Idaho lawmakers Thursday evening are invited to a presentation by an anti-Islamic preacher and an anti-immigration advocate. The speakers will be in the Capitol’s largest public meeting room, the Lincoln Auditorium.
Christopher Holton from the Center for Security Policy believes refugees present a serious threat to national security. ShahramHadian is a Christian pastor in Spokane who was born a Muslim in Iran. He travels the country giving strongly worded anti-Islamic speeches. For example, in Texas in November, Hadian told an audience that Islam was actively trying to take over the world, not radical groups like ISIS, but all of Islam. And he said it had already succeeded in America.
“We are breached beyond repair,” Hadian said. “Our federal government is breached beyond repair. They, the Islamists have control of our government. And it starts with the White House.”
He told that audience they should be particularly worried about Islam because of where they live.
“One of the things you have to understand about Islamic ideology, and particularly within the elements of Islam working in the United States, is that they target so called conservative areas,” he said. “Because they feel if they can break down what they view as our strength, the Bible Belt, the conservative areas, then the rest of the country’s going to be easier to fall.”
Some Republican legislative leaders have tried to distance themselves from Thursday night’s event, but Hadian has been supported by some Idaho lawmakers in the past.
Hadian last year reportedly claimed some of the credit when a small number of Idaho legislators blocked the state’s ratification of an international treaty to allow states to collect child support from parents outside the U.S. A few lawmakers said it would open Idaho up to rule by Sharia Law. The decision was later reversed but required a special legislative session.
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