Bryan Fischer, an analyst for the American Family Association, is well known for controversial statements about LGBT people (“gay sex is a form of domestic terrorism”) and Muslims (inbreeding has caused “lowered intellectual capacity”), false or misleading statements that have landed the AFA on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s list of “hate groups.” On Thursday, shortly before he interviewed Rep. Michele Bachmann on his radio program, Fischer shared another opinion: That because of their faith Muslim Americans have “no fundamental First Amendment claims.” Bachmann, who speaks at an AFA event in Iowa today, is not the first potential 2012 candidate from Minnesota to join Fischer; Tim Pawlenty met with him in January.

Fischer wrote on Thursday:

Islam has no fundamental First Amendment claims, for the simple reason that it was not written to protect the religion of Islam. Islam is entitled only to the religious liberty we extend to it out of courtesy. While there certainly ought to be a presumption of religious liberty for non-Christian religious traditions in America, the Founders were not writing a suicide pact when they wrote the First Amendment.

Our government has no obligation to allow a treasonous ideology to receive special protections in America, but this is exactly what the Democrats are trying to do right now with Islam.

From a constitutional point of view, Muslims have no First Amendment right to build mosques in America. They have that privilege at the moment, but it is a privilege that can be revoked if, as is in fact the case, Islam is a totalitarian ideology dedicated to the destruction of the United States. The Constitution, it bears repeating, is not a suicide pact.

Later Thursday morning Bachmann joined Fischer for his radio show and confirmed the CNN report that she would be making the decision whether or not to run for president early this summer. Here’s the interview:

The AFA has been listed as a “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center for making false statements about gays and lesbians, as well as Muslims.

At least one watchdog group has asked Bachmann and Pawlenty, who appeared on Fischer’s radio show in January, to publicly denounce Fischer’s extremism towards Muslim and LGBT Americans.

People for the American Way sent a letter to both asking them to refrain from attending events with Fischer and cited a year’s worth of his statements.

Fischer has said that no new mosques should be built in the U.S., that inbreeding has caused Muslims to be stupid and violent, that Muslims should be banned from serving in the U.S. military, and that all Muslims are traitors and should be deported from the U.S. He’s said that “homosexuals should be disqualified from public office,” that gays are biased, sexually deviant felons, not to mention pedophiles, and should never serve on the Supreme Court, that gay adoption is “a terrible, terrible, inexcusable, inhumane thing to do to children,” that legislators should “impose the same sanctions on those who engage in homosexual behavior as we do on those who engage in intravenous drug abuse,” that “gay sex is a form of domestic terrorism,” and that Hitler recruited homosexual soldiers because they “had no limits and the savagery and brutality they were willing to inflict on whomever Hitler sent them after.”

Neither Pawlenty’s nor Bachmann’s spokespeople returned requests by the Minnesota Independent for comment on Fischer’s latest statement.

This morning, Bachmann is speaking during the AFA’s Renewal Project event in West Des Moines.

Rep. Keith Ellison gave an impassioned speech on the House floor Thursday evening criticizing conservatives for only seeking liberty for some. He talked about his love of coming to the House chamber to say the Pledge of Allegiance and said conservatives often miss the point of “liberty and justice for all.”

He cited GOP efforts to curtail abortion rights, freedom of worship — particularly non-Christian faiths — and the right for same-sex couples to marry.

Crooks and Liars has the transcript of Ellison’s remarks:

Now see, the conservatives in this body, they like to talk about liberty. And then when they’re talking about liberty they’re not talking about a woman’s right to choose, ’cause that’s liberty. They’re not talking about the freedom of worship — to be Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Bahai, no religion at all — they don’t believe in that. They believe in only one way to seek the divine and they get more radical with it every single day. They don’t believe in liberties like that. They don’t believe you should be able to say whatever you want to say, they don’t necessarily believe in the liberties that I’m talking about.

He added that “justice” in the pledge means for all and cited the controversial hearings into radicalized Islam held recently.

Now, this last part in some ways is the best part. For all. For every one. Last week we had some hearings in the Homeland Security Committee where one particular religious group was pointed out for persecution, actually. That was a sad day.

For all, though. America is about for all. For everybody. All Americans. Of whatever faith group, of whatever color, of whatever — rural or urban. Straight, gay, all of us.

Here’s the full video:

The Associated Press reports that a Christian prayer on the Minnesota Senate floor on Monday made non-Christian members of that body uncomfortable. Pastor Dennis Campbell’s prayer was highly Christian, as opposed to the nonsectarian prayers that were commonplace under DFL control. It’s not Campbell’s first controversy; last summer he took out ads in the St. Cloud Times that were viewed as anti-Muslim.

“We pray, lord, that you help us show reverence to the Lord Jesus Christ,” Campbell prayed. “Jesus said, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ our savior, we pray.”

That prayer sparked non-Christian members of the Senate to cry foul, the Associated Press reports.

The controversy mirrors that of one in 2000, when the Republicans last took over the Minnesota House. Previously, the DFL has allowed non-sectarian prayer in the House, but when Republicans took control, many of the chamber non-Christians protested the overtly Christian prayers.

Rep. Arlon Lindner, instead of acquiescing, instead attacked those members.

“You know, we’re told there’s one God and one mediator between God and man. That man is Jesus Christ. And most of us here are Christians. And we shouldn’t be left not able to pray in the name of our God… And if you don’t like it, you may have to like it. Or just don’t come. I don’t come sometimes for some prayers here… We have that privilege, and you need to exercise it. But don’t impose your irreligious left views on me.”

Following that statement, an ethics complaint was filed against Lindner, one of many in his career in the Minnesota Legislature.

Pastor Campbell came under fire for religious intolerance last summer when his church took out ads in the St. Cloud Times.

“What happens when Moslems take over a nation?” asks Campbell in the ad. “They will destroy the constitution and force the Moslem religion on the society, take freedom of religion away, and they will persecute all other religions.”

The ad also said, “Moslems seek to influence a nation by immigration, reproduction, education, the government, illegal drugs and by supporting the gay agenda.”

He later said he is not a racist and that he was simply trying to convert Muslims to Christianity.

Republican Rep. Peter King of New York says he wants to hold investigations into the “radicalization” of American Muslims in his new position as chair of the House Committee on Homeland Security, but Rep. Keith Ellison said on Monday that targeting one community would hamper homeland security efforts.

“I believe it’s important to have this investigation into the radicalization of the Muslim community,” King said in an interview with Fox News this week. “We have to break through this politically correct nonsense which keeps us from debating and discussing what I think is one of the most vitally important issues in this country. We are under siege by Muslim terrorists and yet there are Muslim leaders in this country who do not cooperate with law enforcement.”

Ellison, who became America’s first Muslim member of Congress in 2006, said that investigations like the one proposed by King will not cause members of the community to cooperate with law enforcement. He said it might have the opposite effect. Ellison said he confronted King on the House floor on the issue.

“I got so concerned that when I heard about it I actually approached Congressman King on the House floor and told him that, you know, look, we all need to be concerned about violent radicalization, but not just against Muslims, against anybody,” he said on the Ed Show on MSNBC on Monday. “What about the guy who flew a plane into the IRS or what about the guy who killed a guard at the holocaust museum?”

He said the proposed investigations should include all Americans. “You know it is worthwhile to find out what turns somebody from a normal citizen into a violent radical, but to say that we’re only going to do it against this community and we’re about to change the debate to vilify this community is very scary and clearly has McCarthyistic implications.”

Ellison added, “I’m willing to engage with Congressman King… Let’s investigate this thing in the right way and… enlist Muslim Americans to help safeguard our country… I’m fearful that if you attack an discrete, insular community, you will make people, good people, withdraw, and I would like to see Muslim leaders, if they feel there is some national security threat in their midst, they would feel comfortable talking to the FBI, talking to local law enforcement, and this kind of stuff can really discourage that.”

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Rep. Keith Ellison weighed in late last week on the controversy surrounding the firing of National Public Radio’s Juan Williams after he told Fox’s Bill O’Reilly that he gets “worried” and “nervous” when he sees people in Muslim garb get on an airplane. Williams dishonored his own legacy, especially his work on the “Eyes on the Prize” documentary on the civil rights era, Ellison said, calling Williams’ remarks “ugly” and “bigoted.”

On The O’Reilly Factor last Monday, Williams said, “Look, Bill, I’m not a bigot. You know the kind of books I’ve written about the civil rights movement in this country. But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous.”

NPR terminated Williams contract, stating that his remarks on O’Reilly’s show were “inconsistent with [NPR's] editorial standards and practices, and undermined his credibility as a news analyst with NPR.”

“Sadly, Juan Williams has taken a bat to all the work he did around civil rights,” Ellison said, discussing the topic on MSNBC’s The Ed Show. “I feel like taking all that stuff off my shelf and putting it in the garbage, because I just really feel he has dishonored his legacy to that extent.”

“The people who got on that airline on 9/11, they made sure they didn’t have any so-called ‘Muslim garb’  — whatever that is,” he said. “They made sure they were as mainstream-looking as they possibly could, because they were trying to harm our country.”

Ellison added, “The people who are just practicing their faith or their culture, more likely, these people aren’t any danger to our country. These folks are just minding their own business.”

“I think it’s un-American what Juan Williams said.”

Ellison said Williams should apologize “profusely” to Americans. Williams was given a $2 million, three-year contract to host The O’Reilly Factor within 24 hours of his firing from NPR.

Here’s the video of the exchange:

Rep. Michele Bachmann. Photo: Douglas Burns

People for the American Way called on speakers at this coming weekend’s Values Voter Summit to denounce inflammatory statements made by the American Family Association’s Bryan Fischer about U.S. servicemembers, gays, Muslims and Hispanics. The AFA is a sponsor of this weekend’s summit, which features Fischer as well as prominent conservatives including Rep. Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee.

“By sharing a stage with Fischer, public figures like Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Mike Pence, Bob McDonnell, and Michele Bachmann don’t necessarily endorse Fischer’s shameless anti-Muslim and anti-gay propaganda—but they do acknowledge its credibility,” said Michael B. Keegan, President of People For the American Way.

Fischer’s statements include assertions that Muslims are less intelligent and more violent because of “inbreeding,” that Muslims should be banned from serving in the military, and that “homosexuals should be disqualified from public office.”

Keegan continued, “Any candidate thinking seriously of running for president in 2012 should think twice about standing alongside a man who has called for the deportation of all Muslims in America; insulted Muslim servicemembers; claimed that brave Americans died in vain because Iraq was not converted to Christianity; and called gay people deviants, felons, pedophiles, and terrorists. Bryan Fischer is no mainstream conservative.”

He said speakers at the Values Voter Summit should “denounce” Fischer. “Neither is any person who shares a platform with him while refusing to denounce his hate-filled propaganda,” he said.

There were two reasons for such sentiment, Ellison said: a misunderstanding of Islam and politicians trying to score points by scapegoating fellow Americans.

“The criminals and the murderers who did this thing to our nation, you know, they did associate themselves with my faith, Islam. That’s unfortunate. Nothing they did is the Islam I know or the overwhelming majority of the Muslims I know. But they did make that connection, so a lot of Americans are just … they don’t know anything about Islam,” Ellison said.

He added, “I think there is anxiety and frustration in the country. There are some politicians who believe it’s to their political advantage to identify scapegoats and try to turn Americans on Americans for their own political advantage by pandering to our worst instincts and fears.”

In order to bridge the divide and to bring the Muslim community into the fight against home-grown terrorism, he said American Muslims need to feel safe going to authorities and being part of the community.

“I think the right thing to do is reach out to mosques and Muslim groups across the country, to have a relationship of trust and open communication,” said Ellison. “I recommend that Americans go out and get with your churches and your synagogues, reach out to a mosque. Get to know people.”

“I think the wrong direction is to sort of target discreet and insular minority groups like Muslims and sort of focus on that community in a strict law enforcement sense. I think that could have a negative effect,” he said.

“I think the right thing to do is, one, reach out to mosques and other groups across the country to have open communication and trust, because these good loyal Americans will be among the first to say, ‘You know what? We found somebody we believe is suspicious.’”

Ellison added, “We need to make sure that we stand for civil liberties, so we can deprive people like Osama bin Laden of the claim that Muslims are poorly treated in America. The United States is not at war with Islam. The United States is a fair country.”

Ellison also traveled to New York City on Saturday to remember the lives lost in the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and to show support for a planned Muslim community center in Manhattan.

“The whole world is watching you, the whole world has its eyes on you right now,” he told about 2,000 people gathered in Manhattan at a candlelight vigil hosted by the New York Civil Liberties Union.

Here are Ellison’s full remarks on Face the Nation:

Pastor Dennis Campbell

Granite City Baptist Church raised some eyebrows this weekend when it bought an ad (pdf) in the St. Cloud Times that questioned whether Muslims are a “threat” to America. “How do Moslems seek to take control of a nation?” the ad, which features a photo of Pastor Dennis Campbell, asks. “Moslems seek to influence a nation by immigration, reproduction, education, the government, illegal drugs and by supporting the gay agenda.”

The ad is part of a string of incidents in St. Cloud that troubles human rights advocates. Within the last year, pornographic posters depicting the Muslim prophet Muhammed were put up on St. Cloud telephone polls, and Muslim students in St. Cloud area high schools have reported religious harassment.

Last week, MPR reported on several racist Facebook groups that were created by St. Cloud high school students. “I hate the Somalians at Tech High,” was one such group. Kyle Adams, a former student at St. Cloud Technical High School (he was kicked out for repeatedly using racial slurs) told MPR, “I was raised in believing that this country was founded upon a white Christian nation and the belief of racial separation.”

The Granite City Baptist Church ad seems to mirror some of that anti-Muslim sentiment. “What happens when Moslems take over a nation?” asks Campbell in the ad. “They will destroy the constitution and force the Moslem religion on the society, take freedom of religion away, and they will persecute all other religions.”

(Hat tip, Lower Case.)

“He’s done a lot, and I believe he will do more,” Ellison said of the president. “I identify with the impatience. I want to see things happen faster.”

The group says that no Muslim Americans have been appointed to key positions in recent years, and that relationships between Muslims and the government have been strained. Mostly, they are looking for ways that Muslim Americans can show their patriotism by putting their skills to use while serving their country.

“Muslims are not looking for handouts,” said Abdul Malik Mujahid, founder of the Muslim Democrats. “We’re just looking for equal opportunity and inclusiveness. That will give a far better message to the Muslim world than speeches.”

Related: Ellison: Muslims should apply for Barack Hussein Obama’s 8,000 jobs

Another speaker, Isha Mehmoud, a student who received CAIR’s civil rights award, expressed mixed feelings about Obama:

I was extremely disappointed, actually, when I have heard about the two women who were wearing the [Hijab] and his campaign did not want them behind him in the video. And I think some of that is part of running for a campaign, and they were trying to make sure he would win. And then maybe, hopefully, now that he has won, he will come out and say something or make a statement committing to civil rights of Muslim-Americans.

Ellison disagreed:

I think the one thing that is in the way of American Muslims doing well under President Obama is the belief that we need him to say positive things about us in order for us to do well.

Ellison spoke about Obama’s middle name last March in an interview with the BBC. His prediction that people wouldn’t get inflamed about it proved incorrect, but he was right to say it wouldn’t stop Obama from being elected.

BBC: Coming back to Senator Obama, doesn’t the idea that a man whose middle name is Hussein can’t get elected to the White House, doesn’t that have some currency?

ELLISON: Hussein just means “handsome.” That’s all it means. It’s a common name, as common as John or James out in the Western countries. People aren’t going to be inflamed about it. There are names outside of the Western world that are extremely common but to us they might sound foreign or Middle Eastern, and so some bigots might think that that’s going to scare us away from a good candidate, but it’s just not gonna.

This week Obama said he plans to use his full name at his inauguration (hat tip: MinnPost) and Ellison went on pilgrimage to Mecca (hat tip: MPR). Obama said:

I think the tradition is that they use all three names, and I will follow the tradition, not trying to make a statement one way or the other.

And Ellison is paraphrased as saying of his Hajj pilgrimage:

[Y]ou forget who you are — black or white and American or African — and where you come from when you are before God circling the Kaaba [the large masonry cubic structure near Mecca] in a two-piece unstitched garment.