This is important. JW is now gets about 2 million visits per month. It is also the site created by Robert Spencer, one of the most well known critics of Islam in America. In other words, since the reference to "Ground Zero Declaration" is spelled out in some detail, we are now on the national radar. No idea what this could lead to, but the stage has now been set. Billy ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hamas-linked ISNA holding "interfaith" meeting to complain of "intolerance" over Islamic supremacist Ground Zero mega-mosque Comments Section : _traeh_ (http://profile.typekey.com/traehnam) | _September 7, 2010 1:17 PM_ (http://www.jihadwatch.org/2010/09/hamas-linked-isna-holding-meeting-today-to-complain-of-intolerance-over-islamic-supremacist-ground-z.html#comment-7 06653) | _Reply_ (javascript:void(0);) Hugh's comment, and Robert Smith's comment quoting Congressional candidate Vijay Kumar, seem a fitting introduction for a new initiative. It's called the _Ground Zero Declaration,_ (http://www.groundzerodeclaration.org/the-ground-zero-declaration/) which everyone should sign. This could turn out to be the seed of something very important in time. By signing the Ground Zero Declaration, you join in its request of four things from the Ground Zero Imam (Rauf) and his associates: 1. Rauf and his associates should go through a questionnaire titled _"The Qur'an vs. the Constitution: Questionnaire for Muslims seeking free practice of their religion in America"_ (http://www.groundzerodeclaration.org/the-quran-versus-the-constitution/) . The questionnaire asks ten questions (each of which highlights an aspect of Islamic doctrine that conflicts with U.S. law, the Constitution, and Bill of Rights) and then asks Muslims to answer yes or no, as to whether they repudiate each aspect of Islamic doctrine that conflicts with American law and values. 2. Rauf and his associates should sign the _"Freedom Pledge"_ (http://formermuslimsunited.americancommunityexchange.org/the-pledge/) . A group of former Muslims is sending The Freedom Pledge to American Muslim leaders and challenging them to sign it. Signing the Freedom Pledge means rejecting Muhammad's statement, _"Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him."_ (http://www.usc.edu/schools/college/crcc/engagement/resources/texts/muslim/hadi th/bukhari/084.sbt.html#009.084.057) The Freedom Pledge opposes any physical intimidation or worldly or corporal punishment for apostates from Islam. 3. Rauf and associates should demand that Muslim nations grant non-Muslim religions the same freedom to build houses of worship that America grants Muslims. 4. Rauf and associates should move their planned Islamic Center farther from Ground Zero. The Declaration then ends by saying that These simple steps would demonstrate their goodwill, and open the door to a productive dialogue with and about Islam. It would establish a clear distinction between a Reformed Islam that is compatible with American values and a jihadist Islam that seeks to destroy them. Apart from these steps, we have no reason to believe that the Cordoba House [the Ground Zero Mosque] will in any way be beneficial to American society or inter-faith dialogue. In the shadow of 9/11, the burden of proof is on Imam Rauf to help us understand why we should tolerate an ideology that, at first glance, seems intolerant of everything America stands for. If he refuses to supply such proof [for example, by carrying out the four actions listed above], then we ask our city, state and federal leaders to judge them by their own standards and give them no more freedom than they are willing to give others. We do not believe a commitment to freedom means giving our enemies the freedom to destroy us. The choice is theirs. (my bolding) I like the bolded paragraph a lot, especially since I've read the three documents: the _Ground Zero Declaration,_ (http://www.groundzerodeclaration.org/the-ground-zero-declaration/) _"Freedom Pledge"_ (http://formermuslimsunited.americancommunityexchange.org/the-pledge/) , and _the Questionnaire: Qur'an vs. the Constitution_ (http://www.groundzerodeclaration.org/the-quran-versus-the-constitution/) . The three documents seem to me to be very much in the spirit of suggestions made by Robert Spencer to require some kind of pledge from Muslims who want to become citizens. It should be noted that even if a Muslim lied in answering documents like these, s/he could be held accountable for those lies if exposed. At some point in the future, documents like these could perhaps be given legal force, so that lying in one's answers could be made a crime, leading in some circumstances to loss of citizenship and deportation. The other value of these documents is that they often compel Muslims to reveal themselves. For example, a number of "moderate" American Muslim leaders have refused to sign the Freedom Pledge, and that reveals that the "moderate" Muslims in question are not willing to condemn Islam's death-to-apostates law. That rips off the "moderate" mask and reveals the ugly face beneath for all to see. And as for the Questionnaire, even if no Muslim ever answers it, it's a powerful educational tool for non-Muslims, because the Questionnaire makes crystal clear a dozen specific ways in which Islamic law and culture are in direct conflict with the most basic American laws and values. I think the Questionnaire could use some more refinement, by experts like Spencer, but it's already a powerful beginning.
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