslim Brotherhood and requested the offices conduct investigations into the extent of Muslim Brotherhood involvement in their respective agencies.
Questioning these agencies about Muslim Brotherhood influence is understandable considering the Brotherhood’s Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Goal for the Brotherhood in North America, a document seized by the FBI and entered into evidence in the 2008 Holy Land Foundation terrorism finance trial. The document states, “The Ikhwan [Brotherhood] must understand that their work in America is kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ‘sabotaging’ its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God’s religion is made victorious over all other religions.”
On July 12, 2012, Rep. Keith Ellison sent a letter to the Congresswoman and her colleagues “to gather more information regarding the
allegations you made.” Rep. Bachmann responded with a 16-page letter addressing Rep. Ellison’s concerns with 59 footnotes detailing sources.
Instead of investigating and reporting the information supplied by Rep. Bachmann, media outlets have launched personal attacks against the Congresswoman, her colleagues and groups which work to expose radical Islam’s agenda in our nation such as the Center for Security Policy. In an attempt to silence Rep. Bachmann and other like-minded citizens, the press accuses her request for investigating and reporting the Muslim Brotherhood as being Islamophobic. Her investigating and reporting is necessary especially in the absence of the media fulfilling its mandate.
The term Islamophobia is a calculated and deliberate attempt to end any investigation or questioning of Islamists by Westerners. It attempts to silence critics, not through thoughtful and persuasive argument, but rather through insults and intimidation. Former radical Islamist, Abdur-Rahman Muhammad revealed details of the creation of the term, “Islamophobia.” According to Muhammad the term was intentionally created at a meeting of the International Institute for Islamic Thought in northern Virginia to silence critics of political Islam by enabling the Islamists to portray themselves as victims.
MEDIA PRAYER POINTS:
• Pray that western media will recognize issues and concerns that involve Islam in a balanced, professional manner.
• Pray those under personal attacks from the media will be courageous and continue to stand up for the security of the United States and that citizens will understand what is truth.
• Pray the Inspectors General contacted by the five members of Congress will indeed investigate their departments for any hostile influence.
• Ask God to raise up investigative journalists across all media outlets that are driven to uncover truth rather than engage in personal attacks.
• Many Muslims in our nation are peace loving and do not want “political Islam” to hinder the freedoms of our U.S. Constitution. Ask the Lord to reveal Himself to them and show them their God-given rights and responsibilities as citizens in our nation.
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