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He (Pastor Terry Jones) said he decided to cancel his protest because the leader of a planned Islamic Center near ground zero has agreed to move its controversial location. READ MOREIf this is truly the case, then Terry Jones is a genius. If Imam Rauf is pulling a fast one on the Pastor from Florida, well, we'll just have to wait and see.
But as soon as Jones and al-Masri finished speaking, denials were issued that the Islamic community center and mosque would be moved away from its current controversial location.
"The Muslim Community Center called Park51 in Lower Manhattan is not being moved," read a statement from SoHo Properties, the developer of the community center that is being called the Ground Zero Mosque. READ MORE
(CNN)--A Florida pastor who called off a Quran burning said late Thursday he was "rethinking our position" after a Muslim leader said the minister incorrectly announced that the proposed Islamic center near New York's ground zero would be moved as part of a deal. Read more.
A pastor is facing a court date after sharing the gospel with Muslims -- in Kansas.
About 14 people, including three senior pastors, went to the local mosque to distribute to Muslims packets containing the books of John and Romans in English and Arabic and a DVD with testimonies of former Muslims. Pastor Mark Holick of Spirit One Christian Center was one of those passing out the packets to people leaving the mosque.
Holick tells OneNewsNow that when local police officers arrived on the scene, he was handcuffed then detained in a patrol car, where he repeatedly asked what crime he had committed.
"And then about 15 minutes later, 20 minutes later, something like that, they finally came over and told me that I was being charged with 'loitering' and 'failure to disperse,'" the pastor shares.
Asked if this episode occurred in Saudi Arabia, he replies, with a chuckle: "No, this was in Wichita, Kansas."
The pastor says it was very disconcerting to see the gospel squelched -- especially on a public sidewalk in a country with a constitutional guarantee of free speech. Holick believes police are suggesting that he was blocking traffic on the driveway.
"Of course we never did do that," he assures. "There would be no reason for us to block vehicles -- and they probably have no idea how much I like all of my organs and bones perfectly in the position they're in right now."
Holick says serious free-speech rights are in question, so he is asking the Alliance Defense Fund to represent him. There has been no decision on that so far. Source.
A Florida pastor ignites tensions among Muslims days before 9/11 anniversary.
The crowd in downtown Kabul reached nearly 500 today, with Afghan protesters chanting "Long live Islam " and "Long live the Quran," and burning an effigy of Terry Jones, senior pastor from the Dove World Outreach Center in Florida who is planning the event.
The protesters were well aware of the pastor's inflammatory comments, such as the "Islam is an evil religion," since they have been spread wide on the Internet. Jones has also authored a book, "Islam Is of the Devil."
The protesters' anger wasn't limited to Jones, however. Chants of "Death to America" echoed through the crowd, and U.S. flags were set ablaze alongside the effigy of Jones.
"America cannot eliminate Muslims from the world," one Afghan man told ABC News.
The angry crowd pelted a passing U.S. military convoy with rocks.
Gen. David Petraeus said he is outraged by the pastor's decision to burn the Quran, which he said could "endanger troops and it could endanger the overall effort here."
Former Vice Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. Jack Keane, an adviser to Petraeus, called it "outrageous" and "insulting to Muslims."
"It's also insulting to our soldiers in terms of what they stand for and what their commitment is to this country and to the Muslims in this country," Keane told ABC News.
But late today, Jones vowed he would go ahead with the Quran burning, even knowing the concerns of Petraeus and Keane for the safety of U.S. troops.
"What we are doing is long overdue. We are revealing the violence of Islam that is much, much deeper than we'd like to admit," Jones said in an interview with ABC News.
A Facebook page dedicated to the day, entitled "International Burn A Koran Day" has more than 8,000 fans.
"On September 11th, 2010, from 6pm - 9pm, we will burn the Koran on the property of Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, FL in remembrance of the fallen victims of 9/11 and to stand against the evil of Islam. Islam is of the devil!" the page declares.
Over a hundred other pages have sprung up for and against the event on Sept. 11, incidentally the same day as a Muslim holiday called Eid, celebrating the last day of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting.
Some Muslims fear that images of celebration could fuel further tensions with Americans that day. But in the meantime, in Kabul, there is word that a protest planned for Tuesday could be even larger than the one today.
FOX NEWS--Despite the smells of fried dough and roasted meat wafting from the Minnesota State Fair, Salim and Zuleyha Ozonder were focused on the people who were leaving, not the food or festivities beckoning from across the street.
Each time a new wave of people exited, the young Minneapolis residents — who hadn't eaten all day — tried to press into their hands a small, glossy card that read "Islam Explained" on one side. On the other, it had about 180 words of background on a religion whose adherents fear is being misunderstood by too many Americans as violent and depraved.
"You just want people to take the card, spend a minute reading it and say, 'Oh. They're not terrorists,'" said 27-year-old Zuleyha. She and her husband, like other Muslims, were fasting during daylight hours for the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
For most fairgoers, the last thing on their mind is religion — particularly the renewed controversy over Islam in America amid tension over plans for an Islamic center and mosque a few blocks from New York City's ground zero. But volunteers with the Minnesota chapter of Islamic Circle of North America saw the mostly white, Christian fair crowd as just the type of audience that might benefit from greater understanding.
The "Great Minnesota Get-Together" is one of the largest and best-attended state fairs in the country. Every day for 12 days through Labor Day, hundreds of thousands of people stream onto the fairgrounds north of St. Paul to scarf highly caloric food, stare at farm animals, clamber onto carnival rides and enjoy concerts by country singers and classic rock dinosaurs.
"What are they doing here?" said Paulette Kahlstorf of Zimmerman, who declined a card from Zuleyha as she left the fairgrounds with her husband. "I didn't come here for that."
A minute later, Kahlstorf elaborated that she didn't have a problem with all Muslims: "Just the radical ones." And she said she didn't mind their decision to hand out the cards, which include a toll-free number that anyone can call to request a free copy of the Quran. Read More.
On Friday evening, June 18th, 2010, I was volunteering at the International Arab Festival located in Dearborn MI. I had come into contact with two men that were going through the festival passing out literature. They both had backpacks on and they were filled with flyers. I explained to them both that they were not any literature inside of the festival. They both said no problem and left and took the backpacks offs. I saw them both about an hour later and one of them came up to me and apologize to me and let me know that he would not pass out anything and he just wanted to talk to some of the Arabic people. I shook his hand and thanked him and as he was leaving the men and a lady surrounded me with their cameras want to know why that those guys could not pass out flyers. I told them I was not willing to talk on camera and to turn the camera off. Then one got right behind and one on either side of me. I felt I was being trapped and felt as I was being threatened. I told them I would call security and they started saying, “tell me what law we broke?” I again told them that I am not speaking to them and to please turn the camera off. At this time one the Chamber workers, Amal had been watching the whole thing and called for one of the volunteers to take pictures of each one for identification purposes. She and a few others broke through their group and escorted me out from them. We then we to the police and made a complaint.
I have tried to put everything I remember exactly as it happened. I hope I did not leave anything out. If you need additional information please contact me at the phone number and address below.
Thank you
Roger A Williams
If you need to me come up there for any court as a witness I would be more than happy to. These guys are liars and try to insight riots. I have reviewed some stuff they have placed on You tube and no of it is accurate.
"Watching in the court, two hours of debate yesterday between the city prosecutor, the judge and the defendants' attorney, it is crystal clear that the city of Dearborn has no case whatsoever and is only doing this to attack free speech of Christians."
"It seems to me they are trying to silence Christians -- not the citizens of Dearborn, some officials . . . There's nothing that warrants this persecution by the city of Dearborn."
Monday morning, at the 19th District Court in Dearborn, Judge Mark Somers deliberated over a pre-trial hearing concerning an incident which occurred at Dearborn’s 15th annual Arab International Festival on Friday, June 14th. As previously reported in the Dearborn Free Press, several people affiliated with the Acts 17 Apologetics group were arraigned on July 12th, on charges of “breach of peace”. The four Christians, David Wood (a 34 year old former atheist) from Bronx, New York, Dr. Nabeel Qureshi (a 29 year old former Muslim) from Virginia, Nageen Mayel (a recent convert from Islam to Christianity), and Paul Rezkalla (18) from New York were charged with “breach of peace” or disturbing the peace. However, 18-year-old Nageen Mayel, who was operating a video camera on the night of June 14th, was also charged with “refusing to obey a police officer’s order to stop video taping”. (It was not clear at first if police intended to arrest Ms. Mayel, or just investigate her.)
The defendant’s attorney, Robert Muise of the Thomas More Law Center (TMLC), filed a Motion for a Bill of Particulars (in an attempt to clarify the specific charges) with the City of Dearborn on July 27. On August 3rd, Judge Somers converted the Motion for a Bill of Particulars into a Motion to Dismiss, giving the City of Dearborn 14 days to respond.
During the pre-trial on August 30, Judge Somers reviewed arguments from both sides and asked the attorneys for clarification on some issues, postponing any decision until he receives the additional information. Judge Somers stated that he had reviewed most of the 6 hours of video tape, and asked questions about the chronology of events. Somers indicated that in the video tapes he had reviewed, the dialogue of Dr. Qureshi was “very civil and polite”. He also requested better audio recordings of the Nageen Mayel arrest, perhaps to resolve confusion regarding the criminal complaint about Ms. Mayel. Judge Somers also requested that Assistant City Attorney William M. Debiasi provide citations for several cases that were referenced as being pertinent to this case. If the case goes to trial it would most likely begin on Monday, Sept. 20, 2010. Read More.
A district court judge in Michigan declined to dismiss a case against four street preachers who were arrested back in June after engaging in conversations with attendees of a large Arab festival.
Judge Marks Somers of 19th District Court in Dearborn heard arguments for two hours on Monday and said he needed clarification on some issues that had been raised before deciding whether or not to drop the charges against Negeen Mayel, Dr. Nabeel Qureshi, Paul Rezkalla, and David Wood.
Defense attorney Robert Muise, senior trial counsel with the Thomas More Law Center, argued in court that the group did nothing wrong and that their arrest violates their constitutional rights of freedom of speech and religion.
"My clients should not stand trial for exercising their First Amendment rights," Muise said. Read More.
[S]ome local Christian leaders have taken issue with Saieg's brand of evangelizing.
"They littered this place with their literature," the Rev. Haytham Abi Haydar, who heads the Arabic Christian Alliance Church, told FOXNews.com.
"Just look at the conclusion of these guys -- that Muslims are trying to create Shariah Law in the U.S., [which creates] fear with Christians. But Muslims are not here to radicalize or evangelize the U.S. ... [Saieg's] philosophy and his ideas are not welcome here."
The Rev. Haytham Abi Haydar, a Christian evangelical convert from Islam with Arabic Alliance Church in Dearborn, said that a Christian group called Acts 17 Apologetics caused the problems at this year's Arab festival.
"They put cameras in their faces and were very antagonistic," Abi Haydar said of the group that produced the controversial video that has drawn almost 1.4 million views on YouTube.
"I think [Acts 17] was fishing for somebody to come attack them," said Haytham Abi-Haydar, pastor of Dearborn's Arabic Fellowship Alliance Church."
Pastor Haytham Abi-Haydar has been attending the Arab International Festival since 1999, even having been allowed to have a booth at the event. "The community has been very good to us. They never denied us a request. From my perspective, we've never had any incidents."
According to Abi-Haydar, Act 17 challenged Muslims in the crowd. Those challenges seemed to invite a crowd. Abi-Haydar says, "If he thinks that's how to reach out to people and that's how to dialogue with people, I think they are endangering their own lives for no reason."
Wood and his organization were asked by many evangelical groups to change their tactics. Abi-Haydar says, "Why can't he go around with no cameras, no intimidating people and ask questions and build relationships with the community and sharing Christ? Why is that difficult?"
Abi-Haydar says when Wood was arrested, he was challenging a young Muslim man. The young man was screaming at him. Police asked Woods and his group to disburse. But Abi-Haydar says they didn't. "I know for one fact: if I was the police, I am responsible for the security of the community there and for the security [of Acts 17 Apologetics]. For their own security, I would have forced them to leave the area. And if they would have rejected it, I would have arrested them myself."
It's not about large groups forming, says Abi-Haydar. "It's about too many people yelling at each other. Is that [a good] witness?"
Haytham Abi Haydar, a Lebanese-born pastor who has had a ministry in Dearborn since 1999, told me the presence of "four or five video cameras" is "intimidating" in the crowded streets. Haydar has run a booth next to McDowell: "We have not had any problem with the authorities, and we find the organizers hospitable and most attendees polite."
Haydar said Arab Christians who live in Dearborn don't appreciate the disruption brought by outsiders with no ongoing ministry in the city: "They come here once a year and create a problem we have to deal with the rest of the year. It is a waste and leaves the image of Dearborn distorted."
"It really discredits us as a Christian when we make claim that Shariah law is being implemented in Dearborn," said pastor Haytham Abi-Haydar of Arabic Fellowship Alliance Church, who has ministered in Dearborn for more than a decade. "Any guy above 50 percent IQ score would know that that's not true. So our credibility in the community is being compromised. Second, we are being perceived as hostile. We evangelical Christians are coming across as [if] we are out to get [Muslims]." . . .
Abi-Haydar, who has evangelized at the festival for more than a decade, said Wood and Qureshi provoked the crowd. He said Wood challenged a young Muslim man, who began to scream at him.
"He started yelling at them, shouting against them," Abi-Haydar said. "The police was concerned because the circle was growing. He told them to break it up. ... If I was the police, for their own safety I would have told them to break that circle and move on."
Thomas More Law Center senior trial counsel Robert Muise, attorney for the Acts 17 missionaries, said his clients were exercising their free-speech rights. "Preaching the gospel on a city street that Muslims may find offensive so Muslims are shouting threats and profanities at the Christians so that's the basis for the police to arrest the Christians? I think not," he said. "The fact that people who are listening to the message that they may object to the message ... doesn't mean you silence the peaceful speaker. Is it provocative for a Muslim to hear message of the gospel? Well maybe it is, but it's protected by the First Amendment."
Abi-Haydar takes issue with those claims, arguing that the First Amendment does not give Christians the freedom to insult others.
"Nabeel and David are not interested in reaching out to the Muslim community, they are interested in exposing Islam," said Abi-Haydar, a Lebanon-born convert from Islam. "I don't have a problem with exposing Islam, but there is a wrong way to do it. ... If a Muslim guy came to our church and started attacking our faith, guess what we're going to do to him? We're going to kick him out. And that's what they were doing to David and Nabeel."
Haytham stated he is the pastor and founder of the Arabic Fellowship Alliance Church in Dearborn and also had information that he felt the police should be made aware of. Haytham stated that he also has heard and seen on the internet several negative comments made by David Wood and Nabeel Qureshi regarding the City of Dearborn, the Mayor, and the Chief of Police, that he didn't believe were true. Haytham stated that he witnessed the arrest of the four subjects at the Arab Fest. Haytham was in a booth no more than 20 to 30 feet from where the arrest occurred. He also stated he witnessed Nabeel Qureshi having a volatile conversation with one of the young arab male patrons at the festival. According to Haytham, he believed the arrests were justified by the police.
