Republican in Iowa’s 2nd District primary calls for Islam’s religious status to be revoked

This story in the Des Moines Register warms the cockles of my heart. I hope our readers in Iowa will consider voting for Rick Phillips..

A Republican candidate for Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District, whose platform calls for redefining Islam as “militant cultural imperialism seeking world domination,” drew fire Monday for saying he doesn’t believe Islam is protected under the First Amendment. 

Bravo!

Pella Republican Rick Phillips told Quad Cities television station WHBF that he believes the founding fathers were specifically talking about Christianity and its denominations when they established the freedom of religion outlined in the Bill of Rights.

“They were not talking about anti-Christian beliefs,” he said. “Now, if a person doesn’t want to believe in Christ, that’s their business. But to say that this First Amendment right includes all religions in the world, I think, is erroneous.”

That’s exactly right. 

Reached by the Des Moines Register Monday afternoon, Phillips said he has spent time personally studying Islam and believes that when a Muslim swears the oath to the Constitution using the Quran, that negates the constitutional law because they are “sworn to turn this country into an Islamic country.”

He said former president Barack Obama brought several Muslims into the country and there has been an increasing number of mosques built since 9/11.

“All this is packaged as if it’s harmless, and stuff like that,” he said. “But I really see this as an invasion to install a caliphate — an Islamic form of government — here.” 

Both the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights and advocacy group, and the Republican Party of Iowa have condemned Phillips’ remarks. 

Of course they did, cue the outrage.

In a news release, Robert S. McCaw, director of government affairs for CAIR, called on state and national Republican Party leadership to “repudiate these Islamophobic, unconstitutional views.”

“The Constitution must protect Americans of all faiths,” he said. “The kind of hatred and anti-American views promoted by Mr. Phillips places in danger both constitutional protections of religious freedoms and the safety of ordinary American Muslims.” 

He’s not talking about Muslims, he’s talking about Islam, but it is in the interest of CAIR to confuse the two.

Republican Party of Iowa spokesman Aaron Britt said in an email that Phillips’ comments “are not reflective of the views of the Republican Party of Iowa.”

Coward. Eventually this issue will be seriously debated, not simply shut down – and the question, what is Islam, will have to be answered truthfully.