Newt Gingrich is blasting Dearborn Police for arresting four Christian missionaries at an Arab festival in June, saying it’s an example of Islamic intolerance. He cites the case as one reason why he opposes construction of an Islamic center near Ground Zero in lower Manhattan.
In a recent letter, the former Speaker of the U.S. House says that the jailing of the four Christian missionaries is an example of Islamic extremism coming to the U.S.
"This is a clear case of freedom of speech and the exercise of religious freedom being sacrificed in deference to sharia’s intolerance against the preaching of religions other than Islam," Gingrich writes in a letter published last week.
Gingrich said the missionaries were handing copies of Christian literature, which is "of course, forbidden by sharia's rules on proselytizing."
The four Christians were with a Web site called Acts 17 Apologetics, which seeks to convert Muslims. They visited the Arab festival in 2009, producing a video that critics say was selectively edited to make the city and Muslims look bad.
Dearborn Mayor Jack O'Reilly Jr. and others have said the missionaries were trying to provoke people at the festival in order to gain attention and raise money for their small group. They note there were several other Christian groups at the Arab festival, as in previous years, who had no problems.
Dearborn Police Chief Ron Haddad has said that the missionaries caused a stir and were disrupting a family event.
"We have to co-exist and everyone should have a good time," Haddad told the Free Press in June "Everyone is welcome, but you have to act in a way that keeps the peace....With 300,000 people, it's paramount you keep everything orderly."
In his letter, Gingrich cites other examples of Islamic extremism in the U.S.
He then writes: "Cases like this will become all the more common as radical Islamists grow more and more aggressive in the United States. It is in this context that the controversy over the proposed mosque near Ground Zero must be seen."
