Contact: Don Feder, 508-405-1337; Dixie Verum, 202-543-0300
NASHVILLE, Nov. 15, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- On November 11 (Veterans Day 2011), more than 600 people crowded the Cornerstone Church in a Nashville suburb for The Constitution or Sharia: Preserving Freedom Conference -- the first national conference on Sharia and the Islamization of America. More than 1,000 attended an evening session.
The conference was organized by the Sharia Awareness Action Network (SAAN) -- a coalition of religious liberty and national security groups, including the Religious Freedom Coalition, the Center for Security Policy, Liberty University Law School, WorldNetDaily, The American Center for Law and Justice, the U.S. Justice Foundation, and the Tennessee Freedom Coalition (the host committee).
The conference was scheduled for the Hutton Hotel in downtown Nashville, but it breached our contract just two weeks before the event due to what it called "security concerns." Pastor Maury Davis, a leader of courage and conviction, allowed the conference to take place at his Cornerstone Church and was one of the speakers at the evening session.
Conference Chairman William J. Murray (also chairman of the Sharia Awareness Action Network) pronounced the conference an unqualified success: "Given the fact that we didn't begin promoting the conference until after Labor Day, attendance far exceeded all of our expectations. Attendees came from all over the United States, as well as Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and Africa -- demonstrating the international scope of the Sharia crisis."
Attorney David Yerushalmi discussed the concept of "lawfare" -- using the courts to counter Sharia and stealth jihad. The Center for Security Policy's Frank Gaffney (an Undersecretary of Defense in the Reagan Administration) and former FBI Special Agent John Guandolo briefed the conference on the multi-faceted menace of the Muslim Brotherhood and its infiltration of our government.
Speakers on religious persecution under Sharia included Dr. Justin Akujieze, who discussed the Islamization of his native Nigeria (whose northern provinces are under Sharia) and the murder of three million Christian Ibos since the late 1960's.
Two speakers from the Middle East delivered powerful messages. Dr. Wafa Sultan, a Syrian-born psychiatrist and author of "The God Who Hates," spoke on the dehumanization of women under Islam. "America is my freedom," Dr. Sultan declared.
Brigitte Gabriel, president of ACT! For America, told of growing up in Lebanon during the civil war. "My 9/11 happened in 1975, when radical Islamists blew up my home," Gabriel disclosed. "My only crime was being a Christian in a Christian town."
Working on Wall Street in 2001, Tennessee Freedom Coalition Chairman Andy Miller lost more than 100 friends and acquaintances in the World Trade Center attack. Miller said he was impelled to study Islam, which he learned was "an all-encompassing ideology that causes them to want to conquer the world."
Other speakers included Barrister Paul Diamond, Steve Gill (syndicated talk show host), Attorney David French (American Center for Law and Justice), Lou Ann Zelenik (Executive Director of the Tennessee Freedom Coalition), Rabbi Jonathan Hausman, Bishop E.W. Jackson, Sr. (Conservative Emergency Task Force), Don Feder (conference coordinator), Pastor Rick Scarborough (Vision America Action), Father Keith Roderick, and Tennessee State Representative Rick Womick. For a complete list of speakers and topics go to www.shariafreeusa.org.
Murray concluded: "The Tennessee Freedom Coalition and SAAN want to make the Nashville conference an annual event. Depending on available resources, we'd also like to bring this knowledge and training to as many communities as possible in 2012."
For more information or to schedule an interview with William J Murray, contact Don Feder, 508-405-1337 or Dixie Verum, 202-543-0300.
