LDS Freedom Forum

In the October 1988 General Conference President Ezra Taft Benson boldly declared, “I testify that wickedness is rapidly expanding in every segment of our society. (See D&C 1:14–16; D&C 84:49–53.) It is more highly organized, more cleverly disguised, and more powerfully promoted than ever before. Secret combinations lusting for power, gain, and glory are flourishing. A secret combination that seeks to overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, and countries is increasing its evil influence and control over America and the entire world. (See Ether 8:18–25.)”

The ABA Does Damage Control
Pamela Geller

Tuesday, in an article called The ABA's Jihad in The American Thinker, I exposed the Islamic supremacism taking root at the American Bar Association, breaking the story of the ABA's support for Sharia law. I revealed the notice, circulated among ABA members, of an organized ABA campaign to oppose the anti-Sharia legislation that has been introduced in 14 state legislatures. Then on Wednesday the ABA issued a statement in response to my article, claiming that "the American Bar Association has taken no action in support of, or in opposition to, judges considering Islamic law or Sharia."


How dishonest and disingenuous.

The ABA statement said that the organization has "nearly 400,000 members, many of whom volunteer with any of the ABA's 2,200 entities. One of those 2,200 entities is the Section on International Law, which has elected to assemble a taskforce of several individuals to examine this issue." The statement makes it sound as if this examination is completely neutral: "These individuals are examining whether the proposed changes to the law impact important constitutional questions. They are also considering implications for international commerce."


Above all, the ABA claims that this taskforce has nothing to do with the organization itself: "The actions of a few interested members within one section are not and cannot be interpreted to be those of the entire American Bar Association. Claims to the contrary are erroneous."


This is spin and damage control. In my Tuesday article I quoted the Section on International Law stating that the ABA's Executive Counsel "has organized a Task Force to review the legislation of 14 states -- Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming -- in which anti-Sharia legislation has been introduced."


There was no way this Task Force could be understood as neutral. Clearly it was dedicated to working against anti-Sharia legal initiatives. The Section on International Law document said: "The Section's Executive Counsel [sic] has organized a Task Force to review the legislation of 14 states -- Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming - in which anti-Sharia legislation has been introduced. The goal of the Task Force is to have a Report and Recommendation against such legislation as well as an informal set of ‘talking points' that local opponents of these initiatives could use to make their case in each of these states."


This should incite justifiable public outrage, and actually increase support for and awareness of the legislation among the grassroots electorate.


A source knowledgeable about the ABA has also informed me that the organization's Middle East law committee recently began a lobbying campaign, which the ABA's international law chair endorsed. It was a political act, not a neutral study. This source sent me ABA policy guidelines that make it clear that policies that are formulated by small committees or "entities" can and do become official ABA policy under certain circumstances, and those circumstances are present in the case of this pro-Sharia Task Force.


This puts the ABA on the spot: either its policy mechanism on Middle East law has been taken over by Middle East-based lawyer(s) with Islamic supremacist sympathies, or the Middle East law committee does represent the ABA's actual positions.


Further, is there any ABA group or task force assigned to helping those who oppose Sharia to craft legislation to ban it? No. There is only an initiative to oppose those fighting the Sharia.


Particularly troubling is the non-democratic way in which the ABA made the decision to oppose the anti-Sharia initiatives of various states. A tiny minority of the ABA's total membership steers its policies, which almost always are developed from the top down. The pro-Sharia initiative seems to have been pushed forward through what the ABA calls a "blanket approval" or even more rapid "technical comment" procedure, and seems to go beyond issuing mere statements to actively organizing lobbying to influence state legislation - a practice that is generally forbidden for tax-exempt organizations.


All this makes it obvious that the ABA's statement disclaiming any support for Sharia was completely false and dishonest.


If the ABA continues to forward this deceitful rhetoric, I will expose even more information about its support for Sharia.


There is one way the ABA could make at least partial amends now: it's time the ABA created a task force to help those of us who are fighting the introduction of Islamic law in America.


We're waiting.



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February 22, 2011
The ABA's Jihad
By Pamela Geller

The American Bar Association (ABA) has decided to undertake the fight for Sharia law. The ABA's Executive Counsel "has organized a Task Force to review the legislation of 14 states -- Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming -- in which anti-Sharia legislation has been introduced."


The goal of the ABA's Task Force is to fight against these legislative initiatives by free people, and to develop "an informal set of ‘talking points' that local opponents of these initiatives could use to make their case in each of these states."


Here's the relevant extract from the ABA's International Policies 2010:


Oklahoma referendum related Rule of Law initiatives.


The Section's Executive Counsel has organized a Task Force to review the legislation of 14 states -- Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming - in which anti-Sharia legislation has been introduced. The goal of the Task Force is to have a Report and Recommendation against such legislation as well as an informal set of "talking points" that local opponents of these initiatives could use to make their case in each of these states. We received a lot of interest from members and have forwarded your interest. At this point, the task force is in the planning and organizing stage. We will keep you updated as to the progress and we may call upon some of you who expressed their interest in this matter to volunteer.


In reality, Islamic law is the most radical and intolerant system of governance on the face of the earth. It denies the freedom of speech, the freedom of conscience, and legal equality for women and non-Muslims. That's why so many states are trying to ban it. The ABA should be on the forefront of this battle. The Oklahoma ban was brilliant but poorly worded (which is why a liberal judge found it so easy to overrule the will of the people) and had 70% of voters approving of it -- it is clear that American people understand the Islamic threat to our constitutional republic.


Instead, our cultural warlords in the mainstream media, academia and entertainment strictly enforce the blasphemy laws of Islam, which command that one must not insult or slander Islam. In Muslim countries, blasphemy is punishable by death; in the West, it is your character that is assassinated if you dare to speak out against the Islamic supremacist agenda. Our last line of defense was always the rule of law. So it is particularly jarring and deeply disturbing to come upon this latest initiative from the ABA, the last line of defense against sharia creep.


Furthermore, the ABA's "Middle East Law committee" has promoted Sharia finance for some time, with the same warmly positive slant.


Unfortunately, the ABA is not alone in this. In late January, New York State Senator Kevin Parker introduced a bill to set up an alternative bond market that would comply with Islamic law regarding financial transactions.


Has Kevin Parker ever heard of the separation of church and state, or in this case, mosque and state? I'll be damned before my hard-earned taxpayer dollars go to zakat (jihad), or to the prohibition of pork, alcohol, and some forms of adult entertainment.


This is the financial jihad.


Meanwhile, the Los Angeles City Council passed a resolution recently that decried "Islamophobia."


The term "Islamophobia" itself is an enforcement of Islamic blasphemy laws. Islamic law commands that there be no candor about Islam or criticism of Islam. Any truthful statements about Islamic supremacism and violence are considered blasphemy. That's why it is shocking that Los Angeles, which is just this side of Sodom and Gomorrah, is passing resolutions that accord with Islamic law. No one in America cares what and who you worship; just don't force it upon us. I don't care if you worship a stone, just don't stone me with it. And stop telling us how many Muslims don't commit jihadi acts. Of course they don't. So what? I don't believe in rewarding people for doing the right thing. I don't believe in congratulating people for not committing acts of violence against people outside their religion.


Thus the Los Angeles City Council's passage of this resolution opposing "Islamophobia" and repudiating violence against Muslims is a step back centuries into the dark ages. According to the FBI, "hate crime" against Muslims is at its lowest in a decade, but acts of jihad are accelerating at warp speed. Yet the Los Angeles City Council passes no resolutions against jihad, honor killings, misogyny, gender apartheid, Islamic antisemitism, kuffarophobia, etc.


Sharia is being imposed across state lines, across the country, by way of these varying initiatives. We must push back.


And the ABA has nothing to say about any of this; it is too busy fighting against anti-Sharia, pro-freedom laws. It is yet another terrible sign of a morally inverted world.

Pamela Geller is the editor and publisher of the Atlas Shrugs website and former associate publisher of the New York Observer. She is the author of The Post-American Presidency.

Update. The American Bar Association responds:

The American Bar Association has taken no action in support of, or in opposition to, judges considering Islamic law or Sharia.


The American Bar Association has nearly 400,000 members, many of whom volunteer with any of the ABA's 2,200 entities. One of those 2,200 entities is the Section on International Law, which has elected to assemble a taskforce of several individuals to examine this issue.


These individuals are examining whether the proposed changes to the law impact important constitutional questions. They are also considering implications for international commerce.


The actions of a few interested members within one section are not and cannot be interpreted to be those of the entire American Bar Association. Claims to the contrary are erroneous.


Martha J. Heil
News Director


American Bar Association