We Like Jesus Too, Muslim Advertisement Says
(CNSNews.com) - As part of an "Islam in America" advertising campaign, the Southern California office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations is publishing pro-Jesus ads in local newspapers.The ad is intended to highlight Muslim respect for Jesus, CAIR-LA said in a press release issued on March 23.
The ad, headlined "More In Common Than You Think," features a photograph of the Old City of Jerusalem with a mosque dome and a Christian cross both visible.
"Like Christians, Muslims respect and revere Jesus," the ad says. "Islam teaches that Jesus is one of the greatest of God's prophets and messengers to humankind."
The ad also says that more than 1.3 billion Muslims -- like Christians -- "strive to live by [Jesus'] teachings of love, peace, and forgiveness. Those teachings, which have become universal values, remind us that all of us, Christians, Muslims, Jews, and all others have more in common than we think."
The ad includes the following text from the Quran: 'Behold (O Mary!)' The Angel said, 'God has chosen you, and purified you, and chosen you above the women of all nations. O Mary, God gives you good news of a word from Him, whose name shall be the Christ (Masih or Messiah), Jesus son of Mary, honored in this world and in the hereafter, and one of those brought near to God.' (Holy Qur'an, 3:45)
CAIR-LA said the ad is being published in five community newspapers in Orange County, the Los Angeles area, and northern California.
CAIR describes itself as America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, with headquarters in Washington and 26 regional offices and chapters nationwide.
Radicals in disguise?
Critics say CAIR has radical leanings.
In testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 10, 2003, Matthew Epstein, the assistant director of a group called The Investigative Project, said CAIR uses political and social activism to "disguise its true agenda of supporting militant Islam and protecting the operations of radical groups supporting terrorism."
According to Epstein, CAIR has close ties to the terrorist group Hamas. In fact, CAIR recently condemned Israel's killing of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, whom it described as "a wheelchair-bound Palestinian Muslim religious leader" -- never mentioning his role in killing Israeli civilians.
Yassin is blamed for numerous murderous acts in Israel. As CNSNews.com reported, Hamas has claimed responsibility for the majority of the 112 suicide bombings that have killed more than 470 Israelis and injured thousands since the violent Palestinian uprising began in late 2000.
But in a press release issued on March 22, CAIR condemned "Israel's extra- judicial killing of an Islamic religious leader," and it demanded that the "international community ... take concrete steps to help protect the Palestinian people against such wanton Israeli violence."
"Until Israel views Palestinians as human beings, and not just animals to be slaughtered at will during 'hunting season,' there can be no viable and just resolution to the Middle East conflict," the CAIR press release said.
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