17 November 2010

Presbyterians Week Headlines

[1] Al Qaeda Cleric Joins U.S. Capitol Hill Weekly Friday Muslim Jummah Prayers

[2] Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) Advises Muslim Women Air Travelers on Full Body X-Ray Scans and Enhanced Full Body Pat Downs

[3] Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Fighting Oklahoma Proposition to Ban Application of Foreign Law and Sharia Law in Court Decisions

[4] Sarah Palin Characterized as Hardcore Feminist with No Christian/Biblical View of What God Says is the Role of Mothers/Wives

[5] PCA Presbyteries 15-10 Against Adoption of Administrative Committee Funding Amendments as of 15 November 2010

[6] Evangelical Theological Society 17-19 November 2010 Meeting with the Theme ‘Justification by Faith’ Includes New Perspectives on Paul Advocate the Rt. Rev. N. T. Wright as Plenary Speaker

[7] Palestinian-American Christian Asserts Distorted Eschatology Trumps Ethics in Some Evangelical Christians Regarding Modern Israel

[8] Free Church of Scotland Expected to Retain Exclusive Psalmody

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[1] Al Qaeda Cleric Joins U.S. Capitol Hill Weekly Friday Muslim Jummah Prayers

A 12 November 2010 article on Fox News titled “Conservative Group Calls on Justice Dept. to Investigate Muslim Prayers on Capitol Hill” reports that the American Center for Law and Justice on 12 November 2010 called on the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the fact that Muslims with terrorist ties have been attending the weekly Muslim Jummah prayers on Capitol Hill that are hosted by the Congressional Muslims Staff Association. The weekly prayer meeting has been held since 1998, and was granted official status in 2006 under the sponsorship of Representative Keith Ellison of Minnesota, one of two Muslims currently serving in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Muslim cleric and Al Qaeda commander Anwar al-Awlaki of the Dar Al Hijrah, a.k.a. 9/11 mosque in Falls Church, Virginia, has attended the Capitol Hill prayer meetings on several occasions. The Dar Al Hijrah mosque has served as a center for terrorists, from two of the 9/11 terrorists who attacked the Pentagon, up to and including Fort Hood jihad mass-murderer U.S. Army Major Nidal Malik Hassan, M.D.

Speakers for the Capitol Hill prayer meetings are selected by organizations such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).


+ Fox News, 1211 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10036, 888-369-4762, Fax: 212-462-6127, yourquestions@foxnews.com

+ American Center for Law and Justice, Post Office Box 90555, Washington DC 20090, 757-226-2489, Fax: 757-226-2836

+ U.S. Department of Justice, 950 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington DC 20530, 202-514-2000, askdoj@usdoj.gov

+ U.S. House of Representatives, Washington DC 20515, 202- 224-3121, Contact Page

+ Council on American-Islamic Relations, 453 New Jersey Avenue Southeast,
Washington DC 20003, 202-488-8787, Fax: 202-488-0833, info@cair.com


[2] Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) Advises Muslim Women Air Travelers on Full Body X-Ray Scans and Enhanced Full Body Pat Downs

A 12 November 2010 article by Penny Starr on CNSNews.com titled “Muslim Group Advises Women Wearing Hijabs to Allow TSA ‘Enhanced Pat Downs’ Only on Head and Neck Area” reports that the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has issued a travel warning to Muslim women air travelers concerning the use of full body x-ray scanners and enhanced full body pat down procedures by Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents at U.S. airports.

The advisory states that Muslim women undergoing the enhanced full body pat down should ask that it be done in a private area, and advise that Muslim women wearing a hajib should tell the TSA agent that they may be searched only around the head and the neck. The advisory additionally states that hajib-wearers can request to pat down their own scarf, including their own head and neck area, and have the TSA agents perform a chemical swipe of their hands.

A February 2010 fatwa, or religious ruling by the Islamic scholars of the Figh Council of North America declared that full-body scanners violate Islamic law, saying: “It is a violation of clear Islamic teaching that men or women be seen naked by other men and women. Islam highly emphasizes haya [modesty] and considers it part of the faith. The Qu’ran has commanded the believers, both men and women, to cover their private parts.”

CAIR subsequently endorsed the fatwa.


+ Cybercast News Service, 325 South Patrick, Alexandria, Virginia 22314, 703-683-9733

+ U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Washington DC 20528, 202-282-8000, Contact Form

+ Council on American-Islamic Relations, 453 New Jersey Avenue Southeast,
Washington DC 20003, 202-488-8787, Fax: 202-488-0833, info@cair.com

+ Figh Council of North America, Post Office Box 38, Plainfield, Indiana 46168, 317-839-1803, Fax: 317-839-1840, info@fiqhcouncil.org


[3] Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Fighting Oklahoma Proposition to Ban Application of Foreign Law and Sharia Law in Court Decisions

A 14 November 2010 article on the Vision to America website titled “CAIR Fights Oklahoma Anti-Sharia Law, Not Jihadis” reports that the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) convinced Chief U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Oklahoma Vicki Miles-LaGrange to issue a temporary restraining order blocking Oklahoma’s new state constitutional amendment forbidding Oklahoma courts from using foreign law or Muslim Sharia Law to decide court cases. The constitutional amendment was favored by seventy percent of Oklahoma voters in the 2 November 2010 election.

The restraining order will remain in place until at least 22 November 2010, when a court hearing is scheduled.


+ Christian Worldview Communications LLC, 457 Nathan Dean Boulevard, Suite #105-373, Dallas, Georgia 30132, Contact Page

+ Council on American-Islamic Relations, 453 New Jersey Avenue Southeast,
Washington DC 20003, 202-488-8787, Fax: 202-488-0833, info@cair.com


[4] Sarah Palin Characterized as Hardcore Feminist with No Christian/Biblical View of What God Says is the Role of Mothers/Wives

Responding to the 2 November 2010 appearance on Fox News of Sarah Palin, where Mrs. Palin asserted that the issue of whether mothers with small children should or should not work outside the home is a "petty, little, superficial, meaningless thing,” The American View editor John Lofton wrote that Mrs. Palin’s comment, “…reveals, with a vengeance, that [Mrs. Palin] is a hard-core feminist, with no Christian/Biblical view whatsoever of what a wife/mom ought to be. [Mrs. Palin’s] referring to those who believe moms should work in the home to raise their own children as 'Neanderthals' is a slap in the face to millions of moms struggling to do this in obedience to God and His Word."

The 25 November 2009 Presbyterians Week article “[5] ProlifeProfiles.com Exposes Sarah Palin’s “Shocking to the Conscience” Record on Pro-Life Issues,” reported on American Right To Life’s disclosure of further evidence of Palin’s hard-core feminism in regard to Mrs. Palin’s checkered pro-life history including:

– Palin in 2009 appointed a Planned Parenthood board member to the Alaska Supreme Court;

– Palin argues that chemical abortifacients that kill the youngest children should be legal;

– Palin indicates support for public funding to kill some unborn children;

– Palin allows her name to be used in ads promoting grisly government-funded embryonic stem cell “research”; and,

– Palin undermines the God-given right to life by promoting evolution while officially opposing creation.


+ Christian News Wire, 2020 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington DC 20006, 202-546-0054, newsdesk@christiannewswire.com

+ The American View, 8028 Ritchie Highway Suite 303, Pasadena, Maryland 21122, 410-766-8592, jlof@aol.com

+ American Right To Life, 1535 Grant Street #303, Denver, Colorado 80203, 303-753-9341, office@AmericanRTL.org


[5] PCA Presbyteries 15-10 Against Adoption of Administrative Committee Funding Amendments as of 15 November 2010

As of 15 November 2010, Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) presbytery voting on the proposed amendments to Book of Church Order Chapter Fourteen, regarding Administrative Committee funding, stands at fifteen to ten against adopting the amendments.

A minimum of twenty-seven of the seventy-nine PCA presbyteries voting against the amendments would be needed in order to defeat the amendments.


+ Presbyterian Church in America, 1700 North Brown Road, Suite 105, Lawrenceville, Georgia 30043, 678-825-1000, Fax: 678-825-1001, ac@pcanet.org


[6] Evangelical Theological Society 17-19 November 2010 Meeting with the Theme ‘Justification by Faith’ Includes New Perspectives on Paul Advocate the Rt. Rev. N. T. Wright as Plenary Speaker

Steve Matthews posted a 6 November 2010 article on the Lux Lucet blog titled “Justification by Faith (but not by Faith Alone) at ETS,” which reports that the upcoming 17-19 November 2010 meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS) with the theme of ‘Justification by Faith’ includes New Perspectives on Paul advocate the Rt. Rev. N.T. Wright, Bishop of Durham (Church of England), as one of the plenary speakers.

Mr. Matthews expresses concern that the ETS meeting theme is not ‘Justification by Faith Alone’ “…as you would expect from an evangelical organization…” and continues: “This is a disgrace. The Apostle Paul refused “to yield submission even for an hour” to false brethren who taught a false gospel of faith and works. He hurled anathemas at them. He said of them they, “want to pervert the gospel of Christ.” But the folks at ETS are too gentlemanly for such language. No, instead they invite wolf, false brother and perverter of the gospel N.T. Wright (he’s one of the plenary speakers at the conference) to spread his heresy at the ETS annual conference, and all this without a hint of rebuke. Even the title of the conference “Justification by Faith” is a concession to Wright’s false teaching. The Reformation was all about justification by faith ALONE, but ETS can’t seem to bring itself to say the word. It seems to me that since the Roman Catholics also believe in justification by faith - it’s the “alone” part they choke on – ETS may as well extend a conference invite to Benedict XVI. I’m sure he’d feel right at home.”


+ Lux Lucet Blog, Comment Page

+ Evangelical Theological Society, 2825 Lexington Road, Box 927, Louisville, Kentucky 40280, 502-897-4387, Fax : 502-897-4386, Contact Page

+ Church of England, Church House, Great Smith Street, Westminster, SW1P 3AZ, England, 44-0-20-7898-1000

+ The Vatican, Città del Vaticano, Rome, Italy, 39-6-69-88-35-11, Fax: 39-6-69-88-54-47, Contact Page


[7] Palestinian-American Christian Asserts Distorted Eschatology Trumps Ethics in Some Evangelical Christians Regarding Modern Israel

A 15 November 2010 article by Ken Camp in The Baptist Standard titled “Palestinian-American Christian Says Eschatology Can Distort Justice” reports on the Global Faith Forum at NorthWood Church (Baptist) in Keller, Texas, where one of the speakers was Henry Mikhail, a Christian Arab born in Jerusalem, Israel, who serves on a peace and justice work group of the Reformed Church in America’s General Synod Council.

Mr. Mikhail told the assembly that eschatology equating modern Israel with the Israel of biblical prophecy has led some evangelical Christians to allow their eschatology to trump ethics regarding the Middle East. Mr. Mikhail said that he is not against Israel, but against “unjust and oppressive Israeli policies.”

Mr. Mikhail continued: “Because of American evangelicals’ embrace of the current state as the Israel of prophecy, they have supported policies that are harsh and oppressive—even against Christians, which is very ironic. Because of support from American evangelicals, Israel has been given a blank check—has been blindly supported and backed, right or wrong. And I believe that’s been unfortunate and unfair.”

Ken Camp added that Henry Mikhail insisted ethnic lineage and nationality do not matter to God, and that the biblical promises of God to Israel belong to those who have entered into a faith relationship with [God].


+ The Baptist Standard, 2343 Lone Star Drive, Dallas, Texas 75212, 214-630-4571, marvknox@baptiststandard.com

+ Reformed Church in America, 4500 60th Street Southeast, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49512, 800-968-6065, questions@rca.org


[8] Free Church of Scotland Expected to Retain Exclusive Psalmody

A 15 November 2010 article in The Daily Record titled “Free Church of Scotland Set to Reject End to Hymns Ban” reports that the Free Church of Scotland (FCS)’s special assembly, meeting the week of 15 November 2010 to debate whether or not to lift the FCS’s 110 year practice of exclusive unaccompanied psalmody in church services, is expected to retain the current practice.

A 10 November 2010 article in the Hebrides News titled “Kirk Sessions Not Singing from the Same Hymn Sheet” reports that the FCS Board of Trustees, after a recent forum where FCS ministers and elders debated whether or not to add hymns and musical accompaniment to worship services, recommended that the FCS keep the current practice of exclusive unaccompanied psalmody.

Proponents of adding hymns and instrumental accompaniment to worship services believe that modernizing worship music would attract new church members, and would attract Church of Scotland (CoS) congregations disaffected by the appointment of a homosexual minister to the pulpit of Queen’s Cross Parish Church (CoS) in Aberdeen, Scotland.


+ The Daily Record, 67 Hope Street, Glasgow, Scotland, 0141-309-3251, reporters@dailyrecord.co.uk

+ Hebrides News, Box 100, Stornoway, Scotland HS1 2YZ, info@hebrides.biz

+ Free Church of Scotland, 15 North Bank Street, The Mound, Edinburgh, Scotland EH1 2LS, 0131-226-5286, Fax: 0131-220-0597, catherine@freechurchofscotland.org.uk

+ Church of Scotland, 121 George Street, Edinburgh EH2 4YN, Scotland, 0131-225-5722