UPDATE, September 12, 2012, 2:00 pm: Following a phone call from our office, Pastor Anghis has corrected the side-bar quote on his original piece. We thank him for making this correction. We ask Pastor Anghis to follow up with correcting this piece in the other places where it was published. (Here is an example.) A full retraction would also be appreciated, given the gravity of the error.

UPDATE, September 10, 2012, 1:00 pm: Pastor Roger Anghis has amended his article on “News With Views.” As of this update, he has corrected the body of the article, removing Dr. Jasser’s name. Unfortunately, the sidebar on the right-hand side of the News With Views article still attributes a treasonous quote to Dr. Jasser. Pastor Roger has also not corrected this article in the other locations where it is published, nor has he issued a public retraction and apology. We ask Pastor Roger to please make every effort to thoroughly correct this error.

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AIFD is alarmed by a serious and dangerous error in a recent blog published by Paster Roger Anghis. In this blog, Pastor Anghis alleges that our founder, Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, is the imam who was slated to appear at “Jumah at the DNC.” In what we hope is an unfortunate (though no less defamatory) misprint, Pastor Anghis attributes treasonous, anti-American sentiments to Dr. Jasser:

“What is disturbing is one of the imams that was slated to speak, Dr. Zuhdi Jasser. He has called for the overthrow of the ‘filthy’ Unites[sic] States government and the installation of shariah law and for the replacing the United States Constitution with the Quran.” – Pastor Roger Anghis, here.

Pastor Anghis goes on to say that, in an effort to promote Islam, Dr. Jasser has asserted that “Muslims are indigenous to America.” Dr. Jasser has said no such thing.

Dr. Jasser and AIFD actually broke the story on Jumah at the DNC. We draw Pastor Anghis’ attention to the following videos:

Dr. Jasser on Fox and Friends on August 5, 2012, discussing who the organizers of “Jumah on the DNC” are and why we should be concerned, including Imam Siraj Wahhaj’s statement that the Constitution should be replaced with the Quran;

Dr. Jasser on Varney & Co. on August 29, 2012, about why the DNC should disassociate itself as much as possible from the radical figures spearheading “Jumah at the DNC”;

Dr. Jasser on Fox and Friends on September 2, 2012, discussing the DNC’s last-minute distancing from this event, and Jibril Hough’s anti-American, Nidal Hasan-esque comments;

Dr. Jasser on GBTV on September 3, 2012, speaking with Glenn Beck about how all Americans, especially Muslims, must speak out against the radical views of those who organized “Jumah at the DNC” and all Islamist theocrats.

Perhaps Pastor Anghis simply made a terrible mistake in his article. However, as an individual publishing articles he knows are made available globally, Pastor Anghis has a responsibility to be more cautious. Indeed, all those publishing on matters of such grave public concern run the risk of endangering others when they are as sloppy as Pastor Anghis has been here. Even if retracted immediately, damage may already be done.

Dr. Jasser has been a consistent voice against Islamism, and has been a vocal advocate for the protection of the United States Constitution through the separation of mosque and state. He has served the United States as a lieutenant commander in the Navy, and has been a leading voice against efforts to implement Sharia law in the West and even in Muslim-majority nations.

Pastor Anghis’ comments amount to accusing Dr. Jasser of treason and radicalism. These accusations are dangerous and, because they are patently false, illegal. This is deeply hurtful and as harmful to Dr. Jasser as well as the many liberty-minded Muslims who work with him. Dr. Jasser leads a team of liberty-minded Muslims who combat radical ideologies at great personal risk. We ask that those who claim to speak against Islamism not further compromise us with defamatory and dangerous rhetoric.

We further ask that Pastor Anghis retract his comments about Dr. Jasser immediately, and issue a retraction and public apology in each location where his article may have been published.