Fox uses debunked ‘terrorism expert’ to slam Rep. Ellison’s trip to Mecca

So, would you care to address the issue of whether or not his trip was funded by this group. They say ‘no,” but his office says “yes.” What is a 501(c)(3) doing paying for a trip with religious implications for a member of Congress? You don’t seem to want to address this. I have no idea of whether Steve Emerson is a reliable source or not, but it does seem to me that there are other more important issues of influence peddling that you wish to sidestep.

Ellison’s office has repeatedly said that MAS paid for the trip in the Star Tribune, to Fox News, and other outlets. Maybe MAS was mistaken when they spoke with Fox, or maybe Fox got it wrong.

It sounds like you are stretching for the same kind of conspiracy theories that Emerson posits.

Many 501(c)3 organizations are religious in nature and it is not at all uncommon for them to pay for trips for members of Congress. Ellison’s trip was as a private citizen, and he is entitled to have private entities pay for his travel so long as it is approved by the proper entities in Congress.. which it was.

Rep. Michele Bachmann took a trip on the dime of the Jewish Community Relations Council. A religious nonprofit. Was that wrong too?

You say, “I have no idea of whether Steve Emerson is a reliable source or not.” I just wrote 600 words telling you he is not.

http://www.adl.org/israel/anti_israel/mas.asp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Defamation_League#Criticism

Mr. Birkey,
The issue here is not Emerson it is Ellison and his radical friends, like the members of CAIR.
You might want to try and stick to what is important here.
Is your second post supposed to offset the one about the MAS? How leftist of you, anything to take the focus off all the problem Muslims are causing across the world.

how about debunking MAS’ connection to the Muslim Brotherhood? Or how about debunking the documents the FBI found written by the Muslim Brotherhood that state their intent to destroy the US from within through a kind of “grand jihad”?

Or maybe – since you provide no evidence of your own – this little nugget will help you put your bias aside and your protection of Keith Ellison’s lies about his Islamic excursion where he stated he forgot he was Muslim…

Here is a 1992 phone book confiscated by the FBI that lists the Muslim Brotherhood leadership in the US and on it are the 3 founders of MAS – http://counterterrorismblog.org/site-resources/images/1992_Phone_Directory.pdf

Now, maybe you can find out who actually paid for the trip and whether or not Keith Hakim X Ellison, plans to carry out what he was instructed to do at the hajj – which is to replace capitalism with sharia law, and to fight the enemies of Islam which according to what was stated to all hajj attendees – the US and Zionism. So does Ellison believe the US is his enemy?

Or maybe you can investigate the Somali Muslims in your own state that are disappearing to fight Islamic jihad in Somalia and now Gaza?

Regardless of Emerson, the facts should be clarified. I mean, here you have a Congressman who’s office is lying about who paid for a religious trek to a foreign land that is extremely hostile to the constituents he serves. So hostile in fact that he could not take his non-Muslim wife.

On top of that, he acted as an unofficial ambassador for the US on his trip and it should be clarified what those unofficial meetings entailed – particularly in light of the anti-American rhetoric that was spoken at the hajj event.

U.S. Congressman Ellison attends hajj where Saudi cleric urges sharia

Ayatullah Khamenei’s message to the Hajj pilgrims, including Congressman Keith Ellison (D)
Brothers and sisters! These victories are all the fruits of jihad and sincerity…The wounded enemy is now resorting to anything and will spare no effort to strike back. We need to be resourceful, wise and to take advantage of opportunities. This way all the efforts of the enemy will fail. In the last thirty years, the enemies, mostly the US and Zionism, have been utilizing all their capacities but have failed miserably. The same thing will happen in the future, too, inshallah.

As Andy has said, Ellison’s office acknowledges MAS paid for the trip. As to another point brought up, we have covered the story of local Somalis apparently being recruited for jihad in Somalia.
http://minnesotaindependent.com/21144/did-jihadist-recruiters-lure-local-men-home-to-fight
If you have evidence, Mike, that Somalis are fighting in Gaza, which seems a stretch, please include a citation.

You forgive me folks for not taking story tips from folks who advocate a ban on immigration by Muslims. Seems a bit too xenophobic for me.

Yeah….the folks who obviously didn’t read the column and instead are spouting the “muslims are bad…..muslims hate us” talking point – are also the same people waiting on the “whitey tape”…..carry on.

Do we insist that Catholic politicians be as radical as Bill O”Donough or the current radical right Pope??

Do we insist that Christians reject their religion because of the Fred Phelps style Christianity that is so ugly??

Andrew Sullivan is gay and his religion hates him, yet he still wants to be a Catholic and to participate in the rituals and traditions.

When Bush was holding hands wiht the Saudi Prince, were all of you bent out of shape like you are over Ellison?

Regardless of Emerson, the facts should be clarified. I mean, here you have a Congressman who’s office is lying about who paid for a religious trek to a foreign land that is extremely hostile to the constituents he serves. So hostile in fact that he could not take his non-Muslim wife.

-Saudi Arabia supplies a lot of the oil we use. Bush walked while locking arms with their king and invited him to Crawford. If Michelle Bachman can travel on private religious trips paid for by Jewish organizations, what makes it wrong for Emerson to do the same?
-Hajj is a personal religious journey, not a tourist thing and only Muslims participate in it. It’s like asking why a Jewish person wasn’t allowed to have Communion in a Catholic church.

Most of your statements are really ignorant. It’s clear you have a problem with Muslims, and that’s your right. Being a Muslim in America is not a crime and there are thousands of Muslim American troops who fight, bleed and risk dying for this country too. Your bigoted, extremist attitude towards mainstream, moderate Muslims is what makes it easy for Al Qaeda to recruit disaffected, marginalized and vulnerable Muslims into their diabolical cause. You are part of the problem.

Christopher
Comment posted January 9, 2009 @ 1:20 AM
“Mr. Birkey,
The issue here is not Emerson it is Ellison and his radical friends, like the members of CAIR.”

That’s funny – I could’ve SWORN the title of the article was “Fox uses debunked ‘terrorism expert’ to slam Rep. Ellison’s trip to Mecca”

Score another one for the wingnuts of this country! For some reason all these right wing gasbags are having a tougher time making their ridiculous claims stick nowadays…

I don’t know Mr. Elison except that he’s a congressman from Minesota and he’s a Muslim. It is required that a muslim go to Hajj at least once. So, what is this all the fuss about? I don’t see a religious org paying his way there being an issue. Some people blurb about Hamas, and others and immediately trying to tie it to Elison. And since there are over 2 million people at hajj you can’t attack Elison for all kinds of sermons made there. If a rep’s relations with religious groups is an issue then many members of congress get free trips to Israel paid by jewish organizations and they should also be banned from doing it? Let us apply the judgement uniformely to all.

As we have the separation of church and state in the US, the question isn’t necessarily who pays for his personal pilgrimage, but whether his work as a legislator is affected by it.

Honestly, some of the things I read or hear on Faux News and by their loyalists are simply crazy, but mostly uninformed. It would be funny if it weren’t so sad.

The hajj is a pilgramage required of all Muslims if they can afford it. It is one of the five pillars of Islam.

from wiki
###################################################################
The Five Pillars of Islam’ (Arabic: أركان الإسلام) is the term given to the five duties incumbent on every Muslim. These duties are Shahadah (profession of faith), Salah (ritual prayer), Zakat (almsgiving), Sawm (fasting during Ramadan) and Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca) and taharah . These five practices are essential to Sunni Islam.

The Hajj is a pilgrimage that occurs during the Islamic month of Dhu al-Hijjah to the holy city of Mecca, and derives from an ancient Arab practice. Every able-bodied Muslim is obliged to make the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in their lifetime if they can afford it.
##################################################

His non Muslim wife was not allowed to go because she was not Muslim, just as non-Christians are not allowed to take communion. The Hajj and communion are scaraments of the respective faiths, required of believers and forbidden to others. Institutions pay for others to go all the time. Arab Muslims in the USA paid for Malik Shabazz (Malcolm X) to go in 1964.

Mr. Schmelzer,

You have a mistaken and misguided view of the separation of church and state. His work as a legislator can and should be affected by his religion. A person’s religion affects their views on a wide range of issues, and their personal views on those issues will affect their vote on many social issues that the government is involved in. Of course, there are many purely economic and civil issues that may not be affected by religion, but it is not correct to think that the Constitution of this country somehow mandates that a legislator check his conscience and religious beliefs at the door of the legislature. Separation of church and state only means that the government cannot establish a state religion, either explicitly or by favoring one religion or religion generally over another or over no religion. If a Catholic legislator believes life begins at conception, he should vote for restriction on abortion, if a secular legislator doesn’t share that view, he should vote another way.

to the poster who put up an “anti-defamation league” link, the Anti-Defamation League is a pro-Israeli group who pressures the media to only show the Pro-Israeli side of things, along with AIPAC. NOT CREDIBLE. Go Mr. Ellison, you are entitled to practice your Muslim faith just as much as the phony Christians.

Yikes! You really know how to draw out the brain-dead bigots. Aaaah well, as long as we keep these morons far away from the levers of power – let them vent on the blogs and Faux. It’s really all they have left. The hatemongers had their moment (8 years worth) and damn near destroyed our nation.

Paul Schmelzer
Comment posted January 9, 2009 @ 2:35 PM
“As we have the separation of church and state in the US, the question isn’t necessarily who pays for his personal pilgrimage, but whether his work as a legislator is affected by it.”

Funny; I seem to recall a certain Republican State Secretary [Katherine Harris] say there was NO separation of church and state in this country . . .

And, I also seem to recall Sen. John McCain being heartily endorsed for president by Pastor John Hagee [who had unkind things to say about the Catholic Church] . . . I wonder would his work as President have been affected by that?

So.. what’s the difference when most of our elected officials in congress takes yearly trips to Israel paid for by AIPAC, American Enterprise Institute and other neocon organizations? In return these officials will vote for everything the Israel lobby wants. So what if Keith Ellison is a muslim and gone to Mecca. Nothing wrong with that. Do you people have a problem with our catholic reps went to see the POPE?

For anyone who has a problem with the destination of Congressman Ellison’s trip, or who funded it, you are entitled to your opinion but you’re barking up the wrong tree. His office has repeatedly confirmed the source of funding and purpose of his trip, and more importantly…have confirmed that the trip was offiically approved by the Ethics Committee of the House of Representatives, which in turn is confirmation that the trip was within the exsisting rules of the U.S. House of Representatives. So unless you just like to hear (see) yourself rant, either take up your complaints with the proper complaint department…the Ethics Committee (or it’s members), and if you live in his district, then either vote for him or don’t next election. But otherwise, get over it already.

See, what you terrorist loving, gay kissing, baby killing lefties don’t get…Judiasm == good, Islam == bad.

I mean, duuuuuh.

Life becomes pretty simple when you stop thinking, don’t it. The problem is (as the last 8 years illustrates) that while you loons are playing in your own pile of fecal matter and pointing at all the darkies, lefties, or anyone else that doesn’t submit to you…you end up really screwing up the planet for the rest of us. So, taking into account the notion that you no longer have freedom when enacting those freedoms encroaches on the liberties or freedoms of others…well, if I were on the right side of the aisle I would throw out something inane about locking people up or deporting them. Unfortunately, my brain is still in the ‘on’ position.

I live in the Fifth Congressional District of Minnesota, and I’ve voted for Keith Ellison twice. We love him here, and believe me, the district is made up of Catholics, Protestants, atheists, agnostics, and Muslims. We citizens in Minneapolis don’t give a rat’s ass what religion he is, and neither should you. We DO care about his stand on important issues: the environment, veterans’ benefits, health care, etc. People should stop worrying themselves silly over stories like this – what a bunch of hooey!

I do not ‘know’ Keith, but I have listened to him on radio and met once. Imagine what you’d like you US Representative to be like and that would be Keith Ellison. Anyone who tries to make a boogey man out of him is quite, quite off track. End of story.

Your photo caption is in error. Congressional representatives are officially sworn in as a group in a ceremony on the House floor, with their right hands raised and their left hands down and empty. The photo above is from the usual private photo-op that individual representatives stage where they can pose with spouses and religious texts. It has no official status.

Ayatullah Khamenei would not be permitted to and did not give any sermons or statements at the hajj pilgrimage in Saudi. Some of the anti-Islam wingnuts apparently have little to no understanding of the political and religious relationship and history between Saudi Arabia and Iran (you know, that country that the ayatullah lives in). It’s also pretty funny to see people accusing

Andy: Thank you for a very thoughful article. I notice that several of the comments seem to condemn Rep. Ellison for staying true to his religious beliefs in spite of the fact that he is a politician. It is absolutely shameful that so many people allow their prejudice to cloud rational thinking. Where does it state that a person has to give up their religious beliefs or forego their spiritual path just because they are elected to office? Or does this only apply to Muslims in the U.S? Muslims, who I might add, that have loved, served, fought, bled and died for this country just Christians or those of the Jewish faith (and many others). As your article points out, Rep. Ellison attended as a private citizen, and I, as a Crhistian, certainly do applaud his faithful devotion to his spirituality. Thank you, Andy for the article.

So if a Catholic politician votes pro-choice, following his conscience, is he to be castigated? If he makes a trip to the Vatican sponsored by the Knights of Columbus, is he to be castigated? Because he makes a trip to a Hadj that automatically means he is now a Muslim terrorist. Being a Muslim does not make anyone a terrorist. Tim McVeigh was a Christian, so was David Koresh. Does that mean all Christians are terrorists? Are all Jews anti-Arab? “Pat, I’m a rightwinger and I’d like to by a clue.”

Well, then why was I told by Keith Ellison’s office on December 16 that the trip was personal and paid for by his own funds? And why did Keith Hakim Ellison’s spokesman tell Star Tribune reporter Mitch Anderson on December 18 that the Muslim American society paid for his trip?

If Keith Hakim Ellison’s trip was personal why was he traveling with the official delegation that met with “various groups” including the Minister of the Hajj? (looks like he even gave himself a promotion to Governor.) Who were the members of this delegation and what various groups did they meet with?

“Minister of Hajj Dr. Fouad bin Abdul Salam Al Farsi, met today at his office here, the member of the U.S. Congress, Governor of the State of Minnesota Keith Ellison and his accompanying delegation.”

During the meeting, Ellison expressed thanks and appreciation to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and the Crown Prince for their care and attention for all American pilgrims who have performed Hajj this year.

He also commended the implementation of mega projects and tremendous achievements realized in the Holy cities of Makkah and Al – Madinah as well as in other holy sites in addition to efforts and services provided by the Government of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, enabling the pilgrims to perform their Hajj rituals in comfort and tranquility.

The meeting was attended by Abdullah Alaa Eldin, the head of Tawafa establishment of the pilgrims of Turkey and Muslims of Europe, America and Australia.

http://www.hajinformation.com/main/y2241.htm

Oh and about the Minnesota MAS?

Ellison’s relationship with the Muslim American Society of Minnesota should be troubling. The MAS Minnesota stands at the center of many of the religiously inspired controversies that have roiled the Twin Cities. It was the MAS Minnesota’s own fatwa, for example, that prompted Muslim taxi drivers at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport to refuse to transport passengers carrying liquor or accompanied by guide dogs. It is the MAS Minnesota that houses the Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy, the Muslim charter school operating in violation of the First Amendment. (Both of these stories were broken by my friend Katherine Kersten in her discontinued Star Tribune column.)

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2009/01/022504.php

This guy may as well be a neo-Nazi for all the standing he has to be passing himself off as an “expert” on any current events. I’ll grant that he’s a decent war historian. But that’s all he is. As such, his only interest is involving the U.S. in more war.

Wow. What if the Knights of Columbus paid for a legislator’s trip to the Vatican? 501c3’s are legally prohibited from partisan politics, so there is a simple matter here. A devout religious man went on a required pilgrimage. This is no different than Joe Lieberman not working or campaigning on Sabbath. Sometimes a pilgrimage is just a pilgrimage.

Some of these ridiculous anti-muslim comments remind me of when that yet-another-rightwing-nut-incapable-of-reason-windbag Glenn Beck told Ellison to his face that he couldn’t trust him because he was a muslim and therefore couldn’t be sure if Ellison wanted to physically harm him or not. Sometimes I think bigots deserve the illogical fears that plague their minds…if it just didn’t make them utterly annoying to be around!

Oh dear – they don’t worship like we do – let’s KILL “EM!

Congressman Ellison is a duly elected representative from Minnesota. It’s our (voters in his district) job to ensure that he represents our point of view (and he does), not FOX News nor right-wing radio nor some of the crazies commenting here. He was elected overwhelmingly for a second term with the votes of Christians, Jews and Muslims (71% of the vote) in his district.

Oh, please. You people wouldn’t give two shits if a Catholic member of Congress took a trip with religious significance to the Vatican and it was sponsored by a Christian PAC.

This is the same Steve Emerson who is thought of as a joke by real journalist.

“Mr. Emerson’s prime role is to whitewash Israeli governments and revile their critics.”—Alexander Cockburn, Wall Street Journal

Zachary Lockman, a scholar at New York University, wrote in 2005, Emerson had sounded many false alarms, made numerous errors of fact, bandied accusations about rather freely, and ceased to be regarded as credible by much of the mainstream media.

Google this so called expert and see what a liar and a fear monger he really is.

Dinah:

I suppose you vehemently oppose the Bush administration’s efforts to allow individuals to deny service, products, and medical procedures to people based on religious views, such as refusing to sell birth control to single women (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/18/AR2008121801556.html?hpid=topnews)? The potential denial of emergency birth control to a rape victim seems much more odious than difficulty getting a cab to me.

And I suppose you expect people to just accept xenophobic right-wing garbage as journalism (http://www.minnesotamonitor.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4036)? That would explain why you accept all of the Saudi Press Agency’s reporting above unquestioningly.

Look, you can never get through to the slavering fundie right wing nutbags because they are tribal creatures and they can only understand the world through a tribal lens. Unfortunately, that’s why reason why you can’t get through to slavering fundie Muslim nutbags either. These two groups actually do understand the other in ways regular people cannot grasp. There is an insistence at their core that is incomprehensible to normal people; that when my “tribe” does it, it’s okay. When “their” tribe does it, it’s not. That’s why the right wing in this country thinks it’s okay for the US and its allies to torture people while still thinking it’s not okay for other countries to do so, and why they cannot tolerate the normal non-tribal citizenry, who believes that the US should at the very least adhere to the same standards that it applies to others. You see, tribes are dysfunctional and held together by silence and fear. They’re like alcoholic families. There will be family members who, like the normal non-tribals in the US, care about the alcoholic, are concerned about the alcoholic and invest their interest in the alcoholic, and therefore want the alcoholic to get help, but have not had their minds warped into dysfunctional tribalism by the alcoholism. But there will be family members who have been warped into believing that caring, concern, and interest means never admitting the alcoholic has a problem and fiercely resisting any and all attempts to help the alcoholic. A dysfunctional family has to have both types. As long as the US is a dysfunctional family, both types will exist and this tension will remain.

Dinah,

So now you and Steve Emerson have something in common–you are both hatemogers that have been thoroughly discredited. Congratulations!

First, you take a news story from a Saudi agency that has an error in it (Governor vs. Representative) and ascribe it to Ellison giving himself a “promotion”. Setting aside for the moment the absurdity of your assertion, there are many people who would not consider a move from Federal government to state government a “promotion”. At any rate, it is clear to anyone with the capability of independent thought that it was an honest mistake by the reporter(s).

Then, you post a total smear job on MAS Minnesota in order to bolster your argument. So MAS Minnesota encouraged cab drivers to refuse to carry passengers with alcohol or dogs. Woo, that’s hard-hitting stuff there. Better raise the alert status to mauve. Then you refer to the pack of lies your “friend” wrote about TiZA (I guess all you discredited hatemongers like to stick together), over which her column was cancelled. It turns out that the lies and hate she spewed incited violence and property destruction at the school, which it turns out was clearly operating within First Amendment law at a higher level than, say, the high school near us that has CCC and FCA meetings on school grounds after class. Journalists aren’t supposed to do that, in case you weren’t aware, and so she was rightly removed.

I think my favorite part of the article was the one about MAS being founded as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood. That’s like saying the US was founded as an offshoot of the British monarchy.

Please find something more constructive and beneficial to do.

My-my-my Brian. Did we leave our sense of humor at home? Or have you just lost it, period?

I just asked a few questions and see nothing in your reply that would thoroughly discredit me – or anyone else for that matter. (Unless you want to count thoroughly discrediting yourself.)

The only hatemonger spewing venom here appears to be you, my little possum.

You can try to change the subject, you can try to spin it with your pure first amendment rights blather, you can make every specious argument you can think of in an attempt to protect your precious world view. Heck, you can even make fun of me for making a little phunny about ‘Governor Ellison’. BTW – that was a joke, son. That’s okay. I’m happy to allow you your freedom of speech even though you seem determined to trample all over mine.

It is kind of ironic, doncha think?

The fact remains that Rep Ellison was less than forthcoming to the public about the financial arrangements regarding his trip from the get-go and now he’s trying to get in front of the story.

And now I think I am going back to my blog to do something constructive and report on how Keith Ellison and 21 other courageous Democrats voted ‘PRESENT’ on the House of Representatives recent resolution in support of Israel.

Now, there’s REAL leadership for you.

The dissembling of the argument is so typical of Huffington – and such types. Emerson has been a respected voice on the topic of terrorism longer than Huffington spewed hot air. (And even before Ellisoon played his religion shtick – but, then again, what’s a joke between Minnesotans – Al Franken.)
The issue was, and for law abiding, and constitutionally abiding, people was the source of funds that sponsored Congressman Ellison’s Haj.

reading the remarks here, it’s mind boggling that no one seems the least bit ashamed of their hate, their prejudice, their abject ignorance. Since when is trial by accusation a mark of anything but proof that the accuser has nothing to base their accusation on. It’s a bit like accusing all Irish of being the IRA, all Italians of being Mafia, all Kentuckians of bootlegging, all Mississippians of Cajun cooking. NO. Not all Thai are not transsexual kick boxers. Sometimes some people are just people.

Of course, all opinions are protected by the first amendment, but the first amendment doesn’t immunize against dumb.

“You can try to change the subject, you can try to spin it with your pure first amendment rights blather, you can make every specious argument you can think of in an attempt to protect your precious world view.” First amendment blather! It’s heartening to know our citizen’s values are in the right place.

This is a very interesting series of questions. It seems to boil down to this: Can an American citizen practice his religion in this or any other country? It seems that the majority of posters or should we say poseurs say NO! An American citizen has no right to practice a religion that I disagree with.

I note further that it is because he is either getting money I don’t get or he is wrong and I’m right! By my count more posts were about mone than faith although a whole lot seened to bring up both.
This seems rather strange when we righteous remember Moses’ (Musa’s) reaction to those who worshipped Baal on his descent from the mountain with the commandments.

If I remember those commandments they tell us to honor the one true God. They do not tell us that we already are worshipping the one true God and to hate and kill those who we think are wrong. I’ve noticed that God NEVER told us who was right and who was wrong, its always been a man. If you believe in a day of judgement, you also KNOW there will be a lot of people who will be very suprised how they will spend eternity, very suprised. Will you be one? No of course not! Tonight I saw a man who raped, tortured, and killed a woman for sexual thrills on TV. After beating the murder rap the pictures he took recording his crimes where discovered and he had to do a few uears for perjury. He found Jesus in jail and belives he is saved. How very handy, how very nice of God to agree with our position on the issues.

I, like you, know that God agrees with me, always has, always will. He’d be a fool not to believe in the USA, land of the scared, home of the true believers!

And my God can beat up your God with one arm tied behind his back! Yes, that’s right children “GOTT MIT UNS”.

I agree with Mr. VanderHorck. Although the tenor of this “debate” is alarming enough, the content is thunderously, staggeringly, depressingly, yet proudly unintelligent. These same bigots think “they” hate “us” because they’re jealous, when I, as a fellow American, have a very hard time remembering not to let hate take over when I read this nakedly jingoistic and xenophobic idiocy.

[NOT a good advertisement for Minnesota, folks. Think about it.]

I wish there were hundreds, thousands, even millions of Steve Emersons in this country. The fact that there is only one speaks to the fragility of American security.

John VanderHorck
Comment posted January 10, 2009 @ 9:15 pm

“An American citizen has no right to practice a religion that I disagree with.”

No, John. No one in this country has the right to PRACTICE those tenets of their respective belief system which violate the United States Constitution and/or American law.

One can believe whatever one wants. But the line draws at attempts to force those beliefs upon others and attempts to replace our Constitution with religious laws.

We don’t punitively amputate people’s hands here, or stone adulterers, or allow polygamy or kill apostoates or…