East Mountain Tea Party Officials and Islam
Editor’s note: We consider it important to state at the outset of this article that it is in no way our intent to denigrate or disrespect anyone’s religious beliefs, in this article or elsewhere; in fact, it was the issue of religious intolerance that sent us down the path that led us to this piece. We’ve provided links to full articles where appropriate to provide our readers with the full context of the quotes; we have saved the key references in both PDF and PNG screen grab formats, so if any of the links in this story should become inoperative in the future, please let us know and we’ll do what we can to repair them.
Update 1/4/11: Our original article on the East Mountain Tea Party’s apparent anti-Islamic bias can be found here.
by John Weckerle
East Mountain Tea Party Co-Founder Therese Cooper (image via You Tube)
As many of our readers may remember, we took issue some time back with what we considered to be anti-Islam positions officially expressed on the East Mountain Tea Party (EMTP) web site (our articles on the subject, along with others, are now collected under the category “Tea Party-gate.”). The EMTP post informed readers that key members of the EMTP (Therese Cooper, Char Tierney, Silvana Lupetti, and Felicia Wilson), including at least two of its co-founders, had submitted a letter to Congressman Martin Heinrich’s demanding that he state his position with respect to a Muslim community center proposed for downtown New York. We objected to the anonymously-posted EMTP article, and received a surprisingly vitriolic response indicating a clear anti-Muslim bias. We had a little fun trying to track down the identity of the anonymous poster, who in our view is the EMTP’s official internet spokesperson – and after a while, partially lost interest in that aspect, but we continued to research the issue of religious discrimination, because we were frankly dumbfounded by the strong anti-Islamic sentiment that came across in “teapartynm’s” response.
Our research began with some simple online searches, using search terms combining the names of the letter’s signatories with other key terms associated with the Tea Party as well as others such as “Islam,” “Muslim,” etc. One of the earliest search results brought us to this, an article that appears to suggest (among other things) that three of the letter’s signatories – Ms. Cooper, Ms. Tierney, and Ms. Lupetti – equate Islam with evil and the faith’s supreme being, Allah, with Satan. The article is signed “The Table of the Remnant” (subsequently referred to here as “the Table”), and so we did some searching to find out what this meant. This page identifies the key personnel of the organization as of 2001: Char Tierney, Apostle and Administrator; Silvana Lupetti, Prophet of the Father (Ms. Lupetti also identifies herself as the Prophet of the Father in the United States in this blog post); and Doug and Therese Cooper. Ms. Cooper and Ms. Tierney are identified in a variety of places as two of the original coordinators of the EMTP. Our research found no direct connection between Ms. Wilson and the Table, although the lack of information does not necessarily mean that no connection exists; for example, Ms. Wilson “re-tweets” Ms. Lupetti’s on her Twitter feed, as seen here.
The Table’s thoughts on Islam are, in part, expressed here:
This is satan speaking, as the false god allah. And I saw satan there, as if he was standing over the center place of Mecca, as though it were an altar, an altar surrounded by 2 million of his deceived worshippers (sic), who think he is God. His hands were dripping with the blood of Daniel Pearl, the Jewish journalist murdered by Islamic agents, as he said to the Father, who removed him from heaven: “Jerusalem is mine”.
For what it’s worth, the Table does not appear to have a high regard for the balance of Christian churches, either, as can be seen in some of the links here.
As the Table’s prophet, Ms. Lupetti has this to say about Islam and other faiths in a piece titled Two Promises:
Satan, the enemy of the Father, has no creativity or originality. He copies the Father. For instance, with Islam he has a bible, the Koran, he has a prophet, and he has a god, who is himself, called Allah. The Koran is a confused mess of orders and rules that have no coherence. It is full of the mind of Satan, which is to kill Jews and Christians and anyone who will not bend to his power… And with all false religions, whether Islam or any other, the mark of Satan appears. Karma is a way to not care about others with its teaching to leave your brother to his karmic fate.
And in a post titled “The Father’s help on 9/11,” Ms. Lupetti opines:
The enemy has been busy trying to get attention away from the two towers and the thousands dead because we are leading a war on terror that is interfering with his aim to push Israel into the sea and destroy America, friend of Israel. If the people of America listen to his lies and lies of those who agree with him, we will pull out of the fight and leave the ground to Islam and therefore to him.
We turn next to Ms. Tierney’s (co-founder of the EMTP) writings on Islam, beginning with an October 18, 2010 blog article, in which she writes:
Last week I made a drawing of something I saw and I gave it to a friend of mine who was a pastor. I saw America and on each side of her was a threat, and one coming up out of the midst of her. The threat came from forces connected with Satan, the invisible enemy of God and of mankind. On America’s left was communism, and on her right was Islam… Islam will be given its hour (a year) of power and will rise in the world with deadly force and many will be harmed, and many will be fearful…
In response to an article titled The Vatican Confronts Islam, Ms. Tierney writes:
I am glad to hear if the Catholic Church is having a more realistic view towards Islam. When Pope John Paul II tried to put a dove, then another, out of a window as a symbol of peace, shortly before he died, the homing birds both flew, against their instincts, back into the window. At the time, the Holy Spirit said to us that this was from Him and it was a sign that it is not a time for peace, which is unfortunately the overall stance of the Catholic Church. This is a time to stand against evil (such as the evil of terrorism) and if that takes war, then it does.
On the subject of Allah, Ms. Tierney states (here):
God is love. That rules out Allah as being God… So who is Allah? He has been called “a liar from the beginning” and “a murderer from the beginning“. The beginning of what? Our time. He lied in the garden of Eden, and he has been lying to mankind since, and he was there when Cain murdered Abel.
And finally, Ms. Tierney writes here:
All this is our history, and we should step aside and allow a mosque built there now, to show our tolerance? I don’t feel tolerant. Sorry. Call me names. I don’t care. I care about the honored dead. I care about the surviving families. Take your sharia law, and your cruelty to women, and stuff it. Find someplace else for a mosque and somewhere else for your intolerant religion. Amen.
Other than her involvement with the letter to Mr. Heinrich, we find little in the way of online writings of any kind by Ms. Wilson – just a lot of Twitter posts.
This brings us, at last, to the subject of Ms. Therese Cooper (we consider Ms. Emily Cooper a less likely candidate at this time), who seems to have published little on the subject under her own name. In contrast to Ms. Lupetti and Ms. Tierney, we were unable to find a blog that belonged to Ms. Cooper. Internet searches on Ms. Cooper returned a tedious repetition of her status as an 8th generation descendant of Patrick Henry (a distinction we consider completely irrelevant – people are who they are on their own merits, and not those of their umpteenth great-grandparents) and not much else. However, in the course of this investigation, we reviewed the NAACP report on the potential links between the Tea Party and racism, and found that the East Mountain Tea Party is affiliated with the national organization known as Tea Party Patriots. We checked Ms. Cooper’s page there, which has a “visit my blog” link. This link leads directly to the EMTP site. However, we will concede that the writing style of the response to our article does bear a certain similarity to some of Ms. Tierney’s writing. In the end, we suppose the distinction is moot: both are co-founders of the EMTP.
As we stated in the editor’s note, it is not our intent to disparage anyone’s spiritual beliefs here. People may form their own opinions on the beliefs of the signatories of the letter and the Table as they see fit. The fact remains, however, that the leaders of the EMTP are members of a religious faction that – in its own writings – equates Islam with evil and Islam’s deity, Allah, with Satan, and appears to consider itself at war with Islam. The EMTP web site was used not only as a platform to publish a letter signed by these people and their spiritual leader and apparently sent to pressure a U.S. Congressman to oppose the rights of Muslims in New York to build a community center; it was also used to defend that position in the context of religious discrimination. At best, this would appear to be inappropriate conduct for leaders of a political organization, and we believe that the EMTP’s members and supporters should give serious thought as to whether its leadership has acted in the organization’s best interests in this regard.
4 Responses “East Mountain Tea Party Officials and Islam”
I am the son of Therese Cooper, And I am here to remind you that this mosque, which is what Muslims build where they have defeated their enemies, was going to be built at the place where 9/11 happened. Where we were attacked! building it there would be extremely unsympathetic to the families of the victims. And, who could Allah be but Satan? Muslims hell is only for the infidels, the non-Muslims. You could be a murderous, rapist, thieving Muslim, and still get into Muslim Heaven! Islam says that women are inferior to men, and think the men can do whatever they want with her, and the wife has no say in it! The extreme Muslims believe that all infidels should die, and doesn’t Satan love to kill people?! Satan created a hate-filled religion.
I know who you are, Jordan, and am aware of your “celebrity status” within certain circles; however, neither that status nor the strength of your belief in the “rightness” of the EMTP position affords any automatic credibility in this venue. I do think it appropriate to note that you speak with enough force and authority here to make it difficult to avoid the impression that you are being disrespectful. Most adults do not appreciate being addressed in an “instructional” tone by people your age (or,for that matter, of any age).We all cross that line once in a while, and I’ve noted that whenever I’ve done it inadvertently the results have been less than optimal to say the least. You may find greater success in making your point with others if you tone it down a little.
It seems very clear from your comments here that most of what you think you know about Islam comes from what you have been told by those close to you as opposed to arising from any serious independent examination of the subject. If you take a look at our Editorial Policies, you’ll note that we place a much higher value on fact and legitimate analysis, and your comments here are essentially opinion with no facts to support them; accordingly, a detailed response will not be forthcoming. We probably wouldn’t debate with you on the specifics of Islamic belief at any rate; while we’ve done some research, we think there are others better qualified to provide you with insight on this (universities come immediately to mind). However, we do encourage you to visit and comment in the future, and hope you’ll bring us something we can better sink our teeth into.
At any rate, you would appear to be commenting on the wrong article. Most of what you have to say here has been dealt with in a previous article, “No Mosque At Ground Zero – For Starters, Because Nobody’s Proposing One.” You might want to take a look over that.
I have a celebrity status? I didn’t even know I was known by many people. Yes, I spoke at a couple rallies, but I didn’t think that would make me known my very many people. How did you know who I am?
I like to debate with those I disagree with, it teaches me how to become a better debater. I don’t talk to adults with an “instructional tone”. I’m glad that the mosque issue was resolved and there isn’t one there, so I’m not gonna talk about that.
Is this not fact? Everyone who does not believe in Islam will go to Hell according to the Islam religion. Here is a link showing this: http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/quran/says_about/hell.html here is a another link supporting what I said about Islamic Hell: http://www.flex.com/~jai/satyamevajayate/hell.html
I would like to see your response.
Sincerely,
Jordan Cooper
Jordan, as to your status as a public figure: once you’re out there, you’re out there. Everything you’ve ever said publicly – or even in places that you thought were private online – is out there too. As an internet marketing consultant, I wish I had a buck for every time I’ve told people this. Once people know who you are and where you stand, they can research you, your history, your family’s history and so on. They can look at satellite photos of your home, etc. We’re never anonymous once we’re not, so to speak – and you’re not. Here at New Mexico Central, we’re pretty good at looking people up.
Your tone was “instructional” at best. Please consider that many people consider overly strong commentary offensive. In the current environment of increasing polarization among our fellow Americans, this divides us at a time in which we need to find common cause when we can, agree to disagree where we must, stop attacking each other over differences in ideology, and speak truthfully and accurately in support of our positions. In our opinion here at New Mexico Central, discussion should be respectful and productive – more along the line of the classical dialectic than the classical “debate” or “rhetoric.” Staking out a position and working only to advance it is very limited and ends up solving little. Of course, we say this with the caveat that, as a culture, we do tend to be a little pointed and/or pointedly humorous in our commentary. We expect to be taken to task if we step over the line – and so should everybody else.
With respect to your statement that there is no mosque at the location in question, I’m a little confused. Within the general definition of what describes a mosque, one has been there since before the controversy erupted, as Muslim services had been held there for some time. Further, there is an open house scheduled for the Park51 project scheduled for this Saturday.
As to passing judgment on people’s religious beliefs, we’re not big on that here. I do appreciate that you’ve provided some references, but they do seem rather biased – more independent sources would be appreciated for the sake of interest, but are not necessary. Most spiritual traditions in which heaven and hell appear tend to state that a straight ticket to the latter involves being a nonbeliever, Christianity included. Hell is generally described in the worst terms possible to the imagination of those doing the imagining. Regardless, here in the United States, the freedom to believe is central to the Constitution and its amendments, and not subject to approval by the general populace.