Brigitte Gabriel
Credit: Right Wing Watch
Brigitte Gabriel, an anti-Islam activist, baselessly claimed today that “over 90 percent of mosques in America” are funded by the Saudi Arabian government in order to teach radical ideology aimed at overturning the United States government.
Speaking with “Breitbart News Daily” this morning, Gabriel agreed with guest host Raheem Kassam’s suggestion that the United States should create a searchable database of information about foreign-funded religious institutions, and claimed that nearly all U.S. mosques are funded by Saudi Arabia to radicalize Muslims against America.
“I think it must be clear where a lot, if not every single foreign-funded religious institution gets its money from in this country,” Kassam said. “I think there has to be an absolutely crystal-clear searchable database so we can see where these Saudis are funding these radical mosques all across the United States.”
“You think they’re not doing it?” Kassam said. “It is happening here too.”
Gabriel added, “To the tune of millions, it’s happening here. Mosques in America are funded by the government of Saudi Arabia. We know […]
How many terror attacks are committed by Christians?
We know the answer to that, Steve, you should do your research. Here is the data you would have discovered in 30 seconds with a Google: “A joint project by the Investigative Fund at the Nation Institute, a nonprofit media center, and Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting has found that within the past nine years, right-wing extremists plotted or carried out nearly twice as many terrorist attacks as Islamist extremists. Of the 115 right-wing incidents, police only foiled 35 percent. Compare this to the 63 Islamist terrorism cases, where police foiled 76 percent of the planned attacks.
“Right-wing extremists were not only more successful, they were often more deadly, too. From 2008 to 2016, a third of right-wing attacks involved fatalities, compared to 13 percent of Islamist attacks. It should be noted, however, that Islamist extremists killed more people overall, with a death toll of 90 people compared to 79.”
I know from your frequent posts that you have a real problem with facts. You should put objectively verifiable facts ahead of ideology.
— Stephan
Stephan, I can’t speak for other instances, but there’s nothing wrong with Steve Hovland’s facts in this case. Your citing this study commits a number of logical fallacies. I’ll mention two. First, you imply that right-wing extremism is isomorphic with committed Christians (the term used by Hovland). While there is overlap between the two demographics, it is minuscule. A second fallacy is to assert a study that pertains only to the US as if it is relevant worldwide (I’m assuming prima facie that Hovland’s comment reflects a world view on Islamic terror, which is how most people think of it). On this broader standard, Islamic terror astronomically exceeds that fostered by Christians. And, if one recognizes the first fallacy, Islamic terror (both successful and thwarted) significantly exceeds that of religiously-motivated violence by Christians in the US as well.
In fact as I have written on numerous occasions about the rise of identitarian politics and that it is endemic to not just the U.S. but Europe generally. Wherever Whites have traditional dominated the culture.
It is a response to the four meta-trends, I have also described, so won’t do it again here. In this instance we are speaking specifically about the U.S. and, in that case the facts are just what I have posted — Christian terrorism is much more dangerous and threatening to the country than Muslim. If you have some real (as opposed to alt-right “facts”) that dispute this, please post them, as I have done.
— Stephan
Ironically, given your “identitarian” remark, neither Gabriel nor Kassam are Caucasian males, nor are they Westerners by origin. And I once again am compelled to call attention to your faulty logic in assigning “Christian” as a modifier of “terrorism.” Right wing extremist terrorism (whether it is indeed a greater threat than Islamic terrorism or not–a point that is eminently debatable, not particularly amendable to factual analysis, and subject mostly to personal biases, including your own) is not commensurate with Christianity. More importantly, right wing terrorism is nowhere near as affiliated with the religious background of its instigators as is Islamist terror. Indeed the term “Islamist terror” and its derivatives are widely used and accepted globally, whereas “Christian terror” is not, since it is negligible both in absolute terms and in comparison to any other variety of terror.
BTW, I just realized that Steve Hovland did not actually say “committed Christians”; he said “committed by Christians.” So I misread his remark in that respect. But that only slightly changes the sense of what I thought he had said. It would, however, have somewhat changed my response had I realized it. Obviously, a larger number of terrorist acts committed by right-wing extremist are committed by people from a Christian background (whether they legitimately, or only culturally count as Christian is a different matter). But unlike Islamist terror, they rarely explicitly associate their actions with Christianity.
Paul —
I realize I have to completely reappraise my thinking about you. But putting that aside do you actually dispute the fact that “Christian” White male terrorists have committed more acts of terrorism, and killed and wounded more people in the United States than Muslim terrorists? The facts are very clear about this. Google it yourself.
— Stephan
Stephan, you’re shooting the messenger. Though i question the 90% as
hyperbole, there’s reason to think Brigitte Gabriel is pointing in the
right direction. If you read her book “Because They Hate” (as I have)
you’ll see where she’s coming from. (Also, remember that she is an
ethnic Arab from Lebanon and Kassam himself is from a Muslim
background.) Trying to equate the history of Islam with that of Judaism,
including the way Jewish people were treated in Germany is a false
equivalency. There _is_ reason to be concerned, even if these particular
folks’ take on it may be exaggerated. It would be perfectly legitimate
(and constitutional) to keep track of overseas influences and funding of
local religious institutions. The US is likely already doing it, and if
not, we’re probably the only country in the world that isn’t. I know the
Swiss were, for less reason, certainly keeping tabs on the Mormon church
when I served my LDS mission there more than forty years ago. Please
don’t let your fear of anything right of Bernie Sanders cloud your
judgment! 🙂
Paul —
I am embarrassed for you. Are you really defending Brigitte Gabriel, a notorious “Christian” alt-righter and anti-Islamist fake news terrorist? Are you really that far right? I had no idea. I just thought of you as a conservative Mormon.
In any case you completely missed my point. What I said was that if you substituted the word “Jew” for “Muslim” you end up with a document that could have been written by Joseph Goebbels. I chose the piece to show how the same techniques used by the Nazis are now being used by alt-right commentators. Do you dispute that?
— Stephan