I’ve monitored the rantings of Bryan Fischer, the chief policy analyst for the American Family Association, for some time. Last week, if you’ll recall, I mentioned that in his view, only Christians are entitled to the protections of the First Amendment. But on Friday’s edition of “Focal Point,” his daily show on American Family Radio, Fischer may have outdone himself. He claimed that when President Obama authorized targeted strikes against the Islamic State’s forces in Iraq, he was coming to the defense of “devil worshipers” while remaining silent on the plight of Christians.
On Friday’s show, Fischer claimed that one of the primary aims of the strike is to protect the Yazidis, a Kurdish people who have been pushed northward by ISIS forces and have been pinned on Mount Sinjar in Iraq’s northwest. They have been without food or water for 40 days, and their kids are dying left and right. The Yazidis practice an ancient religion centered around the belief that God created the world, and has turned over its care to seven archangels. The greatest of them is Melek Taus, or the Peacock Angel, who is supposed to actively execute God’s will. Yazidis pray to him five times a day. He supposedly fell from God’s favor, but has since been reconciled with him. The other name for Melek Taus is “Shaytan”–the Arabic word for Satan. This, combined with the similarities between Malek Taus and Lucifer in both the Qu’ran and the Bible, has resulted in accusations that Yazidis worship the devil. It explains why ISIS is trying to wipe them out.
According to Fischer, the Yazidis revere Malek Taus because he disobeyed God, and his portrayal is identical to that of Lucifer in the Bible. The Yazidis have been “deceived” into worshiping Malek Taus because he passes himself off as an “angel of light.” Fischer claims that he is not criticizing Obama for stepping in. Rather, he is outraged that Obama “has not lifted a finger” to help Christians. However, he said, “it took the suffering of devil-worshipers” for him to bring all of the resources of the United States to bear on ISIS. He wondered–loudly–what this said about Obama’s “religious sympathies.” While he said he’d leave that question open, “whatever it reveals, it cannot possibly be good.”
Fischer’s rant on “Focal Point” expanded on a post he made earlier in the day on AFA’s official blog, “The Stand.” He wrote that “in a rare point of theological accord,” both Islam and Christianity agree that Malek Taus is actually the devil. He claimed that Obama was rushing to their defense after remaining silent while Christians have been “fleeing Iraq in droves” to avoid being slaughtered.
So let’s get this straight. Fischer claims he’s not criticizing Obama for intervening to help the Yazidis–but then in the same breath calls them “devil worshipers?” No, Bryan. They’re people. And your use of such an inflammatory term reveals something about YOUR sympathies as a human being–and it definitely isn’t good.
He also weakens his case by getting a couple of anecdotes wrong in his claim that Obama is blind to the plight of persecuted Christians. For instance, he claimed that Obama hasn’t done anything to help Saeed Abedini, an Iranian-American pastor currently imprisoned in Iran for his preaching. What Fischer didn’t–or more likely, won’t–tell us is that just last week, Secretary of State John Kerry himself revealed that the United States is actively working for Abedini’s release. He also claimed that Obama wasn’t doing anything to help Meriam Ibrahim, a Sudanese woman threatened with execution for converting to Christianity. Apparently Fischer missed that Ibrahim was finally freed, and is now safe and sound in New Hampshire. But then again, Fischer and his ilk have insisted almost from the time Obama took office that Obama isn’t really a Christian, and such minor details as facts have never gotten in the way of that smear campaign.
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Darrell Lucus is a radical-lefty Jesus-lover who has been blogging for change for a decade. Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook.
