When
President Obama went to Egypt in 2009, he lauded the Muslim role in
American history. He boasted that Rep. Keith Ellison had taken the oath
of office on Thomas Jefferson's copy of the Koran.
The
president conveniently neglected to mention why it was that Mr.
Jefferson had a copy of the Koran. As a U.S. American diplomat in Paris
in the 1780s, Jefferson appealed to an Arab envoy to stop seizing
American ships and demanding ransom for their enslaved merchant sailors.
The Arab diplomat told Jefferson it was the will of Allah, as expressed
in the Koran, that "infidels" (Christians and Jews) should be kidnapped
and put to forced labor. Incredulous, Jefferson bought a copy of the
Koran to see if that could possibly be true. He was astonished to learn
that it was true.
For the next twenty years, Thomas Jefferson
resolved to use force and not to pay kidnappers. Some of Jefferson 's
colleagues favored paying them off. They thought it would be cheaper.
Jefferson believed our national independence and honor were at stake.
And by 1800, paying ransom was no longer cheap. Fully one-fifth of the
U.S. budget was going to pay off the Barbary Pirates of North Africa.
When Jefferson became president in 1801, he put an end to paying
tribute and offering ransom. He fought a short, sharp, successful war
against the Barbary Pirates, even sending the U.S. Marines "to the
shores of Tripoli."
Jefferson, along with Benjamin Franklin,
identified strongly with the Jews' fight for freedom. Both Franklin and
Jefferson proposed making Moses leading the Children of Israel out of
bondage in Egypt the official seal of the United States.
It is
all this history that President Obama ignores when he displaces the
Jews, when he mischaracterizes our country. He is trying to
"fundamentally transform" America. It is a dangerous course.
We
should welcome any step toward genuine religious freedom in Muslim
majority lands. No one wants to fight a Holy War against the world's
Muslims. But we should not delude ourselves. There is not today a single
Muslim majority land where religious freedom exists. There is not one
where the rights of religious minorities have been protected -- as they
have been in America.
For President Obama to displace the Jews
in his description of our country risks losing the very religious
freedom we celebrate. He may be leading us all back into "Egyptian"
bondage. What a terrible precedent on Religious Freedom Day.
http://patriotpost.us/opinion/
When
President Obama went to Egypt in 2009, he lauded the Muslim role in
American history. He boasted that Rep. Keith Ellison had taken the oath
of office on Thomas Jefferson's copy of the Koran.
The president conveniently neglected to mention why it was that Mr. Jefferson had a copy of the Koran. As a U.S. American diplomat in Paris in the 1780s, Jefferson appealed to an Arab envoy to stop seizing American ships and demanding ransom for their enslaved merchant sailors. The Arab diplomat told Jefferson it was the will of Allah, as expressed in the Koran, that "infidels" (Christians and Jews) should be kidnapped and put to forced labor. Incredulous, Jefferson bought a copy of the Koran to see if that could possibly be true. He was astonished to learn that it was true.
For the next twenty years, Thomas Jefferson resolved to use force and not to pay kidnappers. Some of Jefferson 's colleagues favored paying them off. They thought it would be cheaper.
Jefferson believed our national independence and honor were at stake. And by 1800, paying ransom was no longer cheap. Fully one-fifth of the U.S. budget was going to pay off the Barbary Pirates of North Africa.
When Jefferson became president in 1801, he put an end to paying tribute and offering ransom. He fought a short, sharp, successful war against the Barbary Pirates, even sending the U.S. Marines "to the shores of Tripoli."
Jefferson, along with Benjamin Franklin, identified strongly with the Jews' fight for freedom. Both Franklin and Jefferson proposed making Moses leading the Children of Israel out of bondage in Egypt the official seal of the United States.
It is all this history that President Obama ignores when he displaces the Jews, when he mischaracterizes our country. He is trying to "fundamentally transform" America. It is a dangerous course.
We should welcome any step toward genuine religious freedom in Muslim majority lands. No one wants to fight a Holy War against the world's Muslims. But we should not delude ourselves. There is not today a single Muslim majority land where religious freedom exists. There is not one where the rights of religious minorities have been protected -- as they have been in America.
For President Obama to displace the Jews in his description of our country risks losing the very religious freedom we celebrate. He may be leading us all back into "Egyptian" bondage. What a terrible precedent on Religious Freedom Day.
http://patriotpost.us/opinion/
The president conveniently neglected to mention why it was that Mr. Jefferson had a copy of the Koran. As a U.S. American diplomat in Paris in the 1780s, Jefferson appealed to an Arab envoy to stop seizing American ships and demanding ransom for their enslaved merchant sailors. The Arab diplomat told Jefferson it was the will of Allah, as expressed in the Koran, that "infidels" (Christians and Jews) should be kidnapped and put to forced labor. Incredulous, Jefferson bought a copy of the Koran to see if that could possibly be true. He was astonished to learn that it was true.
For the next twenty years, Thomas Jefferson resolved to use force and not to pay kidnappers. Some of Jefferson 's colleagues favored paying them off. They thought it would be cheaper.
Jefferson believed our national independence and honor were at stake. And by 1800, paying ransom was no longer cheap. Fully one-fifth of the U.S. budget was going to pay off the Barbary Pirates of North Africa.
When Jefferson became president in 1801, he put an end to paying tribute and offering ransom. He fought a short, sharp, successful war against the Barbary Pirates, even sending the U.S. Marines "to the shores of Tripoli."
Jefferson, along with Benjamin Franklin, identified strongly with the Jews' fight for freedom. Both Franklin and Jefferson proposed making Moses leading the Children of Israel out of bondage in Egypt the official seal of the United States.
It is all this history that President Obama ignores when he displaces the Jews, when he mischaracterizes our country. He is trying to "fundamentally transform" America. It is a dangerous course.
We should welcome any step toward genuine religious freedom in Muslim majority lands. No one wants to fight a Holy War against the world's Muslims. But we should not delude ourselves. There is not today a single Muslim majority land where religious freedom exists. There is not one where the rights of religious minorities have been protected -- as they have been in America.
For President Obama to displace the Jews in his description of our country risks losing the very religious freedom we celebrate. He may be leading us all back into "Egyptian" bondage. What a terrible precedent on Religious Freedom Day.
http://patriotpost.us/opinion/
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