Sharia Law Comes to Dearborn, Michigan?

[웃 910]

Under Sharia law, it is forbidden to proselytize to Muslims, and no Muslim can leave the faith. Dearborn, Michigan, is home to a substantial Muslim population, and there is strong evidence that local authorities now enforce sharia in preference to the Constitution of the United States. Thus this Associated Press story about the arrest of four Christian missionaries that took place on Friday:

Police in the heavily Arab Detroit suburb of Dearborn say they arrested four Christian missionaries for disorderly conduct at an Arab cultural festival.

Police Chief Ron Haddad says his department made the arrests Friday. The four are free on bond.

Here is video of the arrest. The "disorderly conduct" consisted of handing out copies of the Gospel of John outside the festival. Note the police demand that one of the group stop filming the arrest:

Many people seem to believe that concerns about creeping sharia are exaggerated or misplaced. This incident demonstrates, I think, the contrary.

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2010/06/026594.php

[Sofiyya 1,687]

I got news for you. Sharia has been in the US for centuries. Wherever there's a practicing Muslim, there's Sharia.

[Sofiyya 1,687]

Under Sharia law, it is forbidden to proselytize to Muslims, and no Muslim can leave the faith.

PS, that's BS.

[trillium13 84]

Must be they had solved all the other crime problems in Dearborn that day.

[^_^ 5,021]

what is this powerline blog article trying to accomplish? and I thought conservatives (power line is a conservative blog) were all about local control and respecting law enforcement at the local level to know what best for their community.... I guess that's only true when the local authorities making the calls follow right wing Christian right dogma... if they fall out of line then they need to be taunted and their behavior modified to be more compliant.

[Scott & Lai 12]

The group was standing peacefully on a public street, outside the festival, simply handing out Gospels of John to passersby, and one of them was filming. What law was being broken that required eight cops to arrest them and stop the filming?

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

what is this powerline blog article trying to accomplish? and I thought conservatives (power line is a conservative blog) were all about local control and respecting law enforcement at the local level to know what best for their community.... I guess that's only true when the local authorities making the calls follow right wing Christian right dogma... if they fall out of line then they need to be taunted and their behavior modified to be more compliant.

To me it showed small town cops breaking the law.

[^_^ 5,021]

To me it showed small town cops breaking the law.

thats because you are a big government librul

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

The group was standing peacefully on a public street, outside the festival, simply handing out Gospels of John to passersby, and one of them was filming. What law was being broken that required eight cops to arrest them and stop the filming?

That was illegal, in the US you may legally film police in a public place as long as you are not interrupting their work.

[Scott & Lai 12]

thats because you are a big government librul

So you are in full agreement with the officers' actions?

[^_^ 5,021]

So you are in full agreement with the officers' actions?

no.

I just find it ironic that a blog that is all about conservatism and local control and opposition to standards of right and wrong set by federal or coastal elites... suddenly has a problem with what a local policer force does. local cops are apparently paragons of virtue as long as they do as the Christian right wants them to do.

[Sofiyya 1,687]

The group was standing peacefully on a public street, outside the festival, simply handing out Gospels of John to passersby, and one of them was filming. What law was being broken that required eight cops to arrest them and stop the filming?

Perhaps deja vu has something to do with it:

Missionaries target Muslims

Dearborn focus of evangelicals.

DETROIT FREE PRESS

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

DETROIT — Standing amid a crowd of Muslims at June’s 2009 Arab International Festival in Dearborn, Mich., the Rev. George Saieg declared: “I’ve been commanded as a Christian to reach out to these people.”

The California man is part of an ongoing effort by at least eight Christian groups across the United States to spread the gospel in Dearborn — a city known for its sizable Islamic population. The groups have visited Arab festivals, schools and mosques to talk about Christ. They’ve handed out thousands of pamphlets, books and DVDs. Others have held debates.

But the push has caused tensions at times, resulting in lawsuits, accusations of assault and a fierce debate about how Islam can coexist with Christianity in the West.

Some of the activity, local residents said, has provoked and insulted instead of engaging people in a civil debate about religion.

“They know nothing about Dearborn,” Mayor John O’Reilly Jr. said of one Christian group that drew criticism for its actions at the festival. “We have such a wonderful interfaith community. ... Dearborn is a community of faith, but it’s a community of every faith.”

The Christian missionaries came to Dearborn over the summer from across the United States to win over souls for Jesus.

The evangelists handed out literature, held religious debates and met with residents in a city they sought out because of its large numbers of Muslims. It’s part of an effort by some Christians, mostly evangelicals, to convert the Muslims of metro Detroit — in schools, at festivals and on street corners.

To Eric Haven, executive pastor at Woodside Bible Church in Troy, the growth of Islam in the United States gives churches a chance to convert closer to home.

“For years, Christians have sent missionaries around the world to proclaim the gospel of Christ,” Haven said. “In this day and age, the world is coming to America. ... So, it’s a great opportunity.”

The efforts have stepped up in recent years as more Christians have become aware of the Islamic presence in Dearborn, where about one-third of the city’s 98,000 residents are of Arab descent, many of them Muslim and some Christian.

Some say the conversion activity has gotten more confrontational: They point to a controversial video produced by a Christian group about a religious dispute in Dearborn this summer that has already drawn almost 1.4 million views, making it one of the most-watched videos on Islam.

There is money behind the push. One group spent at least $67,000 on materials, airfare and lodging for Christian activists to visit Dearborn this summer.

The manner in which the evangelists operate in Dearborn varies. Some are aggressive, telling Muslim women they are going to hell for wearing Islamic head scarves. Others are more friendly, with some making appointments with Arab-American leaders and city officials to declare their intentions.

The efforts have some residents worried that adults are manipulating their children. A wrestling coach at Dearborn’s Fordson High School was let go in May 2008 after complaints from parents that he allowed an assistant to convert Muslim students. One student was baptized at a camp the assistant helped supervise in 2005.

Other parents complained to Dearborn school officials when a Christian entertainment group was allowed to perform in schools in March; the group did not openly talk about Christianity during school performances but did tell students about evening shows at a local church.

Some residents said the efforts in recent months have crossed over into harassment and bigotry.

During the annual Arab International Festival in Dearborn in June, for instance, some Christian evangelists were accused of openly insulting Islam’s prophet. And others yelled at passers-by “that they were going to hell because they were Muslim,” according to a Dearborn police report.

The provocative language and in-your-face approach have troubled both local Muslims and Christians, who said metro Detroit’s Muslim population is being unfairly stereotyped and slandered by outsiders who have little knowledge of Islam’s history in Michigan.

“They accuse Dearborn of being intolerant; they’re the ones being intolerant,” said Osama Siblani, publisher of the Dearborn-based Arab American News.

The evangelists said they’re the ones who are being harassed, claiming that some were unfairly kicked out of the festival for expressing Christian views.

This article was published on page A10 of the Wednesday, September 30, 2009 edition of The Columbia Daily Tribune.

FOLLOWERS OF JESUS ARE ON A MISSION

Christian groups are flocking to Dearborn in an effort to convert its Muslim population. Here’s a look at some of the more active groups:

Arabic Christian Perspective: Based in Anaheim, Calif., and started in 2001, the group does outreach at mosques and Arab festivals. Also known as Ministry to Muslims, it’s headed by George Saieg, a pastor. It filed a freespeech lawsuit against the city of Dearborn in June, alleging the city trampled on its right to hand out literature on sidewalks at the Arab International Festival that month.

Acts 17 Apologetics: eatures ministry work of David Wood, an evangelical from New York, and Nabeel Qureshi, a convert from Islam who lives in Virginia. Visited metro Detroit at the request ofSaieg. Produced a controversial video on a dispute at the Arab festival in Dearborn.

Confident Christianity: Based in Houston and headed by Mary Jo Sharp, who helped film the controversial video of the Arab festival. Works with Saieg and Arabic Christian Perspective on debating Muslims.

Josh McDowell Ministries: A native of Michigan, McDowell is a popular Christian evangelist who warned of the “tidal wave of Islam” during a June visit to Michigan. Attended the Arab festival.

Arabic Alliance Church: Based in Dearborn, established in 2002. Has run a booth for several years at the Arab festival. Headed by the Rev. Haytham Abi Haydar, who criticizes groups such as Acts 17 Apologetics for tactics he says are too confrontational.

[^_^ 5,021]

goddamn outsiders need to stay out... they're juts as meddlesome as those do gooder kids from new York who thought they knew better than the good folk of Alabama...

[Sofiyya 1,687]

goddamn outsiders need to stay out... they're juts as meddlesome as those do gooder kids from new York who thought they knew better than the good folk of Alabama...

You're kidding, right?

[Nagishkaw 510]

To me it showed small town cops breaking the law.

I live a minute away from Dearborn and there is nothing small about it.