Stand With Israel
Congratulations to Pastor John Hagee and Christians United for Israel! Last week, CUFI announced that its membership has swelled to more than two million people. That is incredible for a group that is not even ten years old.
I am honored to be a member of CUFI's Executive Board, and I whole-heartedly support its unyielding work in defense of the Jewish state. CUFI and I have some exciting announcements coming in the days ahead.
And Israel needs our support now more than ever. Radical Islam is on the march. Journalists are being beheaded in the Middle East and gunned down in Paris. Israel's enemies -- Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, Al Qaeda, ISIS -- are America's enemies.
The next 24 months may be the most dangerous time for Israel. America's president is the most anti-Israel U.S. leader to ever occupy the Oval Office. The mullahs in Tehran don't take him seriously.
That's why I launched a new effort this weekend urging policy makers to stand with Israel. More than 10,000 people have already signed on, urging Barack Obama to honor America's alliance with Israel.
If you believe, as I do, that America must stand with Israel, sign our online petition at standwithIsraeltoday.com.
Duke's Decision
Like many of America's elite universities, North Carolina's Duke University began with a strong Christian foundation. And like many of America's elite universities, Duke has strayed from those values.
In 2004, Duke raised eyebrows for sponsoring a Palestinian Solidarity Movement (PSM) conference. As one might imagine, the movement promoted divestment from Israel and supported the outrageous claim that "Zionism is racism." A previous PSM conference sold t-shirts calling for the destruction of Israel.
When Jewish students criticized the anti-Semitic nature of the Palestinian Solidarity Movement, they were accused of silencing free speech. An article ran in the student newspaper entitled "The Jews," which suggested that there were too many Jews at Duke. It complained about "the powerful Jewish establishment," "exorbitant Jewish privilege" and the "Holocaust Industry."
Not surprisingly, some Jewish students left Duke in disgust. I thought about them yesterday when I read that Duke will begin broadcasting the Muslim call to prayer from the chapel bell tower.
This decision, according to one university official, "represents a larger commitment to religious pluralism that is at the heart of Duke's mission." I wonder if Duke's Methodist founders would agree with its new mission.
One man who does not agree with Duke's decision is Reverend Franklin Graham. Reacting to this announcement, Graham said:
"As Christianity is being excluded from the public square and followers of Islam are raping, butchering and beheading Christians, Jews and anyone who doesn't submit to their Sharia Islamic law, Duke is promoting this in the name of religious pluralism."
Graham urged donors and alumni to withhold their support.
I know some might say, "Gary, this is America. We let a thousand flowers bloom." Well that's the point. We're not letting a thousand flowers bloom.
When the Chick-fil-A controversy erupted, Duke officials used the convenient excuse of "scheduled renovations" to cancel the restaurant's contract with Duke. The university was quick to disassociate itself from the Christian views of a restaurant CEO, but it is embracing the call to prayer of a faith that leads the world in religious persecution.
There is growing intolerance of Christianity at our institutions of higher learning. Last year, the California State University system "derecognized" InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. Why? Because it required its officers to abide by Christian values that were deemed discriminatory by left-wing bureaucrats.
It's not happening just in California. Vanderbilt University, in the heart of the Bible Belt, is among the worst offenders.
Judeo-Christian values are being ground under foot and too many educational elites are promoting only Islam. I remind you again of the now ubiquitous use of the phrase "the Prophet Muhammad." It is spoken by self-righteous commentators who would never say "Jesus, the son of God."
ACTION ITEM: Every graduate of Duke, every family saving to send a child to Duke, should contact the administration at 919-684-2823 or at dukenews@duke.edu. Firmly, but politely, defend our Judeo-Christian heritage and urge Duke to reconsider.
Islam Quickens In U.S.
Yesterday a recent convert to Islam was arrested outside of Cincinnati, Ohio. According to ABC News, Christopher Lee Cornell, "allegedly planned to detonate pipe bombs at the [U.S. Capitol] and open fire on any employees and officials fleeing after the explosions."
NBC News reported that a Delaware Air National Guard Base "raised its security level . . . two steps higher than normal" after "Mideastern" suspects attempted to "probe the base for security weaknesses."
Over the weekend, Abdalah Mohamed was arrested in Portland, Oregon, for threatening to blow up a kosher deli. According to one store employee, Mohamed yelled, "You Israeli . . . I'll blow up your store in the name of Allah!"
And a local news station in Washington, D.C., reported that a Jewish business in the nation's capital has received "a barrage of phone calls and internet postings" from self-described ISIS militants threatening mass murder.
These events are just more evidence of the times in which we live and the dangers we face. Taken individually, they may seem random and unrelated. But there is an obvious common thread.