Ron Trowbridge, undersheriff of Prowers County Colorado,
attended a training session in La Junta, Colorado which was hosted by
the Colorado State Patrol (CSP) and funded by the Department of Homeland
Security (DHS). The training was on sovereign citizens and Outlaw
Motorcycle Gangs, but also on the agenda was
the subject of Christians who believe the U.S. was founded on Godly principles and who interpret the Bible literally. This describes many in the sovereign citizen movement but it is also indicative of many mainstream right-of-center Americans.
Trooper Joe Kluczynski, who conducted the training, said he got his
training materials from the DHS. Many will recall back in 2011, the DHS
released the controversial publications,
“Domestic Terrorism and
Homegrown Violent Extremism Lexicon” and “Countering Violent Extremism
(CVE) Training Guidance and Best Practices.” Both documents provided the impetus for the type of training tools government agencies across the country are using.
Todd Starnes, writing for Fox News, reports that during a U.S. Army
training event, an Army instructor cited Evangelical Christianity and
Catholicism as examples of religious extremism—along with Al Qaeda and
Hamas.
Not only was it implied that Evangelical Christianity is as
dangerous as a terrorist organization, but it was at the top of the list
of threats. And, here is that list:
Evangelical Christianity
Muslim Brotherhood
Ultra-Orthodox Jews
Christian Identity
Al Qaeda
Hamas
Abu Sayyam
Ku Klux Klan
Sri Ram Sene
Catholicism
Kamane Movement / Kach
Army of God
Sunni Muslims
Nation of Islam
Jewish Defense League
Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
Hutaree
“Islamophobia” was also listed as a form of religious extremism.”
“We find this offensive to have Evangelical Christians and the
Catholic Church to be listed among known terrorist groups,” Ron Crews,
executive director of the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty, said.
“It is dishonorable for any U.S. military entity to allow this type of
wrongheaded characterization.”
Army spokesman George Wright told Fox News that the presentation of the
extremist threats list was an “isolated incident not condoned by the
Dept. of the Army.” Wright said that the, “slide was not produced by the
Army and certainly does not reflect our policy or doctrine.” He added
that, “it was produced by an individual without anyone in the chain of
command’s knowledge or permission.”
But, the incident was made public by a soldier who had attended the
briefing. He requested copies of the presentation which he subsequently
sent to the Chaplain Alliance. “He considers himself an evangelical
Christian and did not appreciate being classified with terrorists,”
Crews explained to Fox News.
“There was a pervasive attitude in the presentation that anything associated with religion is an extremist.”
The Archdiocese for the Military Services was stunned upon learning that
the Army considers Catholicism to be an example of extremism: “The
Archdiocese is astounded that Catholics were listed alongside groups
that are, by their very mission and nature, violent and extremist.”
Wright had the opportunity to speak with the officer who did the
presentation and she told him that she got her information from the
Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). To this Crews responded with: “Why
is there such dependence upon the work of the SPLC to determine hate
groups and extremist groups.”
He added that, “it appears that
some military entities are using definitions of ‘hate’ and ‘extreme’
from the lists of anti-Christian political organizations. That violates
the apolitical stance appropriate for the military.”
According to Mark Potok, Senior Fellow & Editor-in-Chief at the
SPLC, the SPLC has never labeled Evangelical Christianity or Catholicism
as extremist groups. But, they have labeled a number of conservative
Christian organizations as “hate groups” due to the organizations’
stance on homosexuality.
A handful of domestic Muslim hate groups, such as the As-Sabiqun
movement were not tallied by the SPLC, even though disapproval of
homosexuals is prevalent among Muslims. Jonathan Brown, an Assistant
Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the University of Washington
in Seattle, writing for Patheos reports that while a group of liberal
Muslims in the West argue that homosexuality is in fact allowed in
Sharia law, almost all traditional Muslim scholars reject this argument.
But, the SPLC chose to zero in on Christians instead of Muslims.
The SPLC does have a ‘General Hate’ category into which
people like Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller are placed. Accusing
Spencer and Geller of ‘anti-Muslim’ sentiment would be inaccurate
because much of the material produced by the two is in defense of
Muslims (i.e. women and children) who are oppressed by other Muslims. In
as much as the SPLC claims to be monitoring hate, there are no ‘Muslim
Fundamentalist’, ‘Jihadist’, or ‘Anti-Christian’ hate groups listed.
Both the SPLC & federal government agencies such as the DHS and
FBI harbor an interest bordering on obsession with Christians and “right
wing extremists” while ignoring the following findings from a U.S.
Senate Intelligence Committee report titled “Terrorist Arrests and Plots
Stopped in the United States 2009-2012″:
Ninety-eight terror suspects/defendants from the 2009-2012
time period revealed 17 who were not Muslim and not connected to Islamic
terror plots.
Nearly 83% of the terror suspects involved in U.S. terror plots from 2009-2012 were Muslim
A report issued by the Department of Justice in 2011 relating to
“National Security Division Statistics on Unsealed International
Terrorism and Terrorism – Related Convictions 9/11/01 – 3/ 18/10″
identified, after analysis, more than 80% of all such convictions tied
to international terrorist groups and homegrown terrorism involved
defendants driven by a radical Islamist agenda.
The Senate Intelligence Committee report, that overlaps by 2009 and
early 2010 with the noted DOJ statistical conviction report, clearly
validates and continues the 80+% finding related to the post-9/11 case
conviction analysis.
These reports confirm that while the vast majority of Muslims in America
are not terrorists, the clear and significant majority of terrorist
plots and cases identified within the United States involve radicalize
Muslims.
(
Via The Investigative Project on Terrorism)
To be sure, government agencies need to be vigilant in regard to
all terrorist threats. But, as is the case with the politically
motivated SPLC, the DHS and FBI appears to be not as focused on the
groups representing 83% of domestic terrorist plots as they are on
groups far less likely to present a threat. In both the case of
the law enforcement training in Colorado and the Army training,
uneasiness with viewpoints deemed to be outside of the mainstream was
evident. Entire groups of people are being singled out for having
ideologies that some find offensive. It would behoove those offended to
read the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Note from Mario:
Once again a well-meaning but uninformed believer asks why I
am speaking out in these blogs. I believe Obama is deliberately trying
to dismantle America and pull our nation under the thumb of government.
I believe he also has Islamist sympathies that reveal themselves in
incidents such as the one that I have posted above. It would be sin
for me not to pray for him. I bear no malice toward him as a person but
I recognize that right now, he is an instrument for destruction.
It is the height of naivete to ignore the signs of a national
take over. The steps have been clearly outlined for years by experts
and Obama is going by the book. Here are the official rules:
1. Seize control of healthcare and you will control the economy.
2. Bring division, distraction and demonize your opposition
by creating false crisis and the people will blindly give you more
power.
3. Undermine core values and discredit constitutional laws that block your takeover.
4. Disarm law abiding citizens.
There are of course many more steps but these are the 4 that are the most glaring.
Should a man of God involve himself in these matters?
Hebrews 13:17 says, “Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive,
for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let
them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable
for you.
As a man of God I must warn those entrusted to me about
anything that will harm them or bring disaster. I must do this
especially if I see that there is still hope to avert the danger.
However, my greatest motivation is that I will stand before God to
answer for what I did in this moment in history.
I would that my brethren who remain silent would see that
last part. To be sure there is a short term benefit to silence. The
masses may still like you, your tithers may not leave you but in the end
you will be listed among those who abandoned their post in America’s
darkest hour. You will stand before God and He will ask you why you
buried your prophetic gift when it was so desperately needed.
It is possible to tell the truth without love but it is impossible to love without telling the truth.
