MICHIGAN FAITH COMMUNITIES IN THE CROSS-HAIRS

MICHIGAN FAITH COMMUNITIES IN THE 

CROSS-HAIRS 

BY James Simpson | Center For Security Policy

SEE: http://www.trevorloudon.com/2018/11/michigan-faith-communities-in-the-cross-hairs/;  

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:

 Islam’s goal in the West, as articulated in the 
Muslim Brotherhood’s Explanatory Memorandum, is to destroy the legal and
 political institutions of our society and replace them with the rule of
 shariah (Islamic Law). To accomplish this goal, U.S. Muslim political 
leaders have partnered with the Left, giving them otherwise unavailable 
access to the many institutions controlled by the Left.


As described further on, and as most of us know through our own 
experience, this control extends to many U.S. mainline churches and 
synagogues, which the Left has turned into little more than propaganda 
shops for the latest leftwing fad. In so doing, they have opened the 
door to Islam to first present itself to Christians and Jews in a 
non-threatening manner and then to begin the process of “dawah,” that 
is, the proselytizing or preaching of Islam. Today, even some 
evangelical churches have fallen for the trap. It is called “Interfaith 
Dialogue.”


According to Gallup Polls, about 75 percent of Americans consider

themselves Christians.[1] In Michigan, a Pew Research poll on religion

found that 70 percent of adults identify as Christians. Of these, 25

percent are evangelicals, 18 percent are what Pew terms “mainline”

Protestants, with another 8 percent categorized as “Historically Black

Protestant.”  Eighteen percent are Catholic, and about 1 percent are

Orthodox, Mormon, Jehovah’s Witnesses or others. Non-Christian believers

make up only 5 percent of Michigan’s population.





Only one percent identify as Muslims according to the poll.[2] As

discussed in the Red-Green Axis chapter (published as an Occasional Paper

at the CSP website on October 19 2018)[3],
Michigan Arabs believe the number is much larger, closer to 3 percent. 
Also discussed in that chapter, there is a “tipping point,” when the 
Muslim population grows to about 5 percent. They begin blocking streets 
to pray, demand halal food in supermarkets and self-rule within 
predominantly Muslim communities.[4] This
 is already happening in Michigan. Whatever their actual numbers, 
Muslims are having a profound impact on Michigan’s faith communities. 
Interfaith Dialogue can take credit for much of this.


Interfaith Dialogue is a term that has been developed to describe 
efforts to bridge theological distinctions between religions, especially
 Christianity and Islam. The U.S. Institute of Peace describes it as 
follows:


The term interfaith dialogue refers to cooperative, constructive and 
positive interaction between people of different religious traditions 
and/or spiritual or humanistic beliefs, at both the individual and 
institutional levels. It is distinct from syncretism or alternative 
religion, in that dialogue often involves promoting understanding 
between different religions to increase acceptance of others, rather 
than to synthesize new beliefs. Throughout the world there are local, 
regional, national and international interfaith initiatives; many are 
formally or informally linked and constitute larger networks or 
federations. The often quoted “There will be no peace among the nations 
without peace among the religions. There will be no peace among the 
religions without dialogue among the religions” was formulated by Dr. 
Hans Küng, a Professor of Ecumenical Theology and President of the 
Foundation for a Global Ethic.[5]


The Institute goes on to say that, “Interfaith dialogue forms a major role

in the study of religion and peacebuilding.”[6]


This emphasis on obtaining “peace through dialogue” of course implies
 a meeting of minds on the very differing beliefs about God and 
salvation. The fact that this effort was born of those with globalist 
“peace” perspectives should put up red flags. The objective of most 
religions is conversion, not“peace,” whatever peace means in this context.


Furthermore, in practice, Interfaith Dialogue has become a vehicle 
for Muslims who preach and practice an ideology of uncompromising 
domination and subjugation to draw Christians, sometimes well-meaning, 
sometimes with ulterior motives, into acceptance of Islam, without any 
corresponding acceptance of Christianity. Interfaith Dialogue is often 
referred to as “Building Bridges,” and some programs are specifically 
so-named.[7] But as Center for Security Policy President Frank Gaffney

has noted:


While the interfaith dialogue movement presents itself as a laudable 
effort to ‘bridge’ the distance between faiths, those more familiar with
 the doctrine of the Muslim Brotherhood know that the actual agenda of 
too many such efforts is, in fact, modeled after the well-known dictum 
of Sayyid Qutb, who candidly reminded Muslims that such a ‘bridge’ is 
‘only so that the people of Jahiliyyah [society of unbelievers] may come
 over to Islam.[8]


Interfaith Dialogue does invite participation from other faiths, 
especially Judaism, but Christianity is the main target because our 
country remains a primarily Christian one. So, for Muslim activists and 
the Left to succeed in their subjugation of the West, its largest 
population has to be taught to accommodate them first. Once that is 
accomplished, those weaker Christians souls and/or pretenders to the 
faith can be drawn into the service of the civilization jihad objective.
 And this is exactly what is happening through Interfaith Dialogue.


History of Interfaith Dialogue


Various interfaith dialogue efforts, especially between Christians 
and Muslims, have been attempted off and on for centuries, with the 
recognition that the history of Christian/Muslim interaction has been 
largely one of either conflict or separation. Like many modern 
iterations of controversies with deep historic roots, the most recent 
version has been captured by communists.[9]


Modern discussions of Interfaith Dialogue began in the early 1900s, 
with the birth of the ecumenical movement — an effort to unify Christian
 churches under one banner. At that time, as now, the objection to 
interfaith dialogue as well as ecumenism from the most clear-headed 
Christian leaders was syncretism, i.e., the notion that 
different faiths could be combined. For example, there had even been 
discussion among some liberal Protestant churches to create a universal 
religion.[10]


This was also a time when the “social gospel” began creeping into 
mainline Protestant denominations. Sound Christian teaching was replaced
 by focus on the day’s social problems.


The World Council of Churches (WCC) grew out of the ecumenical 
movement. Born in 1948, it took under its wing many of the mainline 
denominations around the world. Today it claims 350 member churches in 
almost 150 countries comprising some 590 million members worldwide.[11] 

Major American denominations include:



African Methodist Episcopal Church
African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church
American Baptist Churches in the USA
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Christian Methodist Episcopal Church
Church of the Brethren
Episcopal Church
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Moravian Church in North America
National Baptist Convention of America
Orthodox Church in America
Presbyterian Church U.S.A.
Progressive National Baptist Convention
Reformed Church in America
United Church of Christ
United Methodist Church

East Bloc intelligence agencies and the Soviet KGB targeted the WCC for

infiltration as early as 1961 or before.[12] With their influence came Liberation

Theology, a KGB-spawned invention which turned Christian doctrine into

Marxist theology.[13]It was introduced first in Latin America, not coincidentally

by a Peruvian Catholic priest, Gustavo Gutiérrez, and a few others, where 
conservative Catholicism stood in the way of communist efforts to 
overthrow rightwing authoritarian governments. At the same time, the WCC
 began discussing Interfaith Dialogue at its international conferences 
in 1961, 1963, 1964, 1967, 1968 and 1970, and adopted it as a program in
 1971.[14]


The WCC has national affiliates in many countries. The U.S. branch is
 the National Council of Churches, formed in 1950 as a follow-on to the 
Federal Council of Churches, a communist front.[15] NCC’s
 subsidiary, Church World Service, is one of nine federal government 
contractors paid millions annually to resettle refugees in the U.S.


NCC brags “38 member communions and over 40 million individuals – 
100,000 congregations from Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox, Evangelical, 
historic African-American, and Living Peace traditions.”[16] Those
 denominations listed under WCC membership are all members of the NCC as
 well. NCC is a leader in the interfaith movement. Its Interreligious 
Relations and Collaboration Convening Table meets regularly to:[17]



study interfaith issues,
build relationships between the churches and people of other religious 
traditions,
develop opportunities for the fullest possible sharing of ideas and 
counsel among the churches on the topic of interfaith relations,
nurture relationships with local and national ecumenical and interfaith 
bodies,
promote interreligious dialogue and understanding,
assist the NCC-member churches in developing their relationships with 
other faith communities,
provide resources for the churches for education in interreligious 
relations, and to promote interfaith study, dialogue, and common action.

In a 2016 article for Eastern Mennonite University, NCC 
communications director, Rev. Steven D. Martin, described his 
“interfaith journey” following 9-11, and his involvement in Know Your 

Neighbor, an Obama White House interfaith initiative.He
 described how, “Concerned about the recent rise in anti-Muslim 
rhetoric, member organizations have created religious resources and 
toolkits to help facilitate learning about other faiths, including how 
to organize a town hall meeting and host a “speed faithing” event.”[18]


Martin also described getting involved in such lefty antics as 
joining the Standing Rock Sioux tribe in North Dakota to protest the 
Dakota Pipeline. This should be no surprise. NCC’s “21st Century Social 
Creed” reads like a platform document for Democratic Socialists of 
America, including such items as a living wage, income redistribution, 
“just” immigration policies, nuclear disarmament, and other far left 
nonsense.[19]


NCC’s
 A.C.T. to End Racism project looks like a page taken from an Antifa 
website. It dedicates itself to “awaken to the trauma of racism and the 
legacy of white privilege in the United States.”[20] Agendas
 include prison deinstitutionalization, income redistribution (as 
retribution for past exploitation) and an effort to shape media 
messaging. As usual there is an army of useful idiots willing to virtue 
signal their support by underwriting the cost. In this case, sponsors 
include Ben & Jerry’s, Nestle, Aetna, National Geographic and 
others.[21]


The WCC had its own Program to Combat Racismfrom the 1970s 
through the 1990s. This took the form of providing $9,749,500 to 
Soviet-supported communist guerrilla groups around the world, including 
those in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Mozambique, Angola, Southwest Africa, 
South Africa and elsewhere.[22] These
 Guerrilla groups conduct white genocide campaigns, but slaughter just 
as many, if not more, blacks. Time Magazine summed up concerns in a 1978
 article titled, “Going Beyond Charity: Should Christian cash be given 
to terrorists?”[23]


Most of the churches involved in the interfaith dialogue are liberal 
denominations under the NCC umbrella and the Catholic Church, although, 
in the past few years, evangelical churches have been sucked into the 
Interfaith orbit as well.


While the NCC and WCC are ground zero for the Interfaith movement, 
they have had a lot of help. Here are a few other national and regional 
organizations, many of them religious groups, but all politically 
aligned with the hard left, that promote the Interfaith Dialogue mantra:


Interfaith Alliance– a 13 state network whose issues are LGBT 
equality, hate crimes legislation, opposition to school vouchers, 
bigotry toward religious minorities and bullying of same.[24] Its State of 

Belief weekly radio program parallels leftwing talking points on political issues.


Dialogue Institute– Since 1978 publishes the Journal of 
Ecumenical Studies (JES). Created the “Dialogue Decalog,” (available in 
21 languages), which put forth 10 principles to guide interfaith and 
interreligious dialogue.[25] In
 2015, the Institute hosted a three-day conference on “Islamophobia and 
anti-Muslim bigotry.” Notably, evangelical Christians were not invited.[26]

It devoted its entire Spring 2016 issue of JES to the subject of Islamophobia.


American Islamic Conference– “To change the discourse both within the

American Muslim community and in American society in general.”


Religions for Peace– “Transform violent conflict, promote just and harmonious

societies, advance human development, protect the Earth.”


Council for a Parliament of the Worlds Religions– “exists to 
cultivate harmony among the world’s religious and spiritual communities 
and foster their engagement with the world and its guiding institutions 
in order to achieve a just, peaceful and sustainable world.”


Industrial Areas Foundation(IAF)[27]–
 Marxist-oriented, founded by radical leftist organizer Saul Alinsky in 
1940, deeply involved nationwide in the Interfaith Dialogue movement – 
affiliated with both the Catholic Church (liberation theology, social 
justice themes)[28] and
 the Muslim Brotherhood-dominated U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations 
(USCMO) by way of the USCMO Secretary General Oussama Jamaal, who was 
listed among the top leadership of the Dupage United Metro Industrial 
Areas Foundation in a 20 November 2016 Action Memo[29]


U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)[30]– deeply involved in

Interfaith Dialogue movement nationwide in collaboration with both the IAF[31]

and Muslim Brotherhood front groups such as CAIR (Council on American 
Islamic Relations), ICNA (Islamic Circle of North America), ISNA 
(Islamic Society of North America), MPAC (Muslim Public Affairs Council)
 and others.[32]


Catholic Campaign for Human Development(CCHD) – CCHD is the 
grant-making vehicle of the USCCB. It was founded in Chicago in 1969 
with the help of radical organizer Saul Alinsky, specifically to fund 
Alinsky’s Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF). CCHD has been a radical 
leftist funding vehicle ever since, giving millions to ACORN, the 
radical training school, Midwest Academy and others. IAF receives the 
largest percentage of CCHD grants of any CCHD grantee.[33]


Call to Action[34]–
 a nationwide U.S. organization that calls for fundamental changes to 
Catholic Church doctrine and practice, in part in response to the Second
 Vatican Council (1962-1965) – in October 1976, then-National Council of
 Catholic Bishops (NCCB, now the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops) 
called a 3-day conference in Detroit, MI – Monsignor Jack Egan of 
Chicago, “a long-time Alinsky supporter, IAF board member, and activist 

on Chicago urban issues”[35] served as co-chair of the 1976 Call to Action

plenary sessions.[36]


International Religious Freedom[37]–
 Ambassador Samuel D. Brownback was sworn in as Department of State’s 
Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom in February 
2018, but in the context of Interfaith Dialogue has been targeted and 
enmeshed by myriad Muslim Brotherhood front organizations that likely 
pre-date his appointment


In total, there are about 91 prominent organizations spread around 
the globe, with at least 35 of these in the U.S. A complete listing, 
including a world map, can be found at the online Directory of InterFaith 

and InterReligious Organizations.[38]


Interfaith Dialogue: An Influence Operation


Interfaith Dialogue presents itself as an effort to find common 
ground between different religions in the interest of harmony and peace.
 Unfortunately, anyone with an even nodding acquaintance with Islam, 
Christianity, and Judaism knows that there are irreconcilable 
differences between them. Christians see the Great Commission as 
bringing people to Christ, however, Christianity leaves that choice to 
the individual. Similarly, Judaism and most other religions practice a 
live-and-let-live philosophy toward other religions. Not so with Islam, 
which seeks converts or subjects. Individual choice does not exist. So, 
what is Interfaith Dialogue really, if it is a foregone conclusion that 
Islam is intractably at odds with other religions?


Another question that arises frequently in this context is the 
seeming incompatibility between Islamic beliefs and those of secular 
leftists, for example on the issue of gay marriage and women’s rights. 
But one must understand that those at the core of the Left do not care 
about those issues for their own sake. They are used to define and 
capture voting blocs, and as a wedge to balkanize society into segments 
of competing groups. Their overall goal is to subvert and destroy 
Western society.


Early Soviet COMINTERN agent Willi Münzenberg can be described as the
 father of Cultural Marxism. We know it as “political correctness.” In 
1923, he helped found the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt, 
Germany — commonly called the “Frankfurt School.” This organization 
invented “Critical Theory,” following Marx’s command for “a ruthless 
criticism of everything existing.”[39]


The Frankfurt school relocated to Columbia University’s Teacher’s 
College in 1933, and its poison has since metastasized and spread to 
colleges and universities throughout the U.S. The Frankfurt School’s 
critical theorists advocated:[40]



Creation of racism offenses
Continual change to create confusion
Teaching sex and homosexuality to children
Undermining of schools’ and teachers’ authority
Huge immigration to destroy identity
Promotion of excessive drinking
Emptying of churches
Unreliable legal system & bias against crime victims
Dependency on the state or state benefits
Control and dumbing down of media
Encouraging the breakdown of the family

Münzenberg articulated this effort succinctly: “We must organize the 
intellectuals, and use them to make Western civilization stink… Only 
then, after they have corrupted all its values and made life base, can 
we impose the dictatorship of the proletariat.”[41]


Most of the Left’s issues are ultimately devoted to this cause. They 
could care less about “gay rights,” “women’s rights,” or any other 
“rights.” As formulated by the Left, they are all wedge issues designed 
specifically to undermine Western culture as articulated by Münzenberg 
and the Frankfurt School. To the Left, Islam is a perfect wrecking bar 
against the West because it introduces a competing legal system, Islamic
 Law (shariah), while hiding under the First Amendment’s religious 
liberty protections. Muslim terrorism has become an existential threat 
to our citizens, while Islamic leaders seek to supplant Western 
Judeo-Christian beliefs with Islam.


Our objections to this assault were predictable and anticipated. The 
equally predictable response from the Left is that we are “haters,” 
“bigots,” “Islamophobes,” etc. So, they introduce the concept of 
“dialogue” that allows us to redeem ourselves by partnering with them 
“building bridges” of communication that they themselves first destroyed
 and will now control. Those who participate then become “good” 
Christians, while the rest of us are marginalized, whether Christian or 
not.


Interfaith Dialogue is nothing more than a communist-contrived 
influence operation that continues the Cultural Marxist attack on 
Western Civilization. The American hard Left has partnered with Islam in
 an unholy alliance we call the Red-Green Axis. Their mutual goal is the
 subversion of Western laws, culture, and traditions, and our nation’s 
ultimate destruction, in preparation for the imposition of totalitarian 
rule.


Interfaith Dialogue is one element of the multifaceted strategy to 
subvert, discredit, and shut down all opposition to that goal. It takes 
the form of a disinformation campaign designed to enlist gullible and 
largely ignorant Christians, Jews, and others to work against their own 
interests while interjecting Islam as a religion worthy not merely of 
respect, but submission to. Lefty “Christians” have fed right into it as
 the latest cool fad. You know, . But now, evangelical Christians

have gotten into the act. They are in fact, Interfaith Dialogue’s prime

target. [42]


Does this mean that everyone involved is knowingly working on behalf 
of our enemies? Of course not. Those involved in the Interfaith movement
 run the gamut from extreme leftists and committed Muslim activists to 
well-meaning citizens of every persuasion. The entire purpose of 
recruiting mainline Christians, Jews, and now even evangelicals, is to 
give the movement a patina of legitimacy it could not have otherwise. It
 has the added benefit of putting its biggest target, Christianity, at 
war with itself.


It is a dangerous, malevolent agenda. Unfortunately, we tend to give 
the Left the benefit of the doubt. Because they have recruited 
well-meaning people, we impute good motives to all of them, assuming 
they are just naïve or ignorant. This is an understandable but dangerous
 assumption and is exactly the reaction the enemy is looking for. It 
allows us to congratulate ourselves on being fair-minded towards our 
opponents while flattering ourselves to think we know better than them.


This self-serving rationalization allows us to deny their truly 
malevolent intentions. We thus ignore or minimize the danger, and 
rationalize doing nothing, because confronting them carries real risk. 
We may publicly embarrass ourselves if not articulate or clever enough. 
We also open ourselves up to being called, “Islamophobes,” “haters,” 
“bigots,” etc. The Left deeply understands this aspect of human nature 
and has used it to manipulate entire societies into death traps. We 
ignore it at our peril.


Michigan’s Interfaith Community


The Interfaith Dialogue Movement is widespread in Michigan, with 
dedicated organizations across the state. The following is a rundown on 
some of them. Note, however, that examined closely, many are actually 
small groups, with a Facebook page and/or only a rudimentary web 
presence. As with most leftist organizations, they seek to magnify their
 presence to gain public acceptance and discourage opponents. Virtually 
all spout the meaningless dog whistles of the Left, like “peace,” 
“justice,” “oppression,” “sustainability,” etc. This is true especially 
of the Muslim groups, which deliberately co-opt the language of the Left
 — more evidence of their willingness to at least pay lip-service to 
leftwing dogma.


Council of Interfaith Communities of the United States (CIC-USA)


Ann Arbor-based CIC-USA describes itself as “the ecclesiastic home 
for all interfaith, interspiritual and integral communities and 
organizations creating ‘interfaith as a spiritual expression’ through 
co-worship, education, service or community building activities. 
Engaging in the practice of ‘Inclusive Theology, Spirituality and 
Consciousness.’”[43] CIC-USA has a Facebook page with 393 followers and

a defunct website (www.interfaithcongregations.org).


Dearborn Area Interfaith Network (DIAN)


Formed in 2013 as Dearborn Area Faith Network, DIAN describes Its 
mission as “Building Bridges for the sake of loving neighbors.” Its 
internet presence is a Facebook site only, but its Facebook connections 
are revealing. They include Michigan Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell, 
the League of Women Voters, Take on Hate (described in the Red-Green chapter),

Chicago-based Interfaith Youth Core, and Michigan’s Remember Me Quilt project

(an anti-gun group).[44] The exclusively leftwing associations is more evidence

that Interfaith movement is just another facet of the Red-Green agenda.


Fetzer Institute (FI)


Named after its founder, John Fetzer, Kalamazoo-based FI describes its mission

as “inspiring and serving a movement for:



Personal transformation: Encouraging spiritual development for all people.
Societal transformation: Supporting inclusive communities and institutions 
around the world that are grounded in spirit.
Scientific and spiritual inquiry: Exploring the relationship between
 science and spirituality to support a fuller understanding of our 
existence.[45]

Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice (ICPJ)


On its Aboutpage, Ann Arbor-based ICPJ claims it: “envisions
 a world free from violence, including the violence of war, poverty, 
oppression, and environmental devastation. To enact this vision, we 
commit to nurture a community in which compassion and respect foster 
actions that dismantle systems of violence while simultaneously creating
 systems of peace, justice, and ecological sustainability.”[46]


ICPJ’s 2017 IRS Tax-Exempt filing lists one paid officer, Chuck 
Warpehoski, who worked 26 hours/week on average and received $28,549 in 
compensation. ICPJ 2017 revenues were $171,701, the highest in three 
years.[47]


Muslim Unity Center (MUC)


Based in Bloomfield Hills, MUC is “where faith, family, and fun come 
together.” Its mission statement announces, “The objective of MUC is to 
develop, support and promote an Islamic way of life and to ensure the 
emergence of an American Muslim identity.”[48]


Under its, Building Bridges with our Neighbors Program, the 
MUC announces, “…the launch of Dual Interfaith Visitation Program that 
will allow your community or congregation members to visit the MUC and 
host MUC members. We humbly invite you for an opportunity to share 
resources and improve our community.”[49]


MUC’s Building Bridges program includes such topics as:



Interfaith Presentations
Muslim Contributions to Civilization
Islamophobia and Its Impact
The Story of Mary In the Holy Quran
Muslim Americans after 9/11

Note that while all Interfaith organizations understand that a major 
part of their mission is to combat “Islamophobia,” this is one of the 
few willing to openly admit it.


In its statement of principles, MUC declares in #8, “There is no 
compulsion in religion as stated in the holy book Al-Qur’an. The role of
 MUC is to remind people to the message of Almighty God, not to compel.”
 Also, principle #10 states, “MUC honors the constitution of the United 
States as the guiding legal principle of the nation and shall abide by 
all the applicable laws of the land.”


These and other statements reinforce the idea that MUC has no agenda 
other than “projecting and promoting Islam in an egalitarian and 
enlightened manner.” Principle #1, however, states “The Source of MUC’s 
goals and way of life are derived from the holy book Al-Qur’an and the 
authentic traditions of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).” This and other 
statements conflict with the assertion that they regard other religions 
in an “egalitarian and enlightened manner.”


Islamic Organization of North America


The Islamic Organization of North America (IONA) is a Warren, 
Michigan-based group. Its mission states that its “Divinely ordained 
obligations are as follows: (1) the cultivation of a strong and 
authentic faith; (2) the loving and sincere obedience to the will of 
Allah (SWT); (3) calling all of humankind towards Islam in the most 
beautiful and convincing way; and, (4) engaging in the struggle to 
establish social, political, and economic justice.”[50]


There is no mistaking the agenda here. The first three points make 
clear the Islamic belief in the supremacy of Islam and the intention to 
convert the world. Other religions don’t even warrant mention. The 
fourth point reflects the Islamic collaboration with the Left in its 
strategy to parrot the Left’s social justice dog whistles.


Despite, or perhaps because of its open embrace of Islam as the only 
solution, IONA is deeply involved in Michigan’s Interfaith movement. 
IONA’s president is Imam Mustafa (Steve) Elturk. His affiliations 
include the following:[51]



Treasurer, Detroit Interfaith Leadership Council
Executive Board, Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion
Member, Religious Leaders Forum of the Abrahamic Faiths
Executive Board, Interfaith Center for Racial Justice (ICRJ)
Executive Board, American Society for Religious and Cultural 
Understanding (ASRCU).

Interestingly, Elturk describes ASRCU as a “dawah (propagation) 
organization focuses on prisons and correctional facilities in 
Michigan.” In other words, despite its harmless sounding title, ASRCU’s 
mission is to cultivate Muslim converts in prisons.


ASRCU has either disappeared or exists in name only. Guidestar 
records consist of a 2007 IRS Tax-Exempt Form 990 filing that lists 
income for that year of $8,650.[52]The
 form is signed by Steve Elturk, President. Guidestar lists the 
principal officer as Mustafa Elturk. The address provided is a suburban 
private residence, presumably Elturk’s, in Troy, Michigan. The founding 
year is given as 1988, but according to Guidestar only two years, 2007 
and 2008, list any financial assets.[53]


IONA is also affiliated with Michigan Interfaith Power and Light.


Michigan Interfaith Power and Light


Michigan’s Interfaith Power and Light, (MI IP&L) is a 
well-funded national organization with 39 state chapters that beckons 
the “faith community” into the whole global warming issue. MI IP&L’s
 stated goal is to “inspire and equip people of faith to exercise 
stewardship of and love for all Creation.”[54] In
 this context that means saving the earth from global warming, which, 
they claim, is the verdict of “the vast consensus of the scientific 
community.” Except there is no consensus among the experts at all. Those
 studies that claim there is have been thoroughly debunked.[55] MI IP&L’s

board includes William Antoun of IONA.[56]


This is yet another example of the Interfaith movement being assimilated

into every single agenda of the Red-Green Axis.


Interfaith Center for Racial Justice (ICRJ)


ICRJ is a Macomb County organization that claims its mission is to 
“Initiate relationships and build bridges of understanding among people 
of different races, cultures and faith traditions to create a strong 
community while promoting social and racial justice.”[57]


As noted earlier, IONA’s Imam Elturk claims a seat on the ICRJ 
executive board. Also affiliated with ICRJ are the League of Women 
Voters and Welcoming Michigan – a subsidiary of the open-borders 
advocates, Welcoming America. Like many such organizations, ICRJ is 
likely a paper tiger. The website is defunct. The Facebook page has 141 
followers. Its most recent post is from January 2017, and it still 
advertises an event from 2015 at the top of its “Community” page.[58]


The 2015 advertisement, however, is a good example of how Red-Green 
agendas intersect — in this case, Interfaith Dialogue and refugee 
resettlement — and how they have sucked state and local officials and 
groups into promoting them. It features a prominent photo of Elturk 
along with an invitation to the “Breakfast of Nations: Diverse Past… 
Shared Future.”


Hosted by the Italian American Culture Center in Clinton Township, it
 features a list of Macomb County Democrat officials, a video speech by 
then Republican State Rep. Anthony Forlini, and a panel of Macomb County
 immigrants and refugees. The event was sponsored by One Macomb, (a 
county government organization), Catholic Charities, Welcoming Michigan,
 the local Chamber of Commerce and others — all with a vested interest 
in promoting refugee resettlement. A similar event was advertised for 
2014 as well, hosted by the same usual suspects. No other events are 
listed.


Interfaith Leadership Council & Michigan Roundtable


Detroit’s Interfaith Leadership Council (ILC) was founded the day 
after 9-11. According to its History page, Rev. Daniel Krichbaum 
moderated monthly meetings.[59] Krichbaum
 was then executive director of the National Conference for Community 
Justice’s Detroit office. In 2006, that office became the Michigan 
Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion. The Roundtable was actually an 
evolution of a separate organization, starting in 1941 as the Detroit 
Council of Catholics, Jews, and Protestants.[60] As shown in the chart,

the Roundtable is one of 16 state affiliates of the National Conference.





What all these organizations have in common is a complete lack of 
religious references. They are all dedicated to combating “racism,” 
“fear, and “intolerance,” and promoting “justice,” “inclusion,” and 
“diversity” — all the dog whistles of the Left. Instead of recognizing 
America as the country that has done more than any other to overcome 
racial and ethnic conflict, this group claims to battle against 
America’s “persistent racism,” and now the new word, “Nativism.”


In a letter published on the ILC website titled Countering Nativism, Chairman

Robert Bruttell states:


Nativism is essentially a fear of immigrants… 21st-century Nativists 
are scapegoating immigrants and their religions – especially Muslims and
 Hispanic peoples – for the anxieties they feel about the future of 
America.


The truth is the opposite. Nativism, alongside America’s persistent racism,
 tear at the soul of America… Studies consistently show that the net 
contribution of immigrants is vast and positive. Sadly this information 
is willfully ignored in favor of demagoguery and short-term political 
gains. (Emphasis added.)[61]


Americans of all races and religions have been enormously tolerant 
and welcoming to immigrant communities — an example to the world. Were 
this not so, there would not be millions of people from the world over 
clamoring to get here. For this tolerance, Americans have been rewarded 
with the loss of tens of thousands of jobs, businesses, and lives.


America has always been a welcoming nation. But the reaction to vast 
numbers of immigrants, legal and illegal, mostly from alien cultures 
that use welfare at astronomical rates while undercutting American 
workers, depressing wages and undermining the rule of law, is taking a 
heavy toll. It is not nativism, for example, that drove a record number 
of Blacks to the Republican Party in the last election. It is the 
decades of destruction visited on Black communities by calamitous 
Democrat economic and immigration policies.


And then they are talked down to by “religious” leaders, who, rather 
than address the real issues, jump aboard the Hate America train to fix 
our “persistent racism.” In so doing, the ILC and similar organizations 
reveal their true agenda. They are merely another lobbying arm of the 
open borders, hard Left. Just like “Welcoming America,” they don’t 
actually cultivate a welcoming attitude among Americans; they instead 
vilify anyone who expresses the concerns that rest on all of our tongues
 and try to arm twist us into their politically correct view of the 
world. There is nothing remotely “Biblical,” “religious,” or even 
spiritual about this.


Shalom Center for Justice and Peace


The Lansing-based Shalom Center claims to provide “education, 
activism and spiritual community concerning areas of social justice, 
world peace, and peace within local towns and cities in the Lansing 
District.” It seeks to “facilitate activism with the Social Principles 
of the United Methodist Church and our Book of Discipline.”[62]The Shalom

Center partners with Michigan State’s Campus Interfaith Council.


Kaufman Interfaith Institute (KII)


Housed at Grand Valley State University (GVSU) in Grand Rapids, KII 
was founded in 2006 following a triennial Jewish-Christian Dialogue that
 had begun decades earlier in Muskegon by Sylvia Kaufman, a Jewish 
community leader. KII declares its mission to be “To promote interfaith 
understanding & mutual respect in West Michigan.”[63]


It hosts numerous events, the largest being its Jewish/Christian/Muslim Triennial 

Interfaith Dialogue, held once every three years. The 2018 event will feature

Eboo Patel, an Islamic apologist who served on President Barack Obama’s Advisory 
Council on Faith-Based Neighborhood Partnerships, and founder of Interfaith 

Youth Core(IFYC), a wealthy Chicago-based organization described further on.

The kicker is that Patel’s IFYC provides funding for these events.[64]





The Triennial Dialogue will also feature Jennifer Howe Peace,Professor
 of Interfaith Studies (yes there is such a thing), at Andover Newton, a
 school affiliated with Yale Divinity, and Elliot Cosgrove, senior rabbi
 at Park Avenue Synagogue in New York City.[65]


A major project of KII is Campus Interfaith Resources(CIR). 
CIR seeks “to support and celebrate the religious, secular, and 
spiritual diversity of our campus. Campus Interfaith Resources exists to
 both accommodate the unique needs of various faith-based groups on 
campus while also proactively appreciating the richness of our diversity
 through educational and engaging programs.”[66]


CIR hosts annual training seminars for students who want to be 
involved in organizing the interfaith crusade. These seminars are funded
 through IFYC.


For example, GVSU’s Made in Michigan Interfaith Labis open 
to religious and secular leaders of student organizations, faculty and 
staff, and any students “who want to explore connections between 
interfaith and social justice.”[67] The Orwellian “learning outcomes” include:



Establish a basic knowledge of correct interfaith terms and usages…
Explore effective dialogue facilitation skills, diverse religious and 
philosophical traditions, and shared values…
Create a plan to bring interfaith leadership learned at the conference 
to campuses…

Interfaith Dialogue Association (IDA)


An affiliate of the Kaufman Institute at GVSU, IDA has “for almost 3 
decades worked toward advancing knowledge, understanding, tolerance and 
acceptance among the various world religions that have expression in 
Michigan and beyond.”[68]


Michigan State University Campus Interfaith Council (CIC)


CIC appears to be a prominent organization on the campus of Michigan 
State. It has a very slick website which states its mission “to promote 
relationships between peoples of differing faiths, work to integrate a 
religious aspect into student life, and encourage interfaith cooperation
 and understanding.”[69]


CIC claims to be “the official voice to ASMSU about religious life on
 campus.” CIC partners with the Shalom Center for Justice and Peace and 
Michigan State’s Wesley Foundation, and also works with Interfaith Youth
 Core, described below.


Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC)


IFYC is a Chicago-based organization founded in 2004 by Dr. Eboo 
(Ebraham) Patel. According to its website, IFYC’s mission is “…creating 
an ecosystem of people and campuses designed to make interfaith 
cooperation the norm, while creating the next generation of interfaith 
leaders.”[70]


IFYC has created administrator, faculty, alumni and student networks,
 and underwrites undergraduate courses that incorporate interfaith 
concepts, as well as annual conferences, training seminars for students 
and other activities at colleges and universities across the U.S.[71]


IFYC can afford it. It listed $16.9 million in assets and revenues of $6.6

million as of 2016.[72] According to Foundation Search, a subscription

service which compiles donation data from grantor foundations, IFYC

received at least $26.3 million since 2003 from a broad variety of Chicago-

based and national foundations. This includes Rockefeller, the Woods Fund

(Obama’s old employer), the Pritzker Foundation (Chicago billionaire Penny Pritzker 
was Obama’s national campaign chairman and Commerce secretary), The 
Clinton Family Foundation ($35,000), and many others.


The Henry Luce Foundation donated $358,500 over five years. Henry 
must be spinning in his grave. The strong conservative, anti-communist 
Republican once owned Time, Life, Fortune, Sports Illustrated, and other
 magazines and declared the 20th Century to be “the American Century.” 
Soviet spy-turned anti-communist informant Whittaker Chambers became a 
Time Magazine senior editor under Luce’s reign. Like so many other 
foundations created by wealthy philanthropists for truly charitable 
causes, the Luce Foundation appears to have been captured by the extreme
 Left.


The largest donor was the Einhorn Family Charitable Trust, created by
 liberal Greenlight Capital hedge fund billionaire, David Einhorn. It 
contributed $11.9 million over eight years. The Trust’s five-word 
mission statement is “Helping people get along better.”[73]


IFYC has taken a prominent role in bringing the Interfaith Dialogue 
to Michigan. IFYC founder Eboo Patel is a Muslim and former Rhodes 
Scholar, with a PhD in the sociology of religion from Oxford University,
 who also served on President Obama’s Inaugural Faith Council.[74]The
 well-heeled leftist foundation infrastructure makes sure that its 
agendas are richly rewarding for those willing to facilitate them. For 
his part, Dr. Patel received $269,441 in 2016 as IFYC president — doing 
well by doing good.[75]


Order of Universal Interfaith (OUnI) & World Council of Interfaith 

Congregations (WCIC)


Founded in 2009, the World Council of Interfaith Congregations is 
co-located with the Order of Universal Interfaith at the same Ann Arbor 
address. Together they are dedicated to “organizing the world interfaith
 community…”[76]


OUnI describes itself as “a religious society that was incorporated 
in Michigan to gather together the leaders of the Interfaith movement 
into one ecclesiastic body. It is meant to be a living example of how 
people from different backgrounds, cultures and religious traditions can
 live, work and create a spiritual community together.”[77]


OUni’s leadership reflects the drift from traditional Christian 
principles, or indeed principles identified with any religion at all. 
For example, Rev. David Mitchell, one of three OUnI leaders, is an 
ordained “Eco-Minister,” and “a frequent speaker on the relationship of 
spiritual knowledge and issues like global sustainability, climate 
change, climate engineering, and cultural attitudes.”[78] He
 is also President of Divine Mission, described as “an organization that
 provides instruction on the Yoga of the Bhagavad Gita and on yogic 
techniques with ashrams in Silver City, Nevada and Tiruvannamalai, 
India.”[79]


OUnI has received chaplaincy endorsements from the Department of 
Defense, International Conference of Police Chaplains, Association of 
Professional Chaplains and many others. In addition to traditional 
ministries, OUnI works with the United Nations Committee for 
Spirituality, Values and Global Concerns, the U.N. Eco-Spirituality 
Working Group and the U.N. Interfaith Harmony Week Breakfasts.[80]


Interfaith Dialogue’s Corroding Influence in Western Michigan


Western Michigan is unique in its heritage of faithful, seasoned 
Christianity, imported directly from Europe in the 19th century. In the 
1840s, family-oriented, faith-based, Reformed Dutch immigrants arrived 
in West Michigan from their homeland. The areas surrounding Grand Rapids
 and Holland still bear the mark of their settlement, permeated by 
churches, Christian colleges and seminaries, publishing houses, and so 
forth. This area thus presents an apt example of how recent cultural 
changes have both allowed and reflect the Interfaith Dialogue’s 
influence.


In 2013, the Fremont, Michigan local newspaper published an article titled

“Fremont library to host ‘Muslim Journeys’ series.”[81] The
 library had received a $4,500 federal grant from the National Endowment
 for the Humanities (NEH), a federal agency, and the American Library 
Association (ALA) to host a five-part reading and discussion series 
titled “Let’s Talk About it.  Muslim Journeys.”   According to the ALA:


Between 2011 and 2015, NEH and ALA collaborated on the Muslim 
Journeys initiative, hosting two planning meetings, six pilot programs, a
 collection development grant for 1,000 libraries and state humanities 
councils, a scholar-led reading and discussion grant for 125 libraries 
and state humanities councils, two national orientation workshops for 
grant project directors and local scholars, and a third-party evaluation
 of the project.[82]


Nationwide 953 libraries and state humanities councils have received Muslim

Journeys Bookshelfgrants,[83]and 125 libraries and councils have received

grants for Let’s Talk About It(LTAI).[84] The
 Bookshelf program provided books, films essays and other teaching 
materials. Participating libraries were required to hold at least one 
public forum over the program year.


Bookshelf grantees could apply for the LTAI, which offered up to 
$4,500 for speakers, programming and other resources with a mandate to 
“educate” communities about Islam.[85] The Muslim Journeys program was

created by the Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studiesat George Mason

University, with support provided by ALA, the NEH and private foundations.[86]


In Michigan alone, 49 Bookshelfgrants and 10 LTAIgrants were given to the

following libraries and councils. Note: the starred organizations** received both:





Allen Park Public Library
Allen Park
Michigan Humanities Council**
Lansing


Ferris State University
Big Rapids
Lincoln Park Public Library
Lincoln Park


Canton Public Library
Canton
Peter White Public Library**
Marquette


Branch District Library
Coldwater
Melvindale Public Library
Melvindale


Dearborn Public Library**
Dearborn
Monroe County Community College**
Monroe


Bryant Branch
Dearborn
Stair Public Library**
Morenci


Esper Branch
Dearborn
Capital Area District Library-Okemos
Okemos


Caroline Kennedy Library
Dearborn Hts
North Central Michigan College**
Petoskey


John F. Kennedy, Jr. Public Library
Dearborn Hts
Pickford Community Library
Pickford


Wayne State U. Library System
Detroit
River Rouge Public Library
River Rouge


East Lansing Public library
East Lansing
Rochester Hills Public Library
Rochester


Michigan State U. Libraries**
East Lansing
Rochester College
Rochester Hills


Ecorse Public Library
Ecorse
Hoyt Library
Saginaw


Mott Community College
Flint
Taylor Community Library
Taylor


Fremont Area District Library**
Fremont
Trenton Veterans Memorial Library
Trenton


Loutit District Library
Grand Haven
Delta College
University Center


Davenport University
Grand Rapids
Saginaw Valley State University**
University Center


Grand Rapids Community College
Grand Rapids
Macomb Community College**
Warren


Cromaine District Library
Hartland
Waterford Township Public Library
Waterford


Cromaine District Library
Hartland
Westland Public Library
Westland


Hastings Public Library
Hastings
Wayne County Library
Westland


Cromaine Crossroads Branch
Howell
White Lake Township Library
White Lake


Howell Carnegie District Library
Howell
Eastern Michigan University
Ypsilanti


Orion Township Public Library
Lake Orion
Ypsilanti District Library
Ypsilanti


Capital Area District Library
Lansing







The Muslim Journeys website credits Interfaith Youth Core’s Eboo 
Patel with “leading a global interfaith movement.” Patel’s IFYC website 
is promoted and his book, Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, 

the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation, is one of the volumes featured 

in the Muslim Journeys Bookshelf.[87]


Muslim Journeys is a form of “dawah,” that is, the proselytizing or 
preaching of Islam. By promoting Islam in a highly controlled fashion, 
this program appears to have advanced that agenda. The NEH slides past 
Establishment Clause objections by casting this as part of a “Bridging 
Cultures” initiative that “encourages study and informed conversation 
about commonalities across cultures and subcultures, both within the 
United States and abroad…”[88]


The program listed initial goals to be:



an exploration of the role of civility in bridging differences and sustaining 
democracy in America, and
a parallel effort to enrich in Americans’ understanding of international 
perspectives, beginning with the Muslim world.

NEH claims, “As the initiative develops, NEH expects to take up 
related themes and encourage the study of other parts of the world, with
 a focus on the potential of the humanities to deepen understanding of 
intellectual and cultural traditions.”[89]


It is not clear, however, how far NEH got past its Muslim Journeys 
program. Under the “Bridging Cultures Through Film” program, NEH did 
report one film production, “1913: Seeds of Conflict… a film that 
incorporates new scholarship about the earliest origins of the modern 
Mideast conflict.”[90] Its
 “Bridging Cultures at Community Colleges Project,” created a grant 
program for 36 community college faculty and administrators in five 
states to study “Native Americans in the Midwest.”[91] Current
 and past projects include 7 focused on Islam, 6 on Christianity, 4 on 
Judaism, 6 on other faiths, and numerous studies on interactions between
 Christianity, Judaism and Islam.[92] But the most ambitious program

appears to have been Muslim Journeys.


Two important Muslim Journeys contributors
 were Arsalan Iftikar and Susan L. Douglass. Iftikar was Senior Fellow 
and Douglass was Senior Research Assistant at George Mason University’s 
Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies, which developed the 
program, as noted earlier.[93]


Iftikar was National Legal Director of the Muslim Brotherhood front 
group, CAIR, until mid-2007 when he abruptly left, and disassociated 
himself with CAIR altogether. That summer, CAIR was identified as a 
co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terrorist financing trial.[94]

Like many CAIR operatives, Iftikar refuses to condemn Hamas and Hezbollah

as terrorist groups.[95]


Iftikar is very well known. He created The Muslim Guywebsite and

publishes columns in major outlets like CNN, USA Today and others. In

2016 he published a book titled, Scapegoats: How Islamophobia Helps 

Our Enemies and Threatens Our Freedoms.[96] He
 is currently Senior Research Fellow at Georgetown University’s Prince 
Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (ACMCU), 
where he participates in its Bridge Initiative, which focuses entirely 
on “Islamophobia.”[97]


Susan
 Douglass is an American Muslim convert. She taught social studies at 
the Islamic Saudi Academy in Alexandria, Virginia, along with her 
husband, Usama Amer, earlier in her career.[98]The
 school, a strict, anti-Western adherent to Wahhabism, has faced intense
 scrutiny for its textbooks that condemn Jews and Christians as infidels
 and enemies of Islam.


For ten years Douglass was an Affiliated Scholar with the Council on 
Islamic Education. In that capacity she reviewed textbooks, state 
curricula and standards, and developed instructional resources.[99]This

work is credited with soft-peddling Islam into public school curricula across

the country, especially through her Teacher’s Guide to Religion in the Public 

Schools, which has been characterized as “an interfaith ‘First Amendment’

plan.”[100]


At GMU’s Ali Vural Ak Center, Douglass wasMuslim Journeysgrant manager.

[101]She gained a PhD from George Mason in 2016. Presently she again

works alongside Iftikar as an education consultant at Georgetown University’s 
ACMCU.


Bill Johnson is a former public school teacher and founder of the 
Michigan-based American Decency Association. Desiring to get a sense of 
what kinds of material the local libraries would be getting, he perused a
 movie entitled Koran by Heart.[102] He
 described that in the movie, a young boy asked his father why he had to
 memorize the Koran. The father answered that Islam is a religion of 
peace; that the Koran is a vehicle of peace. The country where the boy 
and his father live is a breeding ground for terrorism, not a land of 
peace. The movie is a propaganda piece crafted to give an impression of 
beauty and grace when instead it is an opening salvo of dawah.[103]


The Muslim Journeys program was brought into the community 
by Ray Arnett, a conservative Christian and head deacon at a local 
Baptist Church, who was also, until recently, the head librarian of the 
Fremont District Library. According to Johnson, the library featured Muslim 

Journeys throughout most of the year until the program was completed.


Johnson sent Arnett a letter, met with him at the library for 40 
minutes and gave him a copy of the Center for Security Policy’s book,  

Shariah: The Threat to America.[104] Johnson
 went through key pages of the book, highlighting doctrines of the Koran
 and how it conflicts with the U.S. Constitution and the Bible.  Despite
 his conservative Christian credentials, Arnett was hostile throughout 
the conversation. Johnson stated, “I have met with state legislators and
 pornography dealers who were more diplomatic than this individual.”[105]


The news was not all bad. A local township, the Dayton Town Board, 
wrote a letter protesting the library’s decision to host Muslim 
Journeys. It stated in part:[106]


Dayton Township has been proud of the performance of the Fremont Area
 District Library and the positive impact it has had on the community. 
Extremely troubling, however, is the upcoming presentation of the Muslim
 Journeys Programs…


The 9/11 Commission Report clearly stated that Islam had declared war
 on the United States, which they consider the Great Satan. The method 
of achieving “submission” can be overt, as was demonstrated recently at 
the Boston Marathon, or covert, as demonstrated by programs as Muslim 
Journeys.


The Council for American-Islamic Relations had a hand in the 
development of the enlightenment program you are presenting. This 
organization (CAIR) was referred to as a terrorist group by the U.S. 
Justice Department in the landmark Holy Land Foundation Trial in the 
U.S. District Court in Dallas and was named an unindicted co-conspirator
 in that trial.[107]


Our hope as an elected board is that the Fremont Library will pursue 
and present programs that offer a more holistic and truthful description
 of the legal, economic, and theological system encompassed by Islam…


Taqiyya and Interfaith Dialogue


At the core of Interfaith dialogue is the concept of Taqiyya, a term for

lying or deception for the sake of Islam. Quoting from Shariah the 

Threat to America:


Taqiyya is a concept in Islamic law that translates as “deceit or 
dissimulation,” particularly towards infidels. It is based on Quran 3:28
 and 16:106 as well as hadiths, tafsirliterature, and judicial 
commentaries that permit and encourage precautionary dissimulation as a 
means for hiding true faith in times of persecution or deception when 
penetrating the enemy camp…


[I]t is imperative that those whose duty is to protect the United 
States from shariah grasp the centrality of taqiyya in the arsenal of 
its adherents. This is critical because the consequences of taqiyya 
extend to real-world issues related, for example, to Muslim overtures 
for interfaith dialogue, peace, and mutual tolerance – all of which must
 be viewed in the light of Islamic doctrine on lying…


American officials charged with national and homeland security have a
 duty to understand that which is within the sphere of their 
professional competence.  For anyone with such responsibilities, 
knowledge of these attributes of shariah is a requirement.[108]


Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has been another instrument to open the
 door to shariah in Michigan. Snyder and his staff have been deceived by
 Taqiyya. In 2014, the American Decency Association encouraged citizens 
to call and express concern that Governor Snyder had plans to address 
the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). According to Bill Johnson, 
Snyder staff told them that they had investigated the organization, that
 it had no ties to terrorists and that ISNA is the largest peaceful 
Islamic organization in the country.[109]


Readers familiar with the Holy Land Foundation trial will recognize 
ISNA as a Muslim Brotherhood organization and an unindicted 
co-conspirator in the largest terrorist finance case in American 
history.[110]


As Muslims speak of using Interfaith Dialogue to promote “peace,” 
it’s imperative that Christians understand the Islamic meaning of 
“peace.” Sayyid Qutb, one of the Muslim Brotherhood’s most important 
leaders, said:


When Islam strives for peace, its objective is not that superficial 
peace which requires that only that part of the earth where the 
followers of Islam are residing remain secure. The peace which Islam 
desires is that the religion (i.e., the Law of the society) be 
purified for God, that the obedience of all people be for God alone, and
 that some people should not be lords over others. After the period of 
the Prophet — peace be on him — only the final stages of the movement of
 Jihad are to be followed; the initial or middle stages are not 
applicable.[111]


Muslims are torturing, raping, and killing Christians around the 
world, while Christians in America are trying to tell the world how 
peaceful they are. How can brothers and sisters in Christ—pulpit and pew
 alike—have so little regard for the plight of the 2.5 million 
persecuted Christians around the world? Indeed, the apostle Paul exhorts
 Christians to remember the persecuted as though they were bound with 
them. Instead, too many pulpits are more concerned with telling 
Christians that Muslims don’t really believe what they say they believe.


Calvin College was once a trusted conservative Christian institution 
of higher learning. However, as with many Christian colleges, Calvin has
 lost its anchors and drifted leftward. With that change has come all 
the various ill-informed, leftwing-biased programs that are a common 
feature of academia today. One good example was a December 2015 
Calvin-sponsored program on Islam titled ISIS, Terrorism & Refugees: 

A Teach In. The program featured five Calvin faculty members speaking

on the subjects below:[112]


Doug Howard (History) — ISIS and Politics in the Middle East

Bert De Vries (History/Archaeology) — The Refugee Crisis in the Middle East

Jason VanHorn (Geography) — The Geographical Dimensions of Terrorism

Joel Westra (Political Science) — The Strategy of Terrorism

Frans van Liere (History/Medieval Studies) — Is Islam a Violent Religion?


Each gave a short presentation followed by a Q&A session and the 
program concluded with a panel discussion. It was a timely event that 
had the potential of dealing with topics of great import and societal 
impact — especially considering that the terrorist attack in San 
Bernardino, California, which took 14 lives and seriously injured 22, 
occurred just one day earlier.[113]


Bill Johnson attended the event. He said that the San Bernardino 
terrorist attack was never brought up by any of the professors except 
when he raised it during the Q&A. According to Johnson, “In a 
150-minute time frame, there was no mention of border control, vetting 
of refugees, illegal immigration, civilization jihad, taqiyya, shariah 
law, the caliphate, honor killing, etc.”[114]


Johnson recounted the experience in ADA’s monthly newsletter, picking

out a couple of memorable exchanges:


The philosophy/worldview communicated by Professor de Vries could be 
best encapsulated by an emotional slide show that he had created for his
 students from a visit to Syria. That slideshow was his strongest 
pro-refugee argument — no discussion regarding vetting, cautions, or 
issues surrounding potential dangers at all.


The final presenter, Frans Van Liere, was also the moderator. The 
title of his presentation was, “Is Islam a Violent Religion?” Professor 
Van Liere stated right from the top that he wasn’t a Koranic scholar, 
knew no Arabic and was not a specialist on the subject of Islam. What he
 had to share, he said, were personal observations and also his 
interactions with students on the subject.


Quoting Professor Van Liere: “You cannot just compare violent 
episodes in the history of Islam with peaceful periods in the history of
 Christianity. That makes about as much sense as taking Jihadi John as a
 representative of Islam and Mother Teresa as the representative of 
Christianity. It’s no comparison. Yet, this rhetorical technique, he 
opined, is often applied by Christians in the discussion about Islam and
 violence. As he stated:  All the places where the Bible preaches peace 
then are juxtaposed to all the places where the Koran seems to condone 
violence. That will simply not do. “Because you can just find lots of 
places where the Bible condones violence and where the Koran preaches 
peace. This kind of proof-texting only proves that both religions have 
their origins in ancient culture where warfare and feuding were endemic.”


One female questioner from the audience was given the opportunity to 
ask the last question of the evening, which left the panel stumbling for
 an answer and debunked the academic tone of the evening.


“So, my heart is with the Christian communities in the Middle 
East and North Africa who have been decimated with a concerted, 
intentional systematic effort to religiously cleanse Christians in the 
Middle East whether it’s from Boko Haram in Nigeria and Jajui in Sudan 
[sic]. But I hear unless I’m not listening fully – an apologist for this
 Islamic wave of mass murder which has touched every continent and 
nearly every common country. My question is, Christians who live as 
neighbors with their Muslim friends and neighbors in these countries in 
the Middle East with identical living circumstances, under the same 
weather/agricultural circumstances, and political and economic 
situations — do not engage in systematic campaigns of terror. What’s the
 difference?”


At several junctures, I raised concerns that the teach-in was so 
heavily one-sided in perspective making it dangerous for the young 
college students who were being slowly but surely indoctrinated to see 
the Koran as nonviolent, on the same level as the Bible.[115]


One month later, Calvin College hosted another event, this time featuring

the ubiquitous Eboo Patel of the Interfaith Youth Core. His topic was  

Interfaith Leadership: Engaging Religious and Philosophical Diversity in the 

21stCentury. The event was underwritten by the Christian Reformed Church

in North America.[116]


In West Michigan, Grand Valley State University’s Kaufman Interfaith 
Institute is spreading the same message as Eboo Patel. Kaufman has a 
nice publicity arm, which includes the Grand Rapids Press. 
Almost weekly the newspaper has an article in its Religion section 
featuring Interfaith Dialogue propaganda. That section also appears in 
many of their affiliated newspapers in the MLive group, the parent 
company of many Michigan newspapers,[117] and the Institute holds

regular interfaith events.


One example of these took place in 2013 at Saginaw Valley State 
University where senior Islamic scholar Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf was to 
speak. Rauf gained infamy as the Imam for the proposed “Ground Zero” 
Mosque, that was to be built near the site of the Sept. 11, 2001 attack 
in New York City. Here, again, Rauf demonstrates how cannily so-called 
‘moderate Muslims’ like himself can insert Islamic propaganda points 
into dialogue that the uninformed often find persuasive. This is how 
Johnson described the event:


Rauf stated that Islamic shariah law is consistent with the U.S. 
Constitution.   This high-powered figure greases the skids for the 
incremental but sure acceptance of shariah. All of this is part of what 
is referred to as Civilization Jihad.  In other words, efforts by 
radical Islamists [sic] to attack America, our freedoms, and ideals, 
from within – seeking to indoctrinate and disarm via smooth talk and 
deception.


At the meeting in Saginaw, I raised the question: “You say that 
shariah is consistent with the U.S. Constitution and yet under shariah 
if a Jew, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, secularist does not convert to 
Islam, they can be beheaded. How does that make shariah consistent with 
the Constitution?”


Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf spent 25 minutes negating the question stating
 things such as “there will always be those few militants. However, that
 doesn’t represent the millions of moderate Muslims who love America and
 her freedoms.” He spoke of the uniqueness of America and how there is 
no other nation like it.[118]


It will be noted how Rauf cleverly inserts expressions of ostensible 
American patriotism into what is, in fact, intended to be a whitewash of
 Islam and Muslims generally. Rauf, of course, is the 2004 founder of 
The Cordoba Initiative, “a multi-national, multi-faith organization 
dedicated to improving Muslim-West relations.”[119] Unfortunately
 for the uninformed, “Cordoba” was the seat of the Cordoba Caliphate for
 more than 100 years (929-1031) during a time when Muslim invaders ruled
 the Christian Iberian Peninsula. The naming of Rauf’s Initiative is no 
coincidence. Furthermore, Rauf is the author of “Defining Islamic 
Statehood,” a 2015 book that defines the ideal Islamic State.[120]


As we can see, countering shariah, unfortunately, is not on the 
agenda for those Islamic organizations fronting the Red-Green Axis. This
 is a subversive agenda, facilitated by the Left, at colleges, 
universities, and in churches. Many in Christian circles are walking 
down that road with eyes wide shut and their brains or discernment shut 
off. They see taqiyya as truth and civilization jihad as their civilized
 duty. It is perhaps worthwhile here to expound on what Civilization 
Jihad (also called stealth Jihad) means:


According to shariah, this “pre-violent” form of jihad is considered 
an integral, even dominant element of jihad that is at least as 
obligatory for shariah’s adherents as the violent kind. Dawa, the call 
to Islam that by Islamic law must precede jihad, is all-too-often 
dismissed – as are its manifestations under the rubric of non-violent 
jihad – simply because this kind of assault does not kill but intends 
“merely” to subjugate.  Absent an appreciation of the threat posed by 
stealth jihad, the pre-violent jihadist is free to proceed unimpeded 
under the radar in Western societies, infiltrating and subverting along 
lines specifically tailored to today’s liberal, multicultural-minded 
non-Muslim populations in ways that are genuinely difficult to 
recognize, oppose or counter.[121]


Following is a more recent glimpse into the nefarious and ongoing 
efforts of Interfaith Dialogue influencers via the Kauffman Interfaith 
Institute. Snaring the minds of our college-age students and adults is 
not enough; now they want to actively pursue our children too. In an 
April 2018 column that appeared in the Grand Rapids Press, Kauffman 
Institute’s Kyle Kooyers writes:


Kaufman Institute, in partnership with Kent Career Tech Center, is 
launching a Youth Interfaith Service Day Camp in Grand Rapids for 
students (8th to 11th grade), led by interfaith counselors/facilitators.
 The group will spend four days engaging with local centers of worship 
and service organizations building new friendships, learning about other
 worldviews and cultures, and serving alongside people who are doing 
incredible work in our community. The hope is that, out of this week, we
 will form a Youth Interfaith Council so that middle and high School 
voices also have a place at the interfaith table as Kaufman looks to the
 future!


We believe that middle and high school students are the next 
generation of interfaith leaders who offer the world a rich perspective 
and energy. They have a longing to lead in the work of dismantling bias,
 fear, and hate in order that our schools and communities may become 
places where everyone is valued, respected, and loved.[122]


Conclusion


The Interfaith Dialogue movement is an influence operation being 
carried out by agents of the Red-Green Axis with knowing and/or innocent
 complicity of media, faith leaders, academics, NGOs, and government 
agencies. Michigan’s secondary schools and institutes of higher 
learning, as well as its churches and synagogues, are being assaulted 
with a well-funded, omnipresent effort to indoctrinate traditional 
America into accepting the alien, counter-Constitutional doctrines of 
shariah.


Political correctness mutes anyone who would speak out against any 
aspect of this assault because to do so invites slanderous accusations 
of bigotry. Instead of responding to legitimate questions and concerns, 
influencers invite Christians and Jews to “build bridges” with Islam 
through the means of interfaith dialogue. The clear implication is that 
“building bridges” is a positive, compassionate move, that distinguishes
 one from those reactionary “Islamophobes”. As we have seen, however, 
and as the Brotherhood’s Sayyid Qutb has made clear, those “bridges” are
 never meant to allow the free exchange of belief, opinion, and thought,
 but only to disarm the unwary non-Muslim sufficiently to allow the 
advance of Islamic doctrine, law, and scripture.


That is the context of the threat to Michigan, and by extension, much
 of the United States: a society founded on Judeo-Christian principles, 
whose core values have been reduced to “be nice,” finds its traditions 
and culture under constant attack. This has opened the door for 
“Interfaith Dialogue” to create a vacuum of purpose and meaning in 
Christian and Jewish beliefs. And as the saying goes, “If you don’t 
believe in something, you’ll fall for anything.”