After a string of recent terror attacks, one congressional Republican believes the “silence” from Muslim leaders in America is deafening.
Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., is challenging these Muslim leaders to speak out against violence perpetrated at the hands of Islamic extremists.
“Four Muslim terrorists have killed and injured Americans in four different cities in just three weeks,” Ogles told The Daily Signal. “Yet to this day, not a single American mosque has publicly condemned this pattern of Islamic bloodshed or disavowed the attackers.”
The representative’s remarks come after a shooter reportedly wearing a hoodie that read “Property of Allah” and a shirt with the Iranian flag opened fire at a bar in Austin, Texas, on March 1, which killed three and injured 14 others.
The shooting occurred just one day after President Donald Trump announced Operation Epic Fury against Iran.
That same week, two attackers allegedly inspired by ISIS threw improvised explosive devices at a crowd of protesters in New York City, and a shooter attempted to carry out an attack against a Jewish synagogue and K-12 school in Michigan.
On March 13, a shooter who was a convicted terrorist for previous affiliations with ISIS opened fire at Virginia’s Old Dominion University, killing one before being subdued.
“If a Christian justified violence by citing the Bible, every church in America would and SHOULD denounce it,” Ogles said.
Ogles added that “Muslim leaders in America” could use “these horrific tragedies to prove that Islam is the ‘religion of peace’ by publicly condemning them.”
“Instead, however, they have refused to acknowledge them,” the representative claimed.
The alleged silence prompted Ogles to send a letter to over 3,000 Islamic leaders in the United States demanding that they “publicly and unequivocally condemn” terror attacks in the United States.
In his letter, Ogles added that if the leaders were to break the silence, they could “isolate extremists, protect Americans, and preserve peace.”
Ogles’ letter encouraged the leaders to “issue statements from your pulpits, post them online, and share them widely.”
But the letter also included a threat.
“If no peace is desired, I will not cease to further legislate and advocate that violent Islamists have no place in American culture, life, and civil government,” Ogles concluded.
Earlier this month, Ogles pledged to propose legislation to overhaul a 1965 law that prevents the selection of legal immigrants from certain countries, which would end the legal immigration and chain migration that he believes is responsible for the recent terror attacks.
