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Friday, October 4, 2024 - 01:02 PM

INDEPENDENT CONSERVATIVE VOICE OF UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

First Published in 1994

INDEPENDENT CONSERVATIVE VOICE OF
UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

Like so 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 original values.

In 2004 Duke raised eyebrows for sponsoring a Palestinian Solidarity Movement conference. As one might imagine, the movement promoted divestment from Israel and supported the outrageous claim that "Zionism is racism." The 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 wanting to silence 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" in the country. Not surprisingly, some Jewish students left Duke in disgust.

But then Duke's anti-Semitic head bobs up again last week. The school announced that they will begin broadcasting the daily Muslim calls to prayer from the campus chapel bell tower. According to one university official, this decision "represents a larger commitment to religious pluralism that is at the heart of Duke's mission." I don't think that Duke's Methodist founders would agree with such a new and distorted mission.

One man who does not agree with Duke's decision is Rev. Franklin Graham. Reacting to the 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 does not submit to their Muslim law, Duke is promoting this ideology in the name of religious pluralism." Graham urged donors and alumni to withhold their support.

I know some might say, "This is America. We let a thousand flowers bloom." Well, that's just the point. The Muslims are not letting even a hundred flowers bloom.

When the Chick-Fil-A controversy erupted at Duke a few years ago, university 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 the restaurant's CEO, not wanting to offend those of other religions.

But then it turns around and embraces the calls to prayer of a religion that leads the world in religious persecution, hatred, and violence. And Duke officials think nobody is offended by that?

Don't forget that Islamic Muslims are still America's enemy. They are at war with us, even if we don't believe we are at war with them. They have labeled us, "the Great Satan" and Israel, "the Little Satan," with treasonous intentions to annihilate both the United States and Israel, in order to establish a world-wide Muslim caliphate. They have unashamedly announced that they have the right and the desire to kill all "infidels" who do not adhere to Islam. That, of course, includes all Christians and all Jews, all Americans and all Israelis. including you and me.

So we must add that it was great to hear that Duke University reversed its decision about broadcasting the Muslim prayer calls from the campus chapel tower. We were so glad to see that the protests finally accomplished their purpose, and Duke officials finally either saw the light, or felt the pressure.

And it was great to see the four million man anti-Islamic terrorism march in Paris last week. We were wondering if the world was ever going to stop appeasing the Muslims and start putting up the proper and necessary defenses against this treasonous and militant murderous religion. It has crept over much of the world now, and it looks like it needs to be stopped by military power, since all that the Muslims seem to understand is might. Remember, Islam is known as "the religion of the sword."

The nations of the world have the power to stop militant Islam in its tracks, if they would only make the difficult decisions to go ahead and use that power. So far they have been either intimidated not to, or reluctant to do so. But the dangers from Islam that the whole world is facing are real, and they are getting worse. There is going to have to be some great conflagration, and it looks like it will have to be in the near future.

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Dr. Al Snyder is a former professor of Communications at Liberty University in Virginia and North Greenville University. He has done extensive missionary work in Israel and Africa.