c. 2008 Religion News Service

Muslims criticize film inserted into U.S. newspapers

FLINT, Mich. (RNS) A movie being distributed as an advertising insert in more than 70 newspapers nationwide is drawing protests from Muslim groups who call it an attempt to stir up hate.

The movie, “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War on the West,” argues that radical Islam is the greatest threat to American society and that 10 to 15 percent of the world’s more than 1 billion Muslims are “radical.”

“There’s no other goal to it other than that these people hate Muslims,” said Abdelmajid Jondy, president of the Flint Islamic Center. The filmmakers “want to make everybody hate the Muslims.”

The film was made by the New York non-profit organization Clarion Fund, which was formed in 2006 to address threats to America’s security, said Gregory Ross, director of communications.

The advertisement, which included a video of the movie, was disseminated in several competitive states in the upcoming presidential election, including Michigan, Ohio and Florida, according to the list of newspapers included in the ad.

Some have argued that the movie supports Republican nominee Sen. John McCain, who has a strong military background. Ross said the organization does not back a candidate, but said there was an “emphasis” on swing states.

“Whoever is president, we feel that this will be their greatest task,” Ross said. “We want to make sure America is informed.”

“Obsession” will be distributed to 28 million people this month and was inserted in national newspapers such as The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, Ross said.

“America is in a lot worse shape than the media would lead us to believe,” Ross said. The film “doesn’t talk about one specific incident of terrorism. It is an educational tool. When you watch this movie, you will understand how (radical Muslims) think.”

After the film was inserted in the Charlotte Observer in North Carolina, Ahmed Rehav, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told the Observer it was “a shoddy and pathetic attempt to scare people into voting a certain way.”

The film, which was made in 2006, opens showing a man, apparently Muslim, holding a gun. What follows are scenes from Sept. 11 and other terrorist attacks around the world.

In Flint, Jondy accused the Clarion Fund of trying to influence the presidential election by inciting fear in voters. He said it was irresponsible of newspapers to insert the film.

“For the general public that are not educated, (they will) think Muslims are bad people, which is not the truth,” he said. “We are Americans. This is our county and we care about it.”

_ David Harris

Church of England apologizes to Darwin

LONDON (RNS) Some 126 years after Charles Darwin’s death, the Church of England has gone into 21st-century cyberspace to issue an official apology to the naturalist for its own 19th-century “misunderstanding” over his theory of evolution.

Darwin’s thesis that all life evolved over millions of years was published in 1859 in his book, “On The Origin of Species,” and almost instantly triggered controversy that still continues.

His antagonists, including the Church of England, vilified him for questioning their own creationist convictions that the universe and all its parts were solely the work of God perhaps around 6,000 BC and certainly no earlier than 10,000 years ago.

But in a new section of the Church of England’s Web site, the Rev. Malcolm Brown, director of missions and public affairs, addressed Darwin and conceded that the church “owes you an apology for misunderstanding you, by getting our first reaction wrong.”

That reaction, Brown added, resulted in “encouraging others to misunderstand you still.”

Just last week in Britain, a leading biologist, the Rev. Professor Michael Reiss, called for creationism to be included in school science lessons alongside Darwin’s theory of evolution and the “Big Bang” theory of the birth of the universe.

In his online apology, Brown likened the Darwin controversy to the Vatican’s trial in 1633 of Galileo, the Italian astronomer who angered it by asserting that the Earth revolved around the sun.

“Some church people did it again in the 1860s with Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection,” Brown wrote.

_ Al Webb

Faith leaders urge long-term solutions for Gulf Coast

WASHINGTON (RNS) More than 100 religious leaders have urged the federal government and both major political parties to develop long-term solutions to address poverty and environmental concerns along the Gulf Coast.

In an attempt to solve what they called a “moral crisis,” the religious leaders sent the statement to national leaders of both parties to urge them to restore the Gulf Coast communities by creating resident-led partnerships that will enable residents to help rebuild their communities.

The statement also called for government officials to increase federal and state funding for affordable housing and coastal wetland restoration, and to implement a flood control system to protect the communities from future severe weather.

“We have learned that acts of faith and mercy alone, no matter how profound, cannot provide everything needed for a sustainable recovery,” the statement said.

Hurricanes Ike and Gustav reminded the nation that there is still work to be done in the Gulf Coast, and the slow recovery from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita has left many survivors unable to return to their communities, the leaders said.

“While the nation has learned to better prepare for this latest hurricane … we have still failed to protect the well-being of Gulf Coast survivors,” they said.

While the statement acknowledged previous relief efforts and praised volunteers of all faiths, it cited “years of improper stewardship” and inadequate flood protection as violations of human rights.

“We believe it is a moral obligation for the federal government to fulfill its promises for Gulf Coast recovery: empowering residents to return and participate in equitably rebuilding their communities,” they said.

Among the people to sign the statement were Rev. Richard Cizik, vice president of the National Association of Evangelicals; Richard Stearns, president of World Vision; Rabbi Steve Gutow, executive director of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs; Ingrid Mattson, president of the Islamic Society of North America; and the Rev. Larry Snyder, president of Catholic Charities USA.

_ Ashley Gipson

Quote of the Day: Hindu priest Rajeev Khanna of Fairfax, Va.

(RNS) “We fan the deities because in India it is so hot. The idea is, you take care of us, we want you to be comfortable.”

_ Rajeev Khanna, a Hindu priest in Fairfax, Va., about fanning Hindu gods in his temple. Khanna was quoted by The Washington Post (Sept. 15)

KRE/LF END RNS