Ads to Help American Muslims Escape Retaliation for Leaving Islam Back on Miami-Dade Buses
by Staff
April 23, 2010
ANN ARBOR, MI - (christiansunite.com) It was the first time help was publicly offered to people threatened under Islam's death penalty for leaving Islam. The ads on Miami-Dade buses stated, "Fatwa on your head? Is your family or community threatening you? Leaving Islam? Got questions? Get Answers!" Although the bus ads began running on Tuesday, April 13th, they were pulled two days later, after CAIR (Council on American Islamic Relations), an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land terrorism trial, pressured the Miami-Dade County Transit Authority into removing bus panel ads, claiming they were "offensive to Muslims." However, CAIR's victory over the First Amendment was short lived.
The Transit Authority reversed its decision when the organization that paid for the ads announced it had obtained the services of the Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, and attorney David Yerushalmi to challenge the Transit Authority's decision violating the constitutional right to free speech and a breach of the advertising contract.
Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, commented, "It's a bitter irony that American blood is being shed in Iraq and Afghanistan to defend their Islamic Constitutions, while Islamic organizations right here in America are attempting to squelch the constitutional rights to Free Speech of American citizens. I'm pleased the Transit Authority quickly corrected their error and this travesty."
The "Leaving Islam" ads were paid for by the Freedom Defensive Initiative, a new organization begun by bestselling author Robert Spencer, and Pam Geller.
The day after the bus ads were pulled, Mr. Yerushalmi and the Law Center's Senior Trial Counsel, Robert Muise, were preparing a federal lawsuit, including a motion for a temporary restraining order, which was planned for filing on Monday, April 26, 2010.
However, in a last ditch effort to amicably resolve the controversy, Mr. Yerushalmi conferred with the Miami-Dade county attorneys who agreed the ads should not have been pulled. Not only will the original 10 king-sized ads go back up on the Transit Authority buses, but an additional 20 king-sized bus ads will be displayed at no additional charge. The ads are expected to go back up by early next week.
Traditional Islamic law dealing with "Apostasy, " that is, leaving one's religion, prescribes the penalty of death. A recent case in point is the story of Rifqa Barry, the seventeen year old Ohio girl, who fearing for her life, ran away from home after her parents discovered she converted to Christianity.
CAIR relies on the fact that most Americans are ill-informed about Islam. So it has no compunction about portraying itself as a civil rights organization and Islam as a religion of peace. CAIR's co-founder Omar Ahmad, declared to California Muslims in a 1998 speech that:
Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Koran should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth.
Americans have a right to know the truth! Islam is a religion of intolerance and violence.
* The Koran commands pious Muslims to engage in a holy war (Jihad) in order to impose Islam and Shariah law on the entire world.
"Fight and kill the disbelievers wherever you find them, take them captive, harass them, lie in wait and ambush them using every stratagem of war." (Koran 9:5)
* On Nov. 5, 2009, at Ft Hood, Texas, American-born Muslim, Army Major Nidal Malik Hassan, shouting "Allah Akbar, " gunned down over 40 of his fellow soldiers, killing 13 and wounding 30.
* Since 9/11 there have been more than 15,000 Islamic terrorist attacks throughout the world, according to a website that tracks these matters.
* On March 7, 2010, Muslim gangs in Nigeria shouting "Allah Akbar" viciously butchered 500 defenseless Christian men, women and children.
* Anjem Choudary, a leading Muslim radical in the United Kingdom, recently admitted that Islam is not a religion of peace, and that there is a place for violence in Islam.
* On October 28, 2009, American- born Lugman Ameen Abdullah, was killed in a shoot out with FBI agents in Dearborn, Michigan. He was the leader of a Detroit Mosque. He wanted to establish a separate Islamic nation within the United States.
* On May 7, 2007, 6 Muslim men were arrested by the FBI for their plan to attack Ft. Dix, New Jersey and "kill as many soldiers as possible."
* In March, 2010, American born Sharif Mobley was arrested in Yemen as a terrorist. Mobley had worked in 3 different New Jersey nuclear plants in the past few years.
* Also, in March, 2010, two American women who converted to Islam were arrested in a plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist who drew a cartoon that made fun of the Prophet Mohammed.
In every country where Islam dominates, Christians, Jews and other non-Muslim minorities are persecuted and reduced to second class citizens or worse yet, murdered.
The Thomas More Law Center defends and promotes America's Christian heritage and moral values, including the religious freedom of Christians, time-honored family values, and the sanctity of human life. It supports a strong national defense and an independent and sovereign United States of America. The Law Center accomplishes its mission through litigation, education, and related activities. It does not charge for its services. The Law Center is supported by contributions from individuals, corporations and foundations, and is recognized by the IRS as a section 501(c)(3) organization. You may reach the Thomas More Law Center at (734) 827-2001 or visit their website at www.thomasmore.org.
