The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is requiring all incoming freshmen this fall to read a book about the Koran, the Moslem Bible. FPN chairman and 1981 UNC Chapel Hill graduate Terry Moffitt said in a statement earlier this year, "today I am ashamed to admit that I am a graduate of UNC", he added "I think the University of North Carolina would allow any religion to be studied except for Christianity". Moffitt went on to say during a telephone interview, "Why not make Islamic students read from the Bible?" Moffitt, said he fears the students will get an incomplete picture of Islam, a politically correct view formed from studying only parts of the Moslems’ Bible. "It’s not going to show the good and the bad, it’s going to paint Islam just as a peaceful, loving religion," he said. “Which is simply not the case”.

The book controversy started when the university announced that the 3,500 freshmen in the Class of 2006 will be reading Approaching the Qur’an: The Early Revelations during orientation week in mid-August and will discuss it for "a couple of hours" in groups of 20 to 25 led by faculty members, according to UNC Chancellor James Moeser. Moeser said this book was chosen in the wake of the Islamic terrorist led September 11th attacks on America. Moeser added, “this is a great opportunity to have a conversation on the teachings of one of the world’s great religions”. (As I read Mr. Moeser’s statement I thought of several people who will be in complete agreement with his choice. Men like Yasser Arafat, Louis Farrakhan, Osama bin Laden, and Sadam Hussein.)

Last week I listened to a Fox News segment on this particular issue. The reporter interviewed two guests who represented both sides. (Wouldn’t it be nice if we lived in a world where Truth didn’t have to be balanced with error?) I found the interview to be very revealing. The first guest was a lawyer who was looking for a student who was willing to sue the University. The second guest, I believe was a representative of the Nation of Islam. This guest spewed his trash about how America has been a White European Christian culture long enough. He said it was time that American’s youth got to be introduced to Allah and his Prophet Mohamed. At this point the Fox News reporter read from this Moslem’s Bible. The quote was very revealing. Sura [5.51] "O you who believe! Do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends; they are friends of each other; and whoever amongst you takes them for a friend, then surely he is one of them; surely Allah does not guide the unjust people." (I marveled that the Fox News reporter used this quote from the Quran. I put the same quote in my November 2001 Trumpet article which later ran in one of the Greenville SC, newspapers). The Moslem guest had no answer for a verse that so openly taught hatred for Christianity and the Jew. He said, “no doubt Mohammed was given that revelation from Allah during a time that Christians and Jews were persecuting him.” The reporter then asked if he would disavow that quote. He refused. This only solidified her other guest’s point, which was, Islam is not a peaceful religion, it is not tolerant, and it will not co-exist with Christianity or Judaism unless it has to.

Sadly, most of America’s institutions of higher learning are falling prey to political correctness. That will mean consistently attacking Christianity and traditional values that have made America a great nation. May we be reminded that the nation that forgets God will be turned into hell! The 9th circuit court decided two weeks ago that the “under God” section of the pledge of allegiance to the flag was wrong. Though we know it certainly isn’t unconstitutional, “under God” does seem to be quite inaccurate. America is not under God and we need to repent before it is to late.

Steve Mays, Trumpet Editor

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