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9/18/2025 Debating Speech Rights in the Public Square and Private Sector as Congress Contemplates its Budget
September 19, 2025 · 54 min
The Abraham Accords Anniversary, government budget talks, more revelations of Biden’s weaponized DOJ, Christians not welcome in Dearborn, MI, and free speech boundaries post Kirk assassination.
Series Washington Watch with Tony Perkins - Audio
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September 19, 2025 · 54 min · Washington Watch with Tony Perkins - Audio
The Abraham Accords Anniversary, government budget talks, more revelations of Biden’s weaponized DOJ, Christians not welcome in Dearborn, MI, and free speech boundaries post Kirk assassination. ...more Show the full description Show less The Abraham Accords Anniversary, government budget talks, more revelations of Biden’s weaponized DOJ, Christians not welcome in Dearborn, MI, and free speech boundaries post Kirk assassination.
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In this video 0:00 Navigating Current Events Through a Biblical Lens
Navigating Current Events Through a Biblical Lens 0:00 From the heart of our nation's capital in Washington, DC, bringing compelling interviews, insightful analysis, taking you beyond the headlines and soundbites into conversations with our nation's leaders and0:12 newsmakers, all from a biblical worldview. Washington Watch with Tony Perkins starts now.0:19 Seems like Republicans have already outright rejected the idea of your plan. Are you willing to shut the government down?0:25 Ask the Republicans if they're willing to shut the government down. That's where they're headed.0:30 That was senate minority leader Chuck Schumer indicating that our country may be headed toward a government shutdown if he has his way. Welcome to this September eighteenth edition of Washington Watch. I'm your host,0:41 Tony Perkins. Thanks so much for tuning in. Well, coming up, Israeli tanks push deeper into Gaza City with the goal of bringing the war that Hamas started on October seventh 20 23 to a close. However, the0:53 intensifying ground campaign in Hamas' urban stronghold is intensifying international condemnation. I'll dive deeper into the issue with senator James Lankford of Oklahoma later in the1:05 program. And congress is gearing up to pass a CR in an effort to prevent that government shutdown. I'll be joined by congressman Mark Harris of North Carolina to discuss the latest on the CR.1:21 President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he wants to designate the Antifa movement as a terrorist organization. In his post on Truth Social, he added, quote, I will also be strongly recommending that those funding
1:32 Antifa be thoroughly investigated in accordance with the highest legal standards and practices. Trump's signal of new action against left wing groups comes after the assassination of conservative political activist
1:44 Charlie Kirk last week. What role did these left wing groups play in creating an atmosphere of hostility towards conservatives that has repeatedly repeatedly led to violence?
1:56 Joining me now to, discuss this, Washington stand reporter Casey Harper who has been following this story. Casey, what more can you tell us about president Trump's statement that he wants to designate Antifa a terrorist
2:07 organization?
2:08 Well, thanks, Tony. As you said, president Trump made that announcement on Truth Social saying, quote, I'll be strongly recommending that those funding it are hit with the highest legal standards and practices. A pretty
2:19 strong statement. While president Trump's signal of new action against left wing groups, it comes, as you said, after the assassination of Christian conservative activist Charlie Kirk on September tenth. President Trump
2:30 and senior officials in his administration have repeatedly blamed left wing groups for creating an atmosphere of hostility toward conservatives before Kirk's murder. This also comes after the recent revelations that
2:42 Biden's Department of Justice targeted 92 conservative organizations in an investigation they labeled Arctic Frost. And, Tony, it it is true that not just conservatives, but also Christians are facing
2:54 threats, violence, and even persecution from left wing individuals and organizations. For example, at a Dearborn City Council meeting just last week, mayor Abdulahamud told resident Ted Barham, who's a
3:06 Christian minister actually, that he was, quote, not welcome in the city after that minister objected to street signs honoring Arab American news publisher, Osama Sablani. The minister criticized Sablani
3:18 for past comments he believed supported Hezbollah and Hamas. Now although the signs were installed by Wade County and not the city, the mayor escalated the exchange during the public meeting, Tony.
3:30 Thanks, Casey. We'll, actually dive a little bit deeper into this and have a discussion, with doctor Andrew Bostom. Casey, what other stories, are you tracking?
3:40 Well, a
3:40 lot going on this week, Tony. Congress is working to pass a CR to extend funding for the government past September thirtieth. With that looming government shutdown on the horizon, Republicans are trying to work with
3:51 Democrats, but so far, there's not much progress on that front. Democrats seem like they want a government shutdown and are not willing to cooperate. Now another headline from today is president Trump's visit in the
4:03 UK. During a joint press conference, with British prime minister, Keir Starmer, president Trump said that tariffs were crucial to boosting current investment levels in America and emphasized the importance of, quote,
4:14 sane regulation in the US economy. His visit as he departs today included high profile meetings and ceremonies culminating in the announcement of a 205000000000 dollar US investment package into Britain.
4:26 During the press conference, president Trump also said that Russian president Vladimir Putin had let him down. He made a comment after a question from a reporter on the efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
4:37 The 1 that I thought would be easiest would be because of my relationship with president Putin, but, he's let me down. He's really let me down. It was gonna be Russia
4:47 and
4:47 Ukraine, but we'll see how that turns out. But, that turned out to be I thought it might be among the easiest of the group, but we had settled just about every conflict. And as you know, we're working
4:59 very hard on Israel and Gaza. Oh, that's happening over there. Complex, but it's gonna be it's gonna get done.
5:08 Now meanwhile, in the Middle East, Israeli tanks advance further into Gaza City today with smoke rising and communications cut off, which is a show of that further escalation in ground operations as Israeli
5:20 forces targeted key neighborhoods and moved towards those densely populated areas. Now Israel has urged civilians to flee to a southern humanitarian zone amid the increasingly dire conditions there. It's
5:31 offensive against Hamas, though, and efforts to free hostages have drawn some international condemnation, Tony.
5:37 Certainly has. Thank you, Casey. Appreciate, the report today. Well, joining me now to discuss this and more is US senator James Lankford of Oklahoma. He serves on 4 senate committees, including
5:49 the finance committee and the select committee on intelligence. Senator Lankford, thanks so much for, joining us today. Always great to see you.
5:57 Yeah. Good to see you as well, Tony. Thanks for all the work you do.
6:00 Well, I appreciate it. Let's start with something that you and I, share in common. We've spent a lot of time in Israel concerned about the Middle East, understand the role of Israel, not just in
6:11 geopolitics, but as believers, as Christians, it it occupies a very important part. What can you tell us the latest? Are we I know you also are part of the you chair the Abraham
6:23 Accords. Are we making progress?
6:26 We we are making some progress, but it's painfully difficult. And it we are also at the 5 year mark for the Abraham Accords, and we think about how significant that has been in the region. The Abraham Accords were a
6:38 moment to be able to make friends when we needed to be able to make friends. And now we're in a situation where those relationships continue to hold. The UAE, Bahrain, Morocco continue to be able to maintain
6:48 communication with Israel even during this ongoing war. But right now, Israel, as you've mentioned and your, reporter also mentioned, Israel is on a an offensive actually in Gaza City
7:00 to be able to find, locate, and actually redeem their hostages that are actually there. Israel has said over and over and over again, this war would be over if Hamas would give up its hostages. Hamas knows its very
7:12 existence is based on killing people and taking hostages, and so they refuse to be able to release even the bodies of individuals that were killed in the terrorist attack, much less those that are still alive.
7:24 And I can't imagine what they've experienced over the last 2 years of being a hostage.
7:28 Alright. It's, I've I I know as you have, I've I've talked to some of the hostages that have been released and, just harrowing experiences. This comes, this,
7:40 latest push into Gaza City. My sense is in conversations with those in Israel and also through observation, understanding how difficult urban combat is, but this surge to me appears
7:52 to come as Israel understands the international community is closing in on them. I mean, we've got the, European Commission suggesting, that, tariff
8:04 sanctions be placed on Israel. We have the United Nations General Assembly later this month, and we have some of our own allies in the Right. In Europe wanting to, saying they're gonna call for a Palestinian
8:15 state.
8:16 Yep. Yeah. We got the president saying with Keir Starmer today, even in the UK is saying that they're gonna call for a Palestinian state unilaterally. France has done the same saying they're gonna call for a Palestinian
8:26 state unilaterally. That doesn't solve the problem. Plus the fact even if you declared a Palestinian state, who's the head? Where where's the leadership? What would that even look like? Who can Israel even negotiate
8:36 with, because there's such chaos in Judea and Samaria and then clearly in Gaza and what's happening there. So there there's no way to be able to recognize something that doesn't even have an organizational system to it.
8:47 Senator, you and I have been together in Judea and Samaria. In fact, we were part of the first groups official groups to go into that region. It is much
8:59 larger, about 24 times larger than what we have in Gaza. And Gaza, by de facto, was a 2 state solution. I mean, this would be a disaster for Israel and their
9:11 national security.
9:11 Right. Right. Right. And, again, you're back to the most basic thing of leadership there. The the Palestinian people don't trust the Palestinian authority. You have multiple different political parties there. You have no
9:21 organization. They've not had elections in a long time. And now you have a group of sheikhs in Hebron, that are saying, hey. We don't wanna be a part of the Palestinian area at all. We wanna form our own emirate in this
9:33 area. And several of the sheikhs coming on board as well and saying, hey. We we wanna look at a totally different solution, not a 2 state solution, but an agreement between Palestinian people and Israelis to be able to
9:43 how we can actually cooperate together.
9:44 That that's not getting a lot of media attention because that is a major development. We've not seen that before where you have you have Arabs, those living in the under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian authorities
9:55 say, we don't want this corrupt government. Right. We wanna be we wanna operate the way this area did prior to, about a hundred years ago when they began to carve up and create this nation state. They were
10:06 tribal, and they wanna live under the families.
10:09 1 of the most successful nations in that entire region is United Arab Emirates, and it's a group of families that have organized together. They formed their own government and their own coalitions, but each is an
10:19 emirate, a group of families there, with leadership on that. That's a very Middle Eastern model, and the 2 state solution is very often the west trying to impose the way we do government, not the way that's actually done
10:31 in the Middle East. There are Middle Eastern families there in the Palestinian area saying, no. We wanna do Emirates. We wanna break away from the PA.
10:37 Alright. I mean, this, as you said, a pretty recent development after the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the West imposing and just basically going in and drawing lines and dividing it up. Alright. I I want senator, I
10:48 wanna before we run out of time, we just have about 3 minutes left, I wanna shift to domestic issues, government funding. Here we are again. Yep. Democrats, trying to I think they're they're taking a wager. I think they
11:00 they they're they're saying if the if the if the Republicans don't blink, we're gonna shut down the government.
11:06 Yeah. They are. Right now, the Democrats are trying to be able to prove to their far left progressive base that we're fighting against Trump on it. But when you run into a government shutdown, it's always a charge of the
11:15 light brigade. Every time Republicans have done it, Democrats have done it. But at the end, it spends more money. It wastes taxpayer dollars to be able to do it. It's all the drama. We look terrible on the world stage.
11:24 Government shutdowns don't help us. They actually hurt us long term. This particular 1, Republicans have said, okay. Let's just keep the government open for the next 7 weeks, exactly the same funding as we have now so we
11:35 can continue negotiations to be able to finish things out in the next 7 weeks. And Democrats have said, no. We want an extra 300000000000 dollars to do an extension of COVID era insurance
11:47 pieces that they had done during the COVID time period when president Biden was in place. They want an additional 300000000000 dollars to keep the government open 7 weeks. Now just think about that. In all the debt and
11:57 deficit that we have for the next 7 weeks, they want 300000000000 dollars to be able to add to it to be able to increase COVID area health care funds. So we've said, hey. Let let let's talk about things, but we're not
12:07 gonna do 300000000000 dollars in this process for 7 weeks.
12:11 This is, what the White House has called for and what the house is poised to passion. I was speaking with, the majority leader, Steve Scalise, earlier this morning. A a clean CR. It it
12:23 just continues what we had in place. Democrats voted for that, did they not?
12:28 They did. During the, Biden administration, we had 13 different continuing resolutions. Almost every single Democrat voted for every single 1 of them to say, hey. Let's just keep the negotiations going until we can
12:40 actually get the appropriations work done. This is common practice. If we run out of time to say, just don't shut it down, keep it going, let's keep negotiating. We're getting close. We already have wide agreement on 3
12:49 of the 12 appropriation bills. We have 9 to go. We can get those done in the next 7 weeks on it. That's the right way to be able to go. Not to say, I'm gonna shut the government down if you don't give me 300000000000
12:59 dollars and more COVID.
13:02 Your sense, the house is gonna pass it. They're gonna leave town. That creates a lot of pressure for the senate to adopt what the house has.
13:10 It it does actually accept that the last time that this happened, Chuck Schumer and a group of Democrats in the senate voted for that continuing resolution, and their progressive base just pounded away on them for doing
13:21 that. So I think Chuck Schumer is gonna try to prove that he is fighting against Trump and he's gonna shut the government down. And he's gonna say, no. I won't do a clean CR just to be able to keep it going. I wanna be
13:31 able to add some something to it, and this time, it's his new health care piece that he wants to be able to add into it. And, so we'll see how the fight goes. Ultimately, though, it's better for us to keep the
13:39 negotiation going and not have a shutdown.
13:42 Yeah. Senator James Langford, always great to see you, my friend. Thanks so much for, joining us.
13:47 You bet. Good to see you again. Keep praying for the nation.
13:49 Absolutely. Folks, we need to be praying.
13:52 A lot to
13:52 pray for. Alright. Coming up next, we're gonna be joined by Congressman Mark Harris, a long go away.
14:01 3 years ago, the Supreme Court issued its historic Dobbs decision, A ruling that overturned Roe versus Wade, which for nearly 50 years imposed abortion on demand. Silencing voters and
14:13 bypassing the democratic process across the country. The Dobbs decision was a huge step forward against abortion, but it didn't outright ban it. It returned the power to the people. Now, 29
14:25 states have laws on the books protecting life. However, there's a catch. Abortion numbers since Dobbs have actually gone up with an increase of 12 percent since 20 20, climbing from
14:37 930000 to over 1000000 in each of the most recent years. So how can this be? The answer is simple, the abortion drug. Today, over 60 percent
14:48 of US abortions involve abortion drugs, many of these without medical oversight. In 20 21, the Biden administration quietly removed bare minimum long standing safety protocols
15:00 for the abortion drug that have existed for 20 years to protect women from life threatening risks and ensuring informed consent. The Biden DOJ then declared that they would not enforce the Comstock Act,
15:12 which prevents the mailing of anything that causes an abortion. This is not only illegal, but also dangerous. A study shows nearly 11 percent of women who take the abortion drug
15:24 end up in the emergency room with serious complications. Unless the Trump administration reverses these reckless Biden era policies, pro life laws will remain largely symbolic.
15:36 Without a full review and repeal of mifepristone, unborn lives will remain in grave danger and pregnant mothers will remain at risk. Let's stand for life and end this mail
15:48 order abortion drug pipeline. Sign the petition urging the Trump administration to take action at f r c dot org slash stop chemical abortion.
16:00 In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory. Family
16:12 Research Council invites you to join our Stand on the Word Bible Reading Plan as we reflect upon the life of Jesus, the word who dwelt among us. Come with us and
16:24 discover the glory of the word. Read the gospels and witness the life changing story of Jesus, his life, death, and resurrection. Come read how Jesus transformed the lives of
16:35 common people and how those same people transformed the known world through the power of the Holy Spirit. Come with us for 10 to 15 minutes a day and read the entire New Testament before the New
16:47 Year. Find our Bible reading plan and daily devotionals from Tony Perkins at frc dot org slash bible. Join us and stand on the word.
17:03 Welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks so much for, tuning in. If, you'd like to find out more about Washington Watch in the Family Research Council, go to tony perkins dot com. Better yet, download the Stand Firm
17:15 app. Go to the App Store and get the the Stand Firm app. That way, you can have access to Washington Watch no matter where you go. Also, you can, have access to our news and commentary from a biblical perspective, the
17:26 Washington Stand and my daily devotional, Stand on the Word. All of that is found on the Stand Firm app. Yesterday, congress moved 1 step. The house moved 1 step closer to keeping the federal government funded
17:38 past the looming September thirtieth deadline. Now what they did is they approved in the house a rule to advance the house continuing resolution. Now it was a party line vote, 216 to 2
17:49 10. House speaker Mike Johnson is reportedly still eyeing a Friday morning floor vote on the stopgap funding measure. They're still trying to get a few more votes together. Congress,
18:01 will be out next week, and so this will pass the house. And as we were just talking about with senator Lankford, it will go over to the senate. What will they do with it? Well, we'll see. You heard what he had to say.
18:11 Alright. Joining me now to discuss what's happening in the house, congressman Mark Harris. He serves on 3 house committees, including the judiciary committee and the education committee. He represents the eighth
18:20 congressional district of North Carolina right outside outside of Charlotte. Congressman Harris, welcome back to Washington Watch. Always great to see you.
18:29 Tony, it's always great to be with you.
18:32 Alright. So, the the house getting closer, inching closer. I understand there's a handful of votes yet to, to be wrangled to pass the CR. Talk a little bit about, the
18:44 internal conversations among Republicans. What what what are the concerns about passing a clean CR?
18:50 Well, of course, I I think the main concern that many have, about any kind of CR is all of us have run on wanting to get back to regular order. We wanna see the appropriation
19:02 bills get passed. Obviously, this was a bit of a unique situation where a lot of time was eaten up so far this year and getting the reconciliation bill done and, and getting it through.
19:14 So we find ourselves facing this deadline of September thirtieth that's upon us. We've only got just a handful of appropriation bills through. And so the reality is there's gonna have to be a
19:26 CR. Now I'm a proponent quite frankly and have been all along of a year long CR if we're going to do 1, more long term simply because that is gonna at least hold spending at a
19:38 level place and avoid any kind of increase in spending. But it seems like the the better play at this particular point is gonna be a short term CR that's
19:50 gonna get us to November 20 first, and it'll be clean. And that's gonna give us more time to get more accomplished, with many of these appropriation bills that are out there.
20:02 The the Democrats, to give some top numbers to our appropriators, but, we're we're making progress, and and I'm hopeful that we're going to get that come Friday.
20:12 Well, I I agree with you. I think a longer term CR is probably better because every time you have a vote, there has to be negotiations. And when there's negotiations, things have to be given up. And while it might not
20:22 necessarily be in the CR itself as it's described as a clean CR, there are side deals that have to be made to get votes. So it it that is problematic. And, to your
20:34 point, there's been all this discussion about getting back to regular order, meaning passing the 12 appropriations bills, having the discussions, having the committee hearings on those. I know the house is proceeding,
20:46 but at the end of the day, it doesn't get all the way through the process. It's been almost 20 years since that has happened. What kind of commitment is the, the house leadership making to ensure that you get back to
20:56 that regular order?
20:59 Well, again, I think the speakers made it very clear that that's his goal and would like to see us get there. Again, we we do have to deal, with the Democrats and and making sure we have an idea
21:10 of the top numbers, with appropriations that they're gonna deal with when it gets to the senate. Obviously, that's the big challenge the house has. If the Republicans all stick together, we can pass something through the
21:22 house. But then it gets over
21:23 Right.
21:24 And it, and it's gonna be Chuck Schumer's problem. And they again, they've got, gotta be 7 Democrats that, avoid, the shutdown really by stepping up and and passing it.
21:35 Alright. Well, we'll see what happens here. I wanna switch gears a little bit because you serve on the House Judiciary Committee, which yesterday heard testimony from FBI director, Kash Patel. Now during that hearing, as
21:45 I was watching it, you brought up the Biden administration's weaponization of federal agencies, targeting not criminals, not not violent crime, but Christians in churches.
22:01 Absolutely. We we brought up the question to them upfront that was it wise to spend resources on spying on the Catholic church? And I specifically use that word spying because what
22:13 they've been doing is absolutely atrocious. And we genuinely felt like we needed to step in and and ask the FBI director. And, I even carried it 1 step further and pointed
22:25 out having been a pastor for 36 years, was it possible that I was on Ray's FBI watch list? And director, Kash Patel, assured me that,
22:37 while he couldn't speak to that at the moment, that he would assure me that, I would not be on his watch list or their watch list of the FBI under his leadership.
22:46 Well, actually, I I'd like them I'd like to be on my watch list. I want them to watch the program. I want to hear the truth of what's going on. Now I understand his response to you is that he went a little further.
22:58 He's said that the f I FBI would be, quote, zealously protecting our first amendment rights, end quote. And that that's for all Americans. I mean, I I think you
23:10 and I agree that every American has a right to speak, and their speech should be protected and should be targeted because we disagree with it.
23:17 Oh, you're exactly right. And, you know, we and this is a this is a very, very serious issue, a touchy issue that I think all of us have gotten to be aware of. We had a hearing just a few weeks ago, that we
23:29 brought in, Nigel Farage there from the Great Britain, where we've all watched this thing just get crazy with censorship and and the hate speech. And anytime the government uses that and and
23:41 put something in, it seems like Christians are the ones that get the black eye. And, again, you found where people are being arrested for praying silent prayer even outside of abortion clinics. And so we've gotta
23:53 be very wise in how we approach it.
23:55 Alright. Just a minute left, congressman Harris. Any other major takeaways from yesterday's hearing?
24:02 Well, it was obvious to me that, Kash Patel and his leadership there at the FBI is making an incredible difference. I mean, you're seeing the crime, rates come down. You're
24:14 seeing, the amount of fentanyl that's been, stopped at the border and and all of those things. The work that's being done has been phenomenal. The Democrats, they honestly don't have anything to do but just to attack
24:26 him personally. And 1 thing I was very impressed with, director Patel, he made it very clear on a number of occasions, you can hate me, you can attack me personally, Alright
24:48 Alright. Congressman Mark Harris, always great to see you, my friend. Have a great weekend.
24:52 Thank you. Great to be with you.
24:54 Alright, folks. Stick around. There's more Washington Watch straight ahead.
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25:30 At Family Research Council, defending the family isn't just a mission. It's our daily calling. Every team member at FRC uses their god given talents to stand for biblical truth,
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25:45 Here at Family Research Council, we face many threats to the family. Threats that have been with us for some time. Abortion, the gender ideology threat, the attacks on marriage, the attacks on parental authority, and the
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26:06 I'm defending the family by working in the Center for Biblical Worldview, to provide cutting edge research and resources for pastors, ministry leaders, and Christian parents.
26:18 Through my work at the Washington Stand, I passionately defend what God has defined for marriage and family. I don't see the Washington Stand as just a place to talk about cultural events. It's a place to share biblical
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26:37 Because of you, we're able to frame things in such a way that help Christians stand for truth on the things that matter most, like life, faith, family, and freedom.
26:45 Thank you for standing with us.
26:47 Thank you for your support. It is so critical to the work that we at Family Research Council are doing day to day as we support and strengthen the family. So thank you.
27:03 Welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks for joining us. Alright. The city of Dearborn, Michigan has been getting some new unwanted attention the past few days after a video clip went viral of its
27:15 Muslim mayor telling a Christian resident who apparently is a pastor as well that he is not welcome in the city. The remark was made following the resident's objection to
27:26 renaming the renaming of a street in the heart of Dearborn after a newspaper publisher who has made pro Hamas and pro Hezbollah statements. Is this the type of message we should be hearing
27:38 in America? Should this concern us? Joining me now to discuss this, doctor Andrew Bostom, author of Sharia versus Freedom, the legacy of Islamic totalitarianism. Doctor Bostom, welcome back to
27:50 Washington Watch. Good to see you.
27:52 Good to be with you, Tony.
27:54 Alright. For those in our who are not aware, can you give us a little background on what's been unfolding in the city of Dearborn and what makes this unique?
28:04 Well, dear Dearborn, is 1 of, I believe a couple of cities now in, I think, Hamtramck is the other that has a a Muslim mayor. It has a very large now it's a majority,
28:16 Muslim community. And what you're seeing play out, are are what a lot of us have feared is that in in in in a in a predominantly Muslim
28:29 enclave, the city, town, etcetera, you will see application of of Islamic law. And and and, you know, this isn't this isn't, you know, a clear cut case of, for example, blasphemy
28:41 or criticizing, Islam's prophet Muhammad. But but what what this pastor did is go against the of the community where this is in their eyes, this is a respected Muslim,
28:53 and how dare a non Muslim criticize the decision to name a street after him. And, obviously, I don't think there's anything legally that can be done to the pastor, but there may be all kinds of extra
29:05 legal pressures, put upon him. And and the point is, Tony, that this is not considered, negative from from an Islamic perspective. You know, this is the way
29:17 Christians are supposed to behave in a in a Muslim community. They are supposed to bend to the will of the Muslim majority and not do anything that that offends the sensibilities of Muslims.
29:28 But but is that the American way that we have to surrender our first amendment freedoms because we're living in an enclave of, Muslims?
29:35 Of course not. And and and the problem is that we that we don't have the the, the political strength, the religious strength, the social strength to just say this is
29:47 intolerable, and there there there should be, higher officials in the state of Michigan that that that chastise this mayor, and and even threaten him if they
29:59 have to. And he and he and federally federally thinks should be done to threaten funding to Dearborn.
30:05 He he said this from his from the city council in his role as the mayor. So it wasn't like he posted this somewhere on social media. He said it from his official post and
30:17 capacity. Now let me set something because they're gonna be people say, well, you believe in religious freedom. What if a Christian was a mayor? Well, okay. But let me let me there's a difference between Islam and
30:26 Christianity. Christianity allows freedom. Christianity actually allows this Muslim mayor to to be a mayor in in America. How let me ask you this. Let me ask you this. Is
30:38 there a Christian mayor somewhere in a Muslim country telling a Muslim resident that they have to leave the city?
30:46 Of course not. And it's far worse than that. There's not a single Muslim country or region where Christians are free and safe. And and in fact, what we're seeing right now in real time is the tragedy of what's happening,
30:58 in Sub Saharan Africa, where countries such as Nigeria, Congo, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Niger, and Central African Republic, have massacred or or forcibly displaced millions of African
31:09 Christians, jihadists, allowed to roam free in these in these countries, within the past 10 years. And there's about 34 and a half million people that have been displaced across Sub Saharan Africa. Essentially half of
31:21 them, about a little over 16000000 are Christians. You know, they they Christians in many Muslim countries can be detained without trial, arrested, sentenced, and imprisoned. They're incarcerated for their
31:33 faith in in Bangladesh and and Iran. They're being driven underground in places like, like Yemen and Algeria. And even a a society that gets a lot of attention, the
31:45 the the the vestigial remnant Christian community living under the the the rule of Palestinian Jihad terror groups, is almost extinct. And and and and the the the the surviving families,
31:57 have have moved abroad or are trying trying to leave.
32:00 But all of those things that you just talked about, the harassment, the arrest, the persecution of of Christians in Muslim countries, that doesn't happen here in the United States of America.
32:11 Of course not. Not to Muslims. Muslims Muslims, you know, certainly, it's in vogue, have a have a protected status in in in this country. We we
32:22 monitor, so called Islamophobic, hate crimes, and and and there's all kinds of public opprobrium cast upon anyone, who who, whoShow more
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