A Tale of Two City Protests: Sharia in Dallas vs. Christian Prayer in Baton Rouge

On January 17, Sound Vision Foundation, a Chicago-based 501 (C) 3 organization, held a “Stand with the Prophet” event at the Curtis Culwell Center on Independent School District property in Garland, Texas. The event, permitted by the Superintendent of Public Schools, launched a Strategic Communication Center for Muslims to advocate censoring and criminalizing non-Muslim speech.

Sound Vision asks: “Frustrated with Islamophobes defaming the Prophet? Remember the Danish cartoons defaming the Prophet? Or the anti-Islam film, “Innocence of Muslims”?”

After Muslim “defenders of Muhammad” recently claimed responsibility for murdering 16 people in Paris, and millions of Christians and non-Muslims are persecuted worldwide, Sound Vision expressed its commitment to “defending Muhammad.”

They claim: “This is not an event. It is the beginning of a movement. A movement to defend the Prophet Muhammad, his person, and his message.” They assert that “attacks” against Muslims stem from “media defamation” of their ideology, and that, “Islamophobia is causing problems all around the world.”

Featured speakers included John Esposito, head of the Saudi-funded Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University, and Siraj Wahhaj, an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and close friend of the bombing’s mastermind, Omar Abdel Rahman.

Watch a video here, in which reporters from several news organizations were denied access to the event, discriminated against because of their faith or last name, despite having purchased tickets in advance. At the 2:37 minute mark in the video, Alia Salem, the Executive Director for the Council on Islamic Relations (CAIR) Dallas/Ft. Worth chapter, who was responsible for dealing with the media, claims ignorance as to why certain reporters were denied access. She did not offer a solution or resolve the issue.

CAIR was designated as a terrorist organization by the United Arab Emirates. Its director has publicly expressed support for Hamas and violence against Israel.

Mainstream media mislabeled the event as a “peace conference,” selectively omitting Sound Vision’s efforts to censor First Amendment rights.

To be clear, Islam was never–and is still not– a peaceful ideology.

The European Court on Human Rights has ruled more than once that Sharia law, which is the basis for Islamic law rooted in the Qur’an, is “incompatible with the fundamental principles of democracy.” The U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Constitution make clear that speech that incites violence is considered hate speech and constitutes a hate crime; and financially and/or materially aiding and/or harboring those determined to destroy America falls under the category of treason.

In light of this, questions remain unanswered by Texas state legislators, county officials, and the Independent School District:

• Why was a public school property approved to be used by a self-identifying non-profit organization with alleged ties to terrorism?
• Do state and local officials support discrimination of Jews and Christians?
• Do state and local officials support censorship and restraint of a free press by preventing access to an event on public school property?

Unanswered questions remain for others as well:

Where is the ACLU advocating for the protection of free speech and prohibition of hate speech?

Where are the feminists and human rights groups protesting and demanding protection and justice for girls from:

• Fathers who kill them and/or force them into child marriage,
• Husbands who are encouraged by the Qur’an to beat and rape their wives,
• Sharia law that dictates they have half the legal rights of men?

Within one week of this event, I met protestors at a prayer event held at LSU’s Pete Maravich Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Protestors held signs implying Christians were intolerant, ignorant, stupid, and crazy to believe in and pray to God—despite the fact that Gov. Jindal invited them to pray and sing with everyone inside.

The purpose of The Response was inclusion, not exclusion. It was not about others, or placing blame—but on acknowledging the Christian community’s complacency and responsibility for creating the desperate state America is in. It was a time devoted to finding solutions to help those in need, foster racial reconciliation, and restore broken families.

In this vein, a little girl prayed, “Lord please let those who don’t have families, in particular the orphans, Lord please forgive us for not paying attention to their needs. Guide us to help them. Please let your angels charge over them.”

The spirit of these two events could not have been more opposite. Protestors in Louisiana were like those shining brass on a sinking ship. Appearing to be completely unaware that their constitutional right to protest would be non-existent in America under Sharia law.