The school, the Minnesota Department of Education and the ACLU reached a partial settlement in the case that requires charter schools to sign an annual statement declaring under penalty of law that the schools are not promoting religion.
Ellison responded that efforts to ban Sharia aren’t based in reality—there are no Sharia-run communities in the United States—but are a “thin-disguised effort at religious persecution.”
Jan Markell, an end-times preacher and longtime friend of Michele Bachmann, defended anti-Islam statements by Lynne Torgerson, Rep. Keith Ellison’s first announced challenger for the 2012 election. In late-June, Torgerson launched her campaign at Tea Party Nation by calling Ellison a “radical Islamist” who “fails to oppose banning Islamic Sharia law in the United States.” Ellison responded by accusing her of running a campaign “based on hate, division, and fear.” In an interview on Friday, Markell defended Torgerson.
Rep. Keith Ellison sent a fundraising pitch to supporters on Monday calling out his newly announced challenger Lynne Torgerson for her comments calling him a “radical Muslim fundamentalist.” Torgerson, who announced her campaign at Tea Party Nation on Thursday, garnered only 3 percent against Ellison’s 69 percent in the last election.
Lynne Torgerson announced on Thursday that she intends to challenge Rep. Keith Ellison for Congress in 2012 and noted that she based her decision on Ellison’s Muslim faith. Torgerson became a lightning rod in the 2010 campaign cycle for her controversial statements about Islam. Calling Ellison a “radical Islamist” yesterday, she announced her intention to run for the seat on Tea Party Nation.
Calling Osama bin Laden a “truly evil man,” Rep. Keith Ellison commended the U.S. military, American intelligence officers and President Obama for the raid yesterday that killed the al Qaeda leader. Meanwhile, Muslim groups locally and nationally also applauded the military raid.
Conservative Fox News commentator Sean Hannity went after Rep. Keith Ellison in an interview Wednesday evening, criticizing the Minnesota congressman for saying Fox News has contributed to the scapegoating of Muslims. “I don’t apologize for it,” Ellison said. “If you are telling me you are going to be more even-handed on issues of religious tolerance, that’s a good step, and I thought that by inviting me here, I thought that’s what you were trying to do.”
Potential presidential contender Herman Cain told conservative radio host Laura Ingraham that he wouldn’t allow Muslims to serve in his administration and that, because Rep. Keith Ellison took his oath of office on the Qur’an instead of the Bible, he supports Sharia law above the Constitution. Cain, a Republican, said that American law is based on the Bible.
Rep. Michele Bachmann defended Rep. Peter King’s investigations into homegrown terrorism among America’s Muslim communities on Saturday just hours before one of her vocal critics seemed to agree with her. On his show, Real Time with Bill Maher, Maher interviewed Rep. Keith Ellison and said that terrorists from an Islamic background present “a unique and greater threat” than right-wing terrorists such as militias and anti-abortion activists. Ellison said Maher is “coming to the wrong conclusions.”
Jewish and Baptist leaders are among those calling on Rep. Allen West to apologize for remarks he made about Rep. Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress. West told a Florida radio station that Ellison represents the “antithesis of the principles upon which this country was established.” The faith leaders told West that his remarks were “neither appropriate, nor true to the American values that you reference.”
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