Many of you will have heard of a popular program on Comedy Central, “The Daily Show.” While it has gone through a series of host changes, it remains very popular among a surprisingly wide number of demographics and provides a useful glimpse into the pop culture world, and how those steeped in said culture view their relationship to the rest of us.
In other words, it is often quite irreverent and generally entertaining, as long as you don’t take yourself too seriously, or are overly sensitive to a little humor at your own expense.
The producer of the Daily Show came to town to do a piece on Omaha’s Tri-Faith Initiative, interviewing those who support it as well as those who have valid concerns about the project. Having been part of countless discussions and interviews with reporters covering this project and the Global Faith Institute’s “crying out in the wilderness” opposition to it, I can safely say that the team from the Daily Show had done more background research, asked more intelligent questions and had acquired a far deeper understanding of the issues involved than any other major media outlet with whom we have spoken.
And they did all this before turning on a single camera.
I don’t know whether to applaud their professionalism, or weep for my nation, knowing that a comedy show performs more competent journalism than our newspapers, radio and television giants.
Presenter Ronny Chieng, sat down with Rabbi Aryeh Azriel, Dr. Syed Mohuidden and Pastor Eric Elnes – the leaders of the Jewish, Muslim and Christian elements of the Tri-Faith – and asked some surprisingly cogent questions. You know, things that only the most intelligent among us would think to ask, like “A Mosque, a Synagogue and a Church; all in the same place? What were you thinking?”
Pastor Elnes, head of Countryside Community Church, attempted to describe the Tri-Faith project using a bizarre, ill-advised metaphor about a woman who is in love with three men, and because she has so much love, she is able to maintain deeply intimate relationships with all of them at the same time.
Yes, he said that. The representative of the Christian faith on the Tri-Faith campus, on national television, described God’s relationship to the Tri-Faith Initiative as an ecumenical gang-bang. Disgraceful? Clearly. An ugly glimpse into the mind of Eric Elnes? Apparently. Embarrassing and regrettable? Unarguably.
Pastor Elnes’ prurient foray into polyamorous relationships with the Creator of Heaven and Earth aside, there is more to be concerned about with the Tri-Faith Initiative than the buffoonery of one of its leaders. There is the matter of their denied – then admitted – then hidden – then admitted again – now hidden again association with known front groups for the Muslim Brotherhood in America; the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA).
The Tri-Faith Initiative grew out of ISNA’s interfaith programs which have a multi-pronged purpose. First and foremost, these partnerships between Mosques and Churches or Synagogues are intended to lend a mainstream legitimacy to thoroughly radical Islamic thoughts and practices.
Secondly, these relationships serve to shield Islamist apologists from scrutiny as their non-Muslim partners run interference for them in the name of “tolerance.” This phenomenon results in the third purpose; weakening the faith of non-Muslims to better prepare them for eventual Muslim dominance, as ordered by Mohammed and Allah.
The inaugural speaker at the outset of the Tri-Faith initiative was none other than the then-President of ISNA, Ingrid Mattson, a woman who has gone on to become perhaps the most prolific producer of Islamist propaganda in the nation, through her academic positions and through interfaith projects.
The Global Faith Institute has exposed these connections time and again, yet the local newspaper and television stations have turned a blind eye, preferring to bask in the reflected light of worldwide attention focused on this one-of-a-kind project in our little city of Omaha. That, and the fact that nearly all of this project is being funded by Warren Buffett’s daughter Susie, and Daddy Warren owns the only newspaper in town.
That hasn’t stopped a few national media outlets from taking a gander at this religiously polygamous orgy, (to use Pastor Elnes’ description) and discovering that the Muslim leg of the stool is surprisingly hollow. Billing itself as a “non-denominational” Mosque, open to both Sunni and Shiite, the board and membership of this Mosque boast no Shiites whatsoever. In fact, they boast hardly any membership at all.
Local Muslims (outside of the five families that comprise nearly the entirety of membership in the Tri-Faith Mosque) want nothing to do with the project, fearing that it will become a target for lone-wolf attackers who aren’t affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood brand of civilizational jihad. There are already two Sunni Mosques and one Shia Mosque in Omaha, and none of them plan to attend or become involved in the Tri-Faith Initiative.
With virtually no connection to the local Muslim community in Nebraska and Western Iowa, one might be forgiven for wondering why tens of millions of dollars are being pumped into this project to serve a group of families reportedly numbering less than fifty people.
The Muslim Brotherhood is an organization that technically no longer exists. Banned in 1949 for their involvement in political assassinations, they have since chosen to operate through front groups, usually modeled on their original structure of a mainstream wing and a secret wing. The mainstream wing puts on the happy face for popular consumption while the secret wing pulls the strings and does the dirty work. Keep in mind, although I am using the term “mainstream” to describe the “corporate” wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, the entire organization is an international terrorist group bent on Islamic supremacy over the earth and all that is in it, just as Mohammed commanded. Islam doesn’t come to “get along” or to engage in fruitful dialogue with those non-Muslims whom their religious duty demands they subdue.
There aren’t any road signs to “Muslim Brotherhood HQ” or membership cards that say “Member in Good Standing in al janah alssirri,” but these organizations are well known around the world as the foremost purveyors of Islamic subversion and violence.
Congressman Brad Ashford, Democrat representative of the 2nd Congressional District encompassing Omaha, speaking about the bloody terrorist blasts in Brussels, pointed to Omaha’s Tri-Faith Initiative as a solution to such violence. As ridiculous as his statement sounds, he has unwittingly tapped into the truth.
The only ones who can call a halt to terrorist violence are those who fund them, organize them and give them orders – the mainstream wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, and similar groups. Isn’t is handy that we now appear to have a significant branch office for that wing going in right here in Omaha. Congressman Ashford won’t have far to drive.