If it wasn’t clear already, it should be now. State Rep. John Bennett, R-Sallisaw, is not going to back down on his criticism of Muslims and the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Speaking to about 25 members of the Muskogee Patriot Group at the town’s public library on Thursday, Bennett doubled down on statements he’s made that have garnered national attention in the last few weeks, covering a variety of topics but saving some especially vicious vitriol for CAIR.
Bennett told the tea party group that there’s “no difference between moderate Islam and extreme Islam” and said CAIR might have been lying to promote its pro-Muslim agenda when it denounced the actions of Alton Nolen, who is accused of beheading a woman in Moore last week.
CAIR’s and other Islamic groups’ denouncements of the beheading were acts of subversion, Bennett said. He showed attendees seven Quran verses he said he believes authorize Muslims to lie to nonbelievers if it promotes the “Muslim agenda.”
“They condemn acts against the innocent,” Bennett said. “(That’s the) key word. You’ve got to read between the lines. ‘Innocents’ are only those following Islam.”
Bennett was met with sharp criticism when his statements – calling Islam a cancer that needs to be cut out of America – were first broadcast in September. But he was also met with some support.
Oklahoma Republican Party Chairman Dave Weston supported Bennett following the statements, and it was clear from his town hall meeting in Sallisaw last month as well as at Thursday’s meeting that Bennett’s message is one that resonates with some Oklahomans.
Bennett didn’t shy away from inflammatory comments Thursday. He said the “silent majority” of Muslims who have not commented on the beheading in Moore, as well as the terrorist acts of the Islamic State group, or ISIL, are “just like Germans” who joined the Nazis when the Nazis came into power. He said the “liberal media” was the No. 1 problem when it came to stopping the growth of Islam in America, and he said “limp-wristed liberal apologists” also have played a part in Islam’s rise here.
Anyone wearing “facial coverings” who wants to enter the galleries of federal parliament will be made to sit in a separate shielded section, according to new rules announced on Thursday.
A leader of Islington’s Muslim community has voiced his fear that the attempted murder of an Archway shopkeeper may have been fuelled by Islamophobia following the atrocities committed by extremist group Isil.
