WASHINGTON (RNS) Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders condemned the DVD “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West” that has been circulated in U.S. newspapers and urged Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain to do the same.
More than 20 million DVDs were distributed as paid advertisements in
12 electoral swing states. The Interfaith Alliance, a coalition of Jewish, Muslim and Christian leaders, condemned the DVD as anti-Muslim propaganda at a press conference on Tuesday (Oct. 7).
“Invoking fear and hatred in American voters is not the way to address the real problems of extremism and terrorism that our nation faces,” leaders said.
The Interfaith Alliance aims to promote inter-religious cooperation, and said the DVD was “religion-based divisiveness.”
“We challenge … the manipulation of both religion and politics in a manner that weakens the integrity of religion and the vitality of politics,” said the Rev. C. Welton Gaddy, president of Interfaith Alliance.
By Ashley Gipson
Copyright 2008 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of this transmission may be distributed or reproduced without written permission.
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posted October 8, 2008 at 7:50 pm
We received one in the mail but I have no time to view it. I have no prejudice for any group I do have my own particular preferences but no hate. A political DVD could not cause me to hate.
posted October 8, 2008 at 7:55 pm
Does anyone know who distributed this DVD? Someone paid a lot of money to have them put in newspapers in the swing states.
posted October 9, 2008 at 12:25 am
This disc is old news these days. It was paid for and distributed by the Clarion Fund. The followng is taken right from their website.
“CLARION FUND, created in November 2006, is a non-profit, non-partisan organization whose mission is to educate Americans about issues of
national security.
Our primary focus is on the most urgent threat of radical Islam. By utilizing the following three mediums, Clarion Fund is helping Americans understand that
the mainstream media is not adequately conveying the reality of radical Islam:”
In my opinion the dvd is a load of camel droppings pressed into glittering disc of misinformation, falsehoods, and basic old fashioned hooey. That the people behind the Clarion Fund choose to remain anonymous tlls me they are either ashamed or afraid. Neither speaks well for their phoney baloney cause. It is another of those 527s that are underminig the political process and polluting the landscape. We got ours in the mail because our local paper had enough sense to reject the payments to insert it. Not all papers were as insightful or sensitive to their comunities.
posted October 9, 2008 at 11:26 am
Thanks, jestrtyl, for the info.
The foundation sounds like one I want NOTHING to do with and I’m sure the message in the DVD is a load of “stuff”. You discribed it much better.
However with the freedoms we have here, they had the right to distribute it about the country. The problem is some folks will fall for the “stuff” said on the DVD.
posted October 9, 2008 at 8:51 pm
One of the interviewees civil libertatians may find interesting in the film is Alan M. Dershowitz. He speaks quite eloquently concerning the rise of global radical Islam.