Judson Phillips, founder of the Tea Party Nation, suggested this weekend that Rep.
Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) be voted out of Congress for being too liberal and too radical--and because, Phillips said, he's a Muslim who supports terrorists.
And Phillips says he's not about to apologize for that last incendiary charge.
The controversy began when Phillips
wrote the following message to supporters (it's unedited and contains several mistakes, including the claim that Ellison is the only Muslim in Congress; Rep. Andre Carson of
Indiana is also Muslim):
Ellison is one of the most radical members of congress. He has a ZERO rating from the American Conservative Union. He is the only Muslim member of congress. He supports the Counsel for American Islamic Relations, HAMAS and has helped congress send millions of tax dollars to terrorists in Gaza.
Phillips sent
a follow-up email to supporters this week reiterating his belief that Muslims deserve voters' scrutiny but also suggesting that the liberal media misinterpreted the intent of his original comments. He later added: "I am not going to apologize because I'm bothered by a religion that says kill the infidel, especially when I am the infidel. ... I learned everything I needed to know about tolerance on September 11th."
Let me give you a little education where the term infidel came from....it didn`t start with the Muslims...... It was first used by Christians...... infidel isn`t even a arabic word, it is an english term......
Infidel is an
ecclesiastical term in
Christianity around which the Church developed a body of theology that deals with the concept of infidelity; which makes a clear differentiation between those who were
baptized and followed the teachings of the Church vs. those who are outside the
faith.
[4] The term infidel was used by Christians to describe non-Christians or those perceived as the enemies of Christianity, especially Muslims. The usage of the term for non-Christian monotheists distinguishes the term from
heathen or
pagan.
The
Arabic word
kafir (literally the one who "covers", usually translated as "disbeliever") is the
Muslim term commonly translated into English as infidel. In the Islamic doctrinal sense, the term refers to a person who does not recognize the one God (Allah) -
atheists and
polytheists - and not to religions such as Christianity,
Judaism - who are seen as "
People of the Book (Ahl-e-kitab)". Kafir, like infidel, has also come to be regarded as offensive, thus Muslim scholars discourage its use due to the Quran's command to use kind words. It is even a punishable offense to use this term against a Jew or a Christian, under
Islamic law.
Muslims today however do tend to use the term indiscriminately in reference to all non-Muslims.
while everyone else chases gibsons, fenders,ibenez and silvertones..........
